Sam Waterston was born on November 15th, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. His birth name is Samuel Atkinson Waterston. Sam had a tremendous career in the television and film industry as well as taking on the role of director. He is a highly successful actor and we will take you through some of his biggest accomplishments in front and behind the camera to date. 

Sam Waterston has had a very successful career

Sam's first ever television appearance was on the series Dr. Childcare for two episodes in 1965. From there, he moved up in the ranks to star in The Great Gatsby (1974), Heaven's Gate (1980), Oppenheimer (1980), The Killing Fields (1984), The Civil War (1990), The Man in the Moon (1991), I'll Fly Away (1991-1993), Law & Order (1994-2010), The Newsroom (2012-2014) and Grace & Frankie (2015-2019). 

Sam Waterston: His most famous roles

Sam is most famous for his long-standing role on Law & Order as "Jack McCoy". He was and still is an absolute fan-favourite and starred in a total of 368 episodes of the show. We might even go so far as to say that without Sam, there would have been no Law & Order.

Wow! More recently, one of his bigger roles was in the television series, The Newsroom from 2012 to 2014. He played the character "Charlie Skinner" in 25 episodes of the show. 

His most recent work has been as "Sol Bergstein" in the Netflix Original series, Grace & Frankie. He portrayed that character from 2015-2019 when the final season was released on Netflix earlier this year. 

Sam Waterston's personal life

Sam Waterston has been married twice in his life. His first marriage to Barbara Rutledge Johns was from 1964 to 1975. They got a divorce and Sam married Lynn Louisa Woodruff in 1976. They are still happily married today and have three children together.

At the age of 79, we can't help but have the upmost respect for Sam, not only in the entertainment industry as a whole, but for still acting on our screens today. 

The Criminal Minds Cast

Some of the actors try their hand at directing!

'Criminal Minds': 5 Cast Members Turned Directors