Jun 14, 1954

Charleston, South Carolina, USA

A veteran of over 40 New York stage plays, Will Patton has won three OBIE Awards for
his work. The first was for "Tourists and Refugees Number 2" (1980/81), a joint work
with Joseph Chaikin and his experimental group The Winter Project, of which Patton
was a member. His second was for his performance as Eddie in the 1982 Circle
Repertory Theatre production of Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love". He was also cited for
his work in Richard Foreman's "What Did He See?" during the 1988/89 season. Othe... ... (read more...) r
stage credits include Shepard's "A Lie of the Mind" and David Rabe's "Goose and Tom
Tom".
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A native North Carolinian, the eldest child of a Lutheran minister, Patton trained
for the stage at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Actors Studio. He
made his film debut in multiple roles in the low-budget "King Blank" (1982). His
first high profile film was Mike Nichols' "Silkwood" the following year. After
appearances in "After Hours" and "Desperately Seeking Susan" (both 1985), Patton
turned in a fine screen performance as the oily and officious homosexual aide to
Gene Hackman's shady Secretary of Defense in Roger Donaldson's taut Washington
thriller, "No Way Out" (1987). Subsequently, he has turned in strong portrayals of
flawed characters, including upstanding lawmen ("A Shock to the System" 1990;
"Copycat" 1995), crusading journalists ("Midnight Edition" 1994) and quirky,
possibly villainous, individuals ("The Client" and "The Puppet
Masters" both 1994). He has key roles in two 1996 features: "Fled", as a lawman
tracking two escaped convicts, and "The Spitfire Grill", as a suspicious
businessman.