Crudup was born in
Manhasset, New York, the grandson of
Billy Gaither, a well-known
Florida trial lawyer.
[1][2] His parents divorced during his childhood, and later remarried, before divorcing a second time.
[3] Crudup has two brothers: Tommy, an executive producer, and Brooks, also a producer. He left New York with his family when he was about eight years old, first living in Texas, then in Florida. He graduated from
Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1986.
Crudup attended the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received an undergraduate degree, and he continued his passion for acting with the undergraduate acting company, Lab!Theatre. He was a member of the Beta Chapter of
Delta Kappa Epsilon. He then studied at the
Tisch School of the Arts at
New York University, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in 1994. A year after graduating, he made his debut on
Broadway in the
Lincoln Center Theater production of
Tom Stoppard's
Arcadia.
Crudup began acting in such films as 1996's
Sleepers and 1997's
Inventing the Abbotts. While he has appeared in many films, he regularly returns to the stage. His first role in an animated feature was in 1999's English release of
Princess Mononoke, in which he starred as Ashitaka. He then played Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist of the fictional band
Stillwater in
Cameron Crowe's
Almost Famous (2000). He has also been the voice of
MasterCard "Priceless" commercials in the U.S. since 1997, making his first appearance in an ad in 2005. In 2006's
The Good Shepherd, he played British spy Arch Cummings, a stand-in for
Kim Philby.
Crudup received a
Tony Award nomination for his performance in
The Elephant Man on Broadway, as well as for his role as
Katurian in the Broadway production of
The Pillowman, also starring
Jeff Goldblum, which closed on
September 18,
2005. From October 2006 through May 2007, he was featured in the first two parts of
The Coast of Utopia by
Tom Stoppard at
Lincoln Center, playing literary critic
Vissarion Belinsky, for which he received another Tony Award nomination and subsequent win.
Crudup is currently filming
Watchmen with director
Zack Snyder in
Vancouver, Canada. He is portraying the iconic superhero
Doctor Manhattan.
He is on the Board of Directors for
The Actors Center in
New York City.
From 1996 to November 2003, Crudup dated actress
Mary-Louise Parker, with whom he had a son, William Atticus Parker, born on
January 7,
2004. Crudup left Parker while she was seven months pregnant. Widespread speculation was that Crudup left Parker for his
Stage Beauty co-star
Claire Danes. In 2004, Danes and Crudup confirmed that they were dating, but denied the press reports that they were together at the time of Crudup's split with Parker. In December 2006, the couple split after Danes was seen together with her
Evening co-star
Hugh Dancy.
