Tracy Letts Biography

Tracy Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American playwright, screenwriter and actor who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County and a Tony Award for his portrayal of George in the revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?

He wrote the screenplays of three films adapted from his own novels: Bug and Killer Joe, both directed by William Friedkin, and August: Osage County, directed by John Wells.

Life and career

Letts was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to best-selling author Billie Letts (née Gipson) and the late college professor and actor Dennis Letts. His brother Shawn is a jazz musician and composer. He also has a brother Dana. Letts was raised in Durant, Oklahoma and graduated from Durant High School in the early 1980s. He moved to Dallas, where he waited tables and worked in telemarketing while starting as an actor. He acted in Jerry Flemmons' O Dammit!, which was part of a new playwrights series sponsored by Southern Methodist University.

Letts moved to Chicago at the age of 20, and worked for the next 11 years at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Famous Door. He is still an active member of Steppenwolf today. He was a founding member of Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre, whose members included Greg Kotis (Tony Award-winner for Urinetown), Michael Shannon (Academy Award-nominee for Revolutionary Road), Paul Dillon, and Amy Pietz. In 1991, Letts wrote the play Killer Joe. Two years later, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Chicago, followed by the 29th Street Rep in NYC. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in at least 15 countries in 12 languages.

His mother Billie Letts, also a writer, has said of his work, "I try to be upbeat and funny. Everybody in Tracy's stories gets naked or dead." Letts' plays have been about people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he was inspired by the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. Letts considers sound to be a very strong storytelling tool for theater.

Letts married actress Carrie Coon, a costar in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in September of 2013.

Projects

In 2008, Letts won a Tony and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for August: Osage County. It had premiered in Chicago in 2007, before moving to New York. It opened on Broadway in 2007 and ran into 2009.

Letts appeared in the 50th Anniversary Broadway revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as originally presented by the Steppenwolf Theater Company. He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play on June 9, 2013.

Work

Writer

Plays

• 1993 Killer Joe
• 1996 Bug
• 2003 Man from Nebraska
• 2007 August: Osage County
• 2008 Superior Donuts
• 2009 Three Sisters

Screenplays

• 2006 Bug
• 2012 Killer Joe
• 2013 August: Osage County

Actor

Stage

• 1988 The Glass Menagerie
• 1991-1995 Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre
• 1994 Picasso At The Lapin Agile
• 1999 Three Days of Rain
• 2001 Glengarry Glen Ross
• 2002 The Dazzle
• 2003 Homebody/Kabul
• 2004 The Dresser
• 2005 Last of the Boys
• 2005 Orson's Shadow
• 2005 The Pain and the Itch
• 2006 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• 2006 The Pillowman
• 2006 The Well-Appointed Room
• 2007 Betrayal
• 2009 American Buffalo
• 2012 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Filmography

• 1988 Paramedics - Van owner
• 1992 Straight Talk - Sean
• 1995 Home Improvement - Henry (TV)
• 1996 Early Edition - Jonathan / Marksman (TV)
• 1997 Seinfeld - Counterguy (TV)
• 1998 Chicago Cab - Sports fan
• 1998 The Drew Carey Show - Lomax (TV)
• 1998 U.S. Marshals - Sheriff Poe
• 1999 Guinevere - Zack
• 1999 Judging Amy - Mr. Kleinman (TV)
• 2000 Profiler - Mr. Adams (TV)
• 2001 Strong Medicine - Ken (TV)
• 2001 The District - Brad Gilroy (TV)
• 2006 Prison Break - Peter Tucci (TV)
• 2013 Homeland - Sen. Andrew Lockhart (TV)

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play - August: Osage County
• 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - August: Osage County
• 2008 Tony Award for Best Play - August: Osage County
• 2013 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Nominations

• 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Man from Nebraska