Jesse Plemons (/ˈplɛmənz/; born April 2, 1988)[1][2][3] is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a breakthrough with his role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series Friday Night Lights (2006–2011). He subsequently portrayed Todd Alquist in season 5 of the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2012–2013) and its sequel film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019). For his role as Ed Blumquist in season 2 of the FX anthology series Fargo (2015), he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination and won a Critics' Choice Television Award.[3] He received a second Emmy nomination for his performance in "USS Callister", an episode of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror (2017).
Jesse Plemons | |
|---|---|
 Plemons in 2015 | |
| Born | April 2, 1988 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Plemons has acted in supporting roles in film such as The Master (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015), Game Night (2018), The Irishman (2019), Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). He starred in Other People (2016) and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). For playing a rancher in The Power of the Dog (2021), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and for playing three roles in the anthology film Kinds of Kindness (2024), he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
Early life
editPlemons was born in Dallas, Texas,[4] and raised in Mart, Texas, a small town 21 miles (33.7 km) east of Waco.[3] He is the younger of two children to Jim Bob, a firefighter and amateur rodeo competitor and Lisa Plemons, a special education trainer.[5][6]
In 2007, Plemons graduated from the Texas Tech University Independent School District, a distance learning program, which allowed him to earn his high school diploma.[7] He attended schools in Mart, playing football in middle school, junior high, and at Mart High School, until he received more acting jobs and shifted to the online program.[8]
Career
edit1991–2006: Early career
editPlemons got his start in a Coca-Cola commercial at age 3. When he was 8, he started doing extra work, and, with the support of his family, spent time auditioning in Los Angeles and landing small jobs.[9] After appearing in the films Varsity Blues (1999) and All the Pretty Horses (2000), and guest-starring on Walker, Texas Ranger and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Plemons' first prominent role was in the film Children on their Birthdays (2002).[10] He later appeared in Like Mike (2002) and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (2003), with guest roles on the television series Judging Amy, The Lyon's Den, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Grey's Anatomy between 2003 and 2006.[10]
2006–2011: Breakthrough with Friday Night Lights
edit
In 2006, when he was 18, Plemons joined the ensemble cast of NBC's television series Friday Night Lights, filmed in Austin, Texas, detailing the fictional events surrounding a high school football team in fictional Dillon, Texas. In the show's first season, his character Landry Clarke provided comic relief as the best friend of football quarterback Matt Saracen, though Landry himself was not on the team.[11] Among the cast and crew, the joke was that Plemons played football better than most of the other actors, even though his character was one of the few who did not play.[11]
Landry joined the Panthers football team in the second season, and Plemons, having played high school football, told director Jeffrey Reiner that he would do his own stunts.[12] In his first football scene, Landry had to "get the crap beat out of [him] over and over and over again".[12] When hit by co-star Taylor Kitsch (playing Tim Riggins) Plemons' chin split open, requiring eleven stitches.[12] The show, a fan and critic favorite, ended after five seasons after shifting to DirecTV in 2011.[13]
In 2012, Plemons reunited with Kitsch and Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg in the film Battleship.[14] Berg, who directed the film, explained that he knew how comfortable Kitsch was with Plemons: "I know that he's really good for Taylor and he makes Taylor better. So, I wrote that whole part for Jesse. I never thought of it as a Friday Night Lights reunion. I thought of it as protection, bringing a trusted family member in."[15]
2011–2019: Character work
editFrom 2012 to 2013, Plemons portrayed Todd Alquist[16] during the final season of the AMC drama series Breaking Bad.[17][18] He was a recurring cast member in Season 5A and was promoted to series regular for Season 5B.[19][20] Fans of Breaking Bad nicknamed him "Meth Damon", due to Plemons' resemblance to actor Matt Damon.[21][8][9][22] One of his first film roles, at age 12, was playing the younger version of Damon's character in the film All the Pretty Horses (2000).
In 2012, Plemons also had a supporting role in the Paul Thomas Anderson drama The Master as the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, an actor to whom his physical appearance has been compared. In January 2014, Plemons was in consideration to be one of the new stars of Star Wars Episode VII (Star Wars: The Force Awakens).[23][24] In March 2014, Plemons, along with four other actors, were being considered for the lead role of Finn in Episode VII.[25] The role, however, went to British actor John Boyega. Plemons played mobster Kevin Weeks in the Boston-set mob film Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp, which opened in theaters in September 2015. Also that year, he appeared in the Stephen Frears film about Lance Armstrong, The Program, and the Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies.
In late-2015, Plemons co-starred in the second season of the TV show Fargo.[3] He portrayed Ed Blumquist, a butcher and the husband of Peggy Blumquist (Kirsten Dunst).[26] For his performance, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.[27] In 2016, Plemons starred in the film Other People. In 2017, he appeared in the Doug Liman thriller film American Made, the Scott Cooper western Hostiles, and Steven Spielberg's historical drama The Post.
In December 2017, Plemons appeared in "USS Callister", an episode in the fourth series of the anthology show Black Mirror. Plemons played Robert Daly, the episode's main character and a sadistic introvert, and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2018, Plemons had supporting roles in two films, the comedy Game Night and Adam McKay's Dick Cheney biopic Vice, which he narrated. In 2019 he had a supporting role in the Martin Scorsese crime drama The Irishman, which premiered at the New York Film Festival on September 27, 2019. He also reprised his role as Todd Alquist in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
2020–present: Career expansion
editIn 2020, Plemons received critical praise and a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination for Best Actor for his lead performance in Charlie Kaufman's psychological drama I'm Thinking of Ending Things.[28] In 2021, Plemons gave supporting performances in Judas and the Black Messiah, a film about civil rights activist Fred Hampton[29][30] and the Disney adventure film Jungle Cruise.[31] In the same year, Plemons starred in the supernatural horror film Antlers, again collaborating with director Scott Cooper,[32] and starred once again alongside his real life partner and Fargo co-star Kirsten Dunst in Jane Campion's western drama The Power of the Dog,[33] for which he has received praise and a number of accolades, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2022, Plemons starred in Charlie McDowell's noir thriller Windfall, which also marked his first credit as a producer.[34] It was about this time Plemons noted that the number of people referring to him by his nickname "Meth Damon" had started to decline.[35]
In 2023, Plemons starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen in the HBO Max true crime series Love & Death[36] and reunited with Martin Scorsese for a supporting role in his western-thriller Killers of the Flower Moon, which he starred in alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro.[37] The film premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. In September 2022, Plemons was announced to be starring alongside Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley in Yorgos Lanthimos's film Kinds of Kindness,[38] which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Plemons won the Best Actor award.[39]
Plemons will next play a supporting role in the Robert De Niro-led Netflix political thriller series Zero Day, which will reunite him with Love and Death director Lesli Linka Glatter,[40] and a leading role in the science fiction comedy film Bugonia, which will reunite him with Lanthimos.[41]
Personal life
editPlemons is married to fellow actor Kirsten Dunst since 2022. He began a relationship with his Fargo co-star in March 2016,[42] and the two got engaged a year later.[43] The couple welcomed their first son born in 2018[44] and their second son born in 2021.[45] In February 2022, Plemons and Dunst were both nominated for Academy Awards for their roles in The Power of the Dog.[46] They were officially married in July of that year.[47]
Filmography
edit| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Film
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Finding North | Hobo | |
| 1999 | Varsity Blues | Tommy Harbor | |
| 2000 | All the Pretty Horses | Young John Grady Cole | |
| 2002 | Children on Their Birthdays | Preacher Star | |
| Like Mike | Ox | ||
| 2003 | When Zachary Beaver Came to Town | Jay | |
| The Failures | Boe | ||
| 2008 | The Flyboys | Bully No. 1 | |
| 2009 | Observe and Report | Charles | |
| Shrink | Jesus | ||
| 2010 | Happiness Runs | Chad | |
| Meeting Spencer | Spencer West | ||
| 2011 | Paul | Jake | |
| 2012 | The Master | Val Dodd | |
| Battleship | Jimmy "Ordy" Ord | ||
| 2014 | The Homesman | Garn Sours | |
| Flutter | David | ||
| 2015 | Black Mass | Kevin Weeks | |
| The Program | Floyd Landis | ||
| Bridge of Spies | Joe Murphy | ||
| 2016 | Other People | David Mulcahey | |
| 2017 | The Discovery | Toby Harbor | |
| American Made | Sheriff Joe Downing | ||
| Hostiles | Lieutenant Rudy Kidder | ||
| The Post | Roger Clark | ||
| 2018 | Game Night | Gary Kingsbury | |
| Vice | Kurt | ||
| 2019 | The Irishman | Chuckie O'Brien | |
| El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | Todd Alquist | ||
| 2020 | Snow Globe: A Breaking Bad Short | Short film | |
| I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Jake | ||
| 2021 | Judas and the Black Messiah | Roy Mitchell | |
| Jungle Cruise | Prince Joachim | ||
| The Power of the Dog | George Burbank | ||
| Antlers | Sheriff Paul Meadows | ||
| 2022 | Windfall | CEO | Also producer |
| 2023 | Killers of the Flower Moon | Tom White | |
| 2024 | Civil War | Militiaman | Uncredited cameo[48] |
| Kinds of Kindness | Robert, Daniel, Andrew | ||
| 2025 | Bugonia † | TBA | Filming |
| TBA | Judy † | TBA | Filming |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Russell, Jr. | Episode: "The General's Return" |
| 2001 | The Guardian | Lawrence Neal | Episode: "Paternity" |
| Sabrina, the Teenage Witch | Bigger Kid | Episode: "Really Big Season Opener" | |
| 2003 | The Lyon's Den | Ray Ferris | Episode: "The Other Side of Caution" |
| Judging Amy | James Franklin | Episode: "Marry, Marry Quite Contrary" | |
| 2004 | Huff | Dawson James | Episode: "Cold Day in Shanghai" |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Owen Durbin | Episode: "Down the Drain" | |
| 2006 | Grey's Anatomy | Jake Burton | Episode: "Yesterday" |
| NCIS | Jason Geckler | Episode: "Deception" | |
| 2006–2011 | Friday Night Lights | Landry Clarke | 59 episodes |
| 2008 | Fear Itself | Lemmon | Episode: "The Sacrifice" |
| 2009 | Cold Case | Ryan Stewart | Episode: "Into the Blue/The Long Blue Line" |
| 2011 | Childrens Hospital | Jesse | Episode: "Father's Day" |
| 2012 | Bent | Gary | 6 episodes |
| 2012–2013 | Breaking Bad | Todd Alquist | 13 episodes |
| 2014, 2016, 2018 |
Drunk History | Various roles | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | Olive Kitteridge | Jerry McCarthy | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Fargo | Ed Blumquist | 10 episodes |
| 2017 | No Activity | Angus | 8 episodes |
| Black Mirror | Captain Robert Daly | Episode: "USS Callister" | |
| 2023 | Love & Death | Allan Gore | Miniseries, 7 episodes |
| TBA | Zero Day | Roger Carlson | Upcoming miniseries |
Accolades
editReferences
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- ^ "Today in History". Associated Press. April 2, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Valby, Karen (September 7, 2015). "Jesse Plemons Moves on and on from 'Friday Night Lights'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
This fall offers chance after chance to see just how Mr. Plemons, 27...
- ^ "Amy Schumer's seat-filler joke with Dallas-born Jesse Plemons at the Oscars draws criticism". The Dallas Morning News. March 30, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
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