From Broadway to DOWNTON ABBEY: A Look at Paul Giamatti's Stage Career

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE is coming soon, and the new film is full of beloved actors whose talents have graced both stage and screen. One of them is Paul Giamatti.

A graduate of Yale College and Yale School of Drama, Giamatti is no stranger to the stage. Though these days, he is best known for his onscreen appearances in films like The Holdovers, the acclaimed performer has a professional theater career going back more than thirty years. Giamatti has been seen on many notable stages such as La Mama E.T.C., Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and Annex Theatre.

Giamatti made his Broadway debut in 1995 with Lincoln Center Theater's production of Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia. With a timeline that alternates between the early 19th century and the present day, the play explores the relationship between scientific and mathematical ideas of the past and the present. In the original production, Giamatti played Ezra Chater, an amateur poet and botanist from the 19th century. He starred alongside Blair Brown, Billy Crudup, and Victor Garber.

That same year, Giamatti returned to Broadway in Racing Demon, another Lincoln Center production that opened three months after the closing of Arcadia, once again playing at the Vivian Beaumont. With an ensemble that also included Kathleen Chalfont and Denis O'Hare, the play looks at the dynamic between older clergy from the Church of England and younger evangelical leaders who attempt to win over those in a community in South London. Giamatti played the character of Rev. Donald "Streaky" Bacon.

Before his return to Broadway in 1997, Giamatti starred in Manhattan Theatre Club's production of The Blues Are Running in 1996. Starring alongside his real-life brother, Marcus Giamatti, Michael Cristofer's comedy play takes place on a park bench, with the two actors playing all six characters. 

Beginning in January of 1997, Giamatti was once again seen on a Broadway stage in the revival of Anton Chekov's beloved play The Three Sisters. Reuniting with his Arcaida co-star, Billy Crudup, Giamatti played Andrei Prozorov, the brother of the titular sisters. Directed by Scott Elliott, the production also starred Calista Flockhart, Jerry Stiller, and David Straithairn.

Giamatti's next Broadway role came in 1999 with a revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. The production itself received several accolades, including Tony nominations for Best Revival of a Play and Best Direction of a Play. For his performance as James Cameron, he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

Though he has yet to return to Broadway since 1999, the actor has continued to perform in other productions in the years since. In 2002, Giamatti appeared in the National Actors Theatre's production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. The show featured a star-studded cast, including Al Pacino, Charles Durning, John Goodman, Sterling K. Brown, and Steve Buscemi. (Fun fact: Giamatti had previously played a different role in a 1988 production at Williamstown Theatre Festival.)

After several years of focusing mostly on onscreen roles, Giamatti returned to his alma mater to play the coveted title role in Hamlet at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2013, directed by James Bundy. This production marks his most recent theater credit.

As a character actor, Giamatti continues to impress onscreen, most recently with his celebrated turn as Professor Paul Hunham in 2023's The Holdovers. For his performance, the actor won a Golden Globe award and received his second Academy Award (his first came in 2005 for Cinderella Man). Up next is Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, where the actor will reprise his role as Cora Grantham’s brother Harold Levinson, a character he played in the season four Christmas Special. He is also confirmed to star in Jesse Eisenberg's next film as a dynamic theater director, a clever nod to his stage roots.

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE, the cinematic return of the global phenomenon, follows the Crawley family and their staff as they enter the 1930s. When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.

The time has come to say goodbye. Experience the motion picture event only in theaters September 12. Get tickets now at DowntonAbbey.com.