# What is the best John Lithgow acting performance?

> From serial killers to animated villains to Churchill himself, his range spans six decades of film, television, and the stage — including a Tony win at 80 that made history. Which Lithgow performance is the undisputed peak?

*By YPB Team · Published June 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-john-lithgow-acting-performance*

---

## Current results (3 votes)

1. **Roald Dahl – Giant (Broadway)** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Lithgow's 2026 Tony Award-winning performance as author Roald Dahl in the Broadway play Giant, making him the oldest man ever to win a competitive acting Tony Award.
2. **Eric Qualen – Cliffhanger** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 898/1000)
   Lithgow's scenery-chewing turn as the ruthless international terrorist and main villain pursuing Sylvester Stallone across the Rocky Mountains in the 1993 action thriller.
3. **Arthur Mitchell – Dexter Season 4** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 897/1000)
   Lithgow's Emmy and Golden Globe-winning performance as the Trinity Killer, a Sunday-school teacher and family man living a horrifying double life as a serial killer.
4. **Donald – Interstellar** — 0% (0 votes · score 807/1000)
   Lithgow's warm and understated performance as the elderly grandfather holding the family together while Cooper ventures into space in Christopher Nolan's 2014 epic.
5. **Sam Burns – Terms of Endearment** — 0% (0 votes · score 692/1000)
   Lithgow's second consecutive Oscar-nominated role as a shy, sweet banker who forms a romance with Debra Winger's character in James L. Brooks' 1983 tearjerker.
6. **Dick Solomon – 3rd Rock from the Sun** — 0% (0 votes · score 538/1000)
   Lithgow's Emmy-winning turn as an alien physicist hilariously adjusting to human life, anchoring the NBC sitcom for six seasons from 1996 to 2001.
7. **Sidney Falco – Sweet Smell of Success (Broadway)** — 0% (0 votes · score 538/1000)
   Lithgow's Tony Award-winning Broadway turn as the scheming press agent Sidney Falco in the 2002 musical adaptation of the 1957 film noir.
8. **Harry Henderson – Harry and the Hendersons** — 0% (0 votes · score 323/1000)
   Lithgow's lovable lead performance as a suburban dad who discovers and shelters a Bigfoot in this 1987 family comedy that ran for years as a TV series.
9. **Roberta Muldoon – The World According to Garp** — 0% (0 votes · score 323/1000)
   Lithgow's Oscar-nominated supporting performance as a transgender former NFL player and friend to T.S. Garp in George Roy Hill's 1982 adaptation.
10. **Lord Farquaad – Shrek** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Lithgow's delightfully megalomaniacal voice performance as the tiny-statured villain Lord Farquaad in DreamWorks' 2001 animated blockbuster.
11. **Winston Churchill – The Crown** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Lithgow's Emmy-winning portrayal of an aging Winston Churchill navigating his twilight political years in the first two seasons of Netflix's royal drama.
12. **Rev. Shaw Moore – Footloose** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Lithgow's commanding 1984 role as the repressive small-town preacher who has banned dancing and music, and proves surprisingly sympathetic as the story unfolds.
13. **John Valentine – Twilight Zone: The Movie** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Lithgow's frenzied, paranoid performance as an airline passenger convinced he sees a gremlin dismantling the plane's engine, his personal favorite of all his film roles.

Tags: movies, actors, tv shows, performances