Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we're attempting
something pretty ambitious. We're trying to chart
a career path that's so incredibly varied, so,
well, complex, it almost forces you to rethink
what a character actor even is. Exactly. We are
talking about arguably one of the ultimate chameleons
in the business. David Krumholz. David Krumholz,
yeah. An actor who can just slip seemingly effortlessly.
From playing, you know, a fantasy creature to
a Nobel laureate. Yeah. It's quite the journey.
It really is. And he's been doing it for a long
time. Born May 15th, 1978 in New York City. Active
since 92. Right. But the real hook, the thing
that makes his career so fascinating to dive
into is just the sheer extremity of the genres
he's navigated over, what, three decades now.
Yeah. And that dynamic, you see it immediately
when you just look at. two of his maybe most
recognizable roles on one hand okay you've got
the guy who basically cemented himself in holiday
movie history for like generations of kids and
adults bernard the head elf bernard from the
santa claus movies you know perpetually sarcastic
slightly wound up super organized pure family
comedy pure fantasy absolutely pure holiday magic
you could say but then You track that same career,
you know, fast forward a couple of decades later,
and that same actor is getting serious critical
praise, sharing ensemble awards for playing a
real person, the Nobel Prize winning physicist
Isidore Isaac Rabi. In Oppenheimer, no less.
Christopher Nolan's huge biographical drama from
2023. The distance between those two roles. I
mean, think about it. The North Pole workshop
and the labs at Los Alamos during the Manhattan
Project. It's just staggering. So that journey,
right, from like managing elf logistics to being
the moral compass for the guy building the atomic
bomb. That's what this deep dive is all about.
Yeah. Our mission today is basically to figure
out how he did it. What were the choices, the
strategies that allowed him to pull off these
incredible shifts? How do you go from playing
a math genius like Charlie Epps on network TV
for six years? Which was huge. Huge. And then
turn around and wear like heavy full body prosthetics
to play an elderly Jewish woman in a comedy he
created. Gigi does it. Wild. Wild. Or be the
stoner sidekick in the Harold and Kumar movies.
Or, you know, the sort of prophetic hacker in
a cult sci -fi western like Serenity. And that's
just a snapshot. Even listing those few roles,
it forces you to look beyond just the credits
and think about the career itself. It shows he's
not just versatile. He's kind of become indispensable
across different genres. Yeah, it feels like
he managed this balancing act, right? Commercial
success, but always prioritizing artistic risk
somehow. He really did. So that's what we're
diving into. How did David Krumholtz become arguably
Hollywood's most reliable, most versatile, and
maybe... Just maybe one of its most underrated
character actors. OK, let's do it. Let's start
at the beginning. Where does this all come from?
That New York City background seems pretty important.
Oh, absolutely crucial. Krumholz was born and
raised in Queens, New York City. And you really
need to understand this context because it seems
to lay the groundwork for his whole sort of pragmatic
working artist approach. He described it himself,
didn't he, as very working class, almost poor.
Exactly. This wasn't a family with, you know,
deep roots in the arts or Hollywood connections.
This sounds like it was built on hustle, on grit.
His parents' jobs kind of underline that. His
dad, Michael, a postal worker. His mom, Judy,
a dental assistant. Yeah, it points towards,
like you said, stability, hard work rather than
glamour. And the immigrant story is strong there,
too. Very strong. Paternal grandparents came
over from Poland. And his mother's story is even
more immediate. She emigrated from Hungary in
1956. Right after the Hungarian Revolution. Yeah.
So this is a family narrative shaped by resilience,
by starting over. You can almost see echoes of
that in the professional risks he'd take later
on. He went through the NYC public school system,
PS -196, Halsey Junior High, a bit of Forest
Hills High. But the really wild part is how he
got started professionally. It wasn't planned
at all. Completely accidental by his own account.
He was 13, just tagged along with some friends
to an open audition. For a Broadway play, no
less. Conversations with My Father in 1992. And
boom, he lands the role of young Charlie, his
Broadway debut, just like that. It suggests this
raw, natural talent that kind of skipped the
usual training path and threw him right into
the deep end. And what a deep end. Debuting alongside
Jason Biggs, who was also making his debut, but
also acting with established pros like Judd Hirsch
and Tony Schauhub. Imagine the learning curve
there, 13 years old. That kind of intense live
stage training. it Cheaps you differently than
just starting in film, I think. For sure. And
it clearly paid off fast because he transitioned
into film almost immediately after that. Right
away. 1993, he's co -starring with Michael J.
Fox in Life with Mikey. Even got a Young Artist
Award nomination for it. He clearly took to the
camera quickly. And then for so many of us, especially
if you grew up in the 90s, he became unforgettable
that same year. Joel Glicker. Joel Glicker. In
Adam's Family Values, this sort of goth, cynical,
allergic to everything kid at Camp Chippewa,
opposite Christina Ricci's Wednesday. Perfect
casting. He nailed that awkward, smart mouth
outsider thing. Great comedic timing, even then.
But the role that really, really put him on the
map early on and the one that sets up that whole
contradiction we started with has to be Bernard.
Bernard the Elf, the Santa Claus, 1994, sarcastic,
efficient, kind of the stressed out middle manager
of the North Pole. Yeah, that role got a ton
of attention, critically and from audiences.
And it just stuck. It became his defining role
for a whole generation of kids and honestly,
adults too. What's interesting about Bernard
though is how long that character has lasted
in his career. He came back for the Santa Claus
2 in 2002. Right. He actually missed the Santa
Claus 3 in 2006. because of a scheduling conflict.
Which tells you something about how busy he was
becoming with other projects by then. Exactly.
But then, 20 years after the first movie, he
reprises the role for the Disney Plus series,
The Santa Clauses, in 2022. That's a serious
commitment to a character over decades. It's
pretty rare. So what does that signal? Is it
just pragmatism? Like, okay, this role is beloved,
it provides stability, keeps me recognizable.
I think it's definitely smart career management.
Bernard is like... Well, like insurance, in a
way. It keeps him in the public eye, offers that
commercial stability, which then maybe gives
them the freedom to take bigger risks on smaller,
artier projects, the kind of projects that build
his reputation as a serious actor. Makes sense,
because during that same early period, he was
also trying to get a foothold in TV. Yeah. But
it didn't quite stick initially. Yeah, the industry
seemed... interested but maybe didn't know quite
where to put him long term. He did that short
lived sitcom Monty with Henry Winkler in 94.
I vaguely remember that. Blink and you missed
it. He did guest spots like on Law and Order
in 93. Yeah. And he was in a couple of pilots
that didn't go like Chicago Sons in 97 with Jason
Bateman and The Closer in 98 with Tom Selleck.
So the interest was there but maybe the right
vehicle hadn't come along yet for his particular
you know blend of smarts and dry humor. Exactly.
Which brings us to a really key moment in his
strategy. The late 90s. This is where you see
him making a very clear, very conscious effort
to move beyond that kid actor or elf actor label.
He starts pivoting towards serious independent
film. Precisely. It's a make or break move for
a lot of young actors. He pops up in Ang Lee's
The Ice Storm in 1997. That's a heavy, complex
drama. Right. And then Slums of Beverly Hills
in 98, alongside Natasha Lyonne and Alan Arkin,
another critically respected indie. These weren't
blockbuster moves. They were artistic statements.
He was telling the industry, look, I can handle
serious dramatic material. But he balanced that
seriousness perfectly because right after those,
1999, he lands a key role in a massive teen hit.
10 Things I Hate About You. Michael Ekman. Yes,
the guy obsessed with Bianca Strafford. That
movie was huge culturally. It put him right in
the mix with that whole generation of rising
stars, Joseph Gordon -Levitt, Heath Ledger, Julia
Stiles. So he hits the mainstream teen zeitgeist.
But then look what he does immediately after
that. Same year, 1999. What was it? He plays
Yusel in Barry Levinson's Liberty Heights. Ah,
okay. Much heavier. Much heavier. Yusel is this
young Jewish guy, really conflicted, struggling
with identity, assimilation, morality in 1950s
Baltimore. It's a deep, dramatic... character
driven part. So it's not just taking the role.
It's a statement again. It's about showcasing
depth, tackling culturally specific, serious
themes. Exactly. He follows up the big teen comedy
smash with this really thoughtful, grounded,
dramatic performance. That dual approach hitting
the mainstream and immediately anchoring himself
back in serious drama feels like the blueprint
for his whole career, doesn't it? I think it
really is. It sets the template for basically
everything that comes next. Okay, so that groundwork,
especially that useful role, leads us into what
you could call his defining decade, maybe. Roughly
2001 to 2011. This is where he seems to really
solidify himself. Yeah, as both a potential leading
man in certain contexts and as that go -to, super
reliable ensemble player. The Usel role definitely
acted as a calling card, it sounds like. For
sure. It caught the eye of Edward Burns, who
cast him in Sidewalks of New York in 2001. Krumholz
played Betty Basler, who's kind of romantic,
but also a bit obsessive. Again, a nuanced role,
not just a stereotype. And he was aiming higher,
too, right? Trying for lead roles? Yeah, he actually
landed his first... sort of build theatrical
lead in a rom -com called You Scoop It Man in
2002 opposite Milla Jovovich. I don't remember
that one. Well, it never actually got a theatrical
release in the U .S., which is maybe why. But
the point is, the industry saw him as having
that potential to carry a movie. But the real
game changer, the role that really shifted how
people saw him, wasn't a movie at all. It was
a TV film on FX in 2002. Big shot. Confessions
of a Campus Bookie. Okay, right. Based on a true
story. Very true, and pretty gritty. The 1994
Arizona State basketball point -shaving scandal.
Krumholz played Benny Sillman, the college kid,
the bookie, who ended up going to jail for it.
That's a serious departure. High -stakes drama,
moral gray areas. And that's why Big Shot was
so important for him. He was miles away from
the elf or the funny sidekick. Critics really
praised his performance. It was grounded, powerful.
He wasn't just playing a character. He was embodying
a real person involved in a major scandal. So
it proved he could carry that kind of weight.
Yeah. That he was more than just comic relief.
Exactly. It definitively established him as,
like the critics said, not just a sidekick. That
was crucial for avoiding being typecast, especially
with Bernard the Elf still looming large. But
OK. The reality for a working actor, even one
proving dramatic chops, is you still need to
work, right? So he's balancing these serious
bids with more commercial supporting roles. Oh,
absolutely. And while he's doing Big Shot, he's
also about to lock into another iconic, though
very different, recurring role. Goldstein. Enter
Goldstein from the Harold and Kumar movies. He
played their neighbor and buddy in all three
films, 2004, 2008, 2011. That role gave him this
whole other fan base, right? Cemented his place
in stoner comedy legend, great ensemble chemistry
there. Totally. But again, look at the juggling
act. While he's becoming Goldstein for the comedy
crowd, he's also appearing in a serious historical
biopic. Ray. The Ray Charles story, 2004. He
played Milt Shaw, Ray's manager. It just speaks
volumes about how casting directors saw him.
Not as one type, but as this adaptable pro they
could trust to bring authenticity, whether it
was a period drama or a raunchy comedy. And then
right smack in the middle of that, 2005, he jumps
into a completely different sandbox again. Sci
-fi. Joss Whedon's Serenity. Mr. Universe, the
hacker, the info broker, living out in space
with his companion robot. Such a memorable, almost
tragic character in that film. A total cult favorite
role. And think about the demands there. It's
that stylized Whedon dialogue delivered super
fast within this really specific sci -fi world.
So in the space of like two years, he goes from
historical drama, Ray, to broad stoner comedy,
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, to stylized
sci -fi serenity. That's the signature move right
there. That's the Krumholtz versatility in action.
He really became this like Swiss army knife actor
for casting directors. Pretty much. You need
someone reliable for your ensemble. Someone who
can instantly ground a scene or provide the right
tone. Call Krumholtz. Whether it's the 1950s
jazz scene or a futuristic spaceship. And he
sprinkled in some great cameos too during this
time. Popping up in Superbad in 2007 as Benji
Austin. Hilarious scene. And Schwartzberg in
Walk Hard. The Dewey Talk story, small parts,
but in movies that everyone saw. It keeps you
relevant, keeps you working with interesting
people. But the absolute centerpiece of this
whole decade, the gig that really anchored him
professionally and financially. Had to be number
threes. Number three on CBS, ran for six seasons,
2005 to 2010. That was a huge commitment. A total
watershed moment for his career, definitely.
He was the co -lead of a major network procedural.
Playing Charlie Epps. The brilliant mathematician
who helps his FBI agent brother solve crimes
using, like, actual complex math. Yeah, it was
part of that wave of smart procedurals that were
big back then, like House. It made being brainy
kind of cool for primetime. What do you think
the main challenge was playing a character like
Charlie for 118 episodes? Well, probably two
things. First, the technical stuff. He had to
convincingly deliver all that really complex
mathematical jargon week after week and make
it sound natural like he actually understood
it. Which is hard. Incredibly hard. And second,
he had to keep the character human. Charlie could
easily have just been the quirky genius stereotype.
But Krumholtz grounded him, gave him believable
family dynamics, made him relatable despite the
off -the -charts IQ. And critics noticed that.
Matt Rausch, a TV guide, called it probably his
best TV work to date. It really solidified that
image of him as this smart, maybe slightly eccentric,
but ultimately very grounded actor who could
carry a show. And that long run, that stability.
It must have given him a platform, both financially
and professionally, to then think about what
came next, maybe take more risks. Although even
before No. 3, he'd shown he could do serious
TV drama. You mentioned he did a stint on ER.
Yeah, a three -episode arc playing Paul Sabriki,
a patient dealing with schizophrenia. So he was
always seeking out those challenging roles, even
in guest spots. But coming off a hit like Number
3's, finding the next big thing is always tough,
right? Always. It's the classic challenge after
a long procedural run. And yeah, you see that
reflected in his career right after Number 3's
ended. There's a period with a few projects that
didn't quite take off. Like that Taxman pilot
in 2010. Right. And then the Playboy Club in
2011, which got canceled really fast after just
three episodes. Ouch. Yeah. It's just a reminder
that even for a super reliable talented actor,
you're still dependent on the show itself connecting
with an audience. Okay, so that brings us into
the 2010s. Post number three is post -network
anchor. This feels like a period of real reinvention
for him, moving away from network TV towards
maybe more auteur -driven stuff, prestige cable,
and some really bold transformations. I think
strategic reassessment is a good way to put it.
After those quick cancellations, like another
show called Partners in 2012. With Michael Urie,
yeah. Didn't last long either. Right. After those,
he seemed to lean more into high -quality recurring
guest roles on shows that already had critical
buzz. Maybe less time commitment, but more artistic
cachet. Like on the newsroom, Aaron Sorkin's
show. Exactly. He played Dr. Jacob Jacobi for
three episodes, and he did a longer arc, seven
episodes, as Josh Mariner on The Good Wife. So
he is embedding himself in that prestige TV world.
His presence starts to signal a certain level
of quality for the show itself. Yeah, he becomes
that actor where you see him pop up and you think,
OK, this show is serious. But the most radical
move, the thing that really showed he wanted
to break molds and maybe take control. That was
Gigi Does It in 2015. Okay, Gigi. This was the
IFC comedy series where he played the main character,
Gigi, an elderly Jewish woman. Yep, head -to
-toe prosthetics, bodysuit, the whole nine yards,
hours in makeup every day. What does a commitment
like that signal? Especially coming off the relative
safety of network TV just a few years earlier.
It signals, I think, a real desire to shatter
any lingering typecasting and just fundamentally
challenge themselves as a performer. The sheer
physical and vocal transformation required for
Gigi is immense. It's about as far from Turley
Epps as you can possibly get. Exactly. But here's
the really crucial part. He didn't just star
in Gigi, does it? He co -created it. He wrote
it. Ah, okay. So he's taking ownership. Completely.
This wasn't just an acting gig. It was him stepping
up, saying, I have stories to tell, I can create,
I can write, I can do broad physical comedy.
He was demanding to be seen as more than just
the guy who could deliver technical dialogue
convincingly. That's a huge leap. From math genius
solving crimes to... Well, to Gigi. That kind
of artistic boldness, did it open other doors?
Maybe with filmmakers who appreciate risk. It
seems like it might have, because after Gigi,
he starts collaborating with some really major
filmmakers, specifically the Coen brothers. Right.
He was in Hail Caesar in 2016. As communist screenwriter
Hashtag Four, which is such a Coen Brothers character
name. And then he was in their anthology film,
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, in 2018, playing
a Frenchman in one of the saloon segments. Working
with the Coens, even in smaller roles like that,
it gives you serious industry cred, doesn't it?
Oh, immense currency. It basically tells everyone
that you're trusted by filmmakers at the absolute
highest level. And he kept being that reliable
guy in big ensemble casts, too. He was in The
Judge in 2014 playing Mike Kattan. He was in
Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel in 2017 as Jake. He
even did voice work in Sausage Party, the R -rated
animated movie from 2016 voiced Kareem Abdul
-Lavash. He literally covers every corner of
the industry from Broadway stages to animated
food items. He really does. And we shouldn't
forget his skill in ensemble work has been recognized
before. He actually won a Hollywood Film Award
for Ensemble of the Year back in 2006 for the
film Bobby. Oh, right. The ensemble film about
RFK's assassination. Yeah. And he was nominated
for a SAG Award for that same ensemble. He's
the actor you want on your team when you need
every single part to work perfectly together.
But arguably his most significant. sustained
dramatic work in this later period wasn't in
film. It was a return to TV, but this time prestige
cable, specifically HBO. Yeah, and this is where
you really see the difference between network
and premium cable drama. He landed a major role
on The Deuce. David Simon's show about the rise
of the porn industry in New York. Exactly. From
2017 to 2019, he played Harvey Wasserman, an
adult filmmaker. Started as recurring, got bumped
up to series regular for the final season. appeared
in 20 episodes total and those david simon shows
they demand a specific kind of realism complexity
nuanced dialogue completely different skill set
than say number threes it's gritty it's morally
ambiguous it's long form character study and
that work seemed to lead directly into another
big hbo project for him the plot against america
in 2020, the adaptation of the Philip Roth novel.
Right, the alternate history series. He was a
series regular in that, too, playing Monty Levin
across all six episodes. Yeah, tackling really
heavy themes again. The character work in shows
like The Deuce and Plot Against America requires
a depth and consistency that's, frankly, hard
to maintain. He also popped up more recently
in White House Plumbers on HBO in 2023. He's
really carved out a niche for himself in that
top tier of television drama. But then something
really poignant happens. He comes full circle,
in a way. Back to his roots. Back to the stage.
Back to Broadway. After decades away, he returns
in 2022 for a major production. Tom Stoppard's
play, Leopoldstadt. A huge deal, not just returning
to Broadway, where his career literally started
at age 13, but doing it in this incredibly significant
semi -autobiographical play about the Holocaust
by one of the world's greatest living playwrights.
He played Herman Mertz. What was the reception
like? Really strong. He earned a Drama League
Award nomination for Outstanding Performance.
Variety called his performance... vulnerable
and powerful. Taking on a role like that, so
deeply rooted in Jewish history and identity,
especially given his own family background, it
feels like more than just a job. It feels like
an artistic homecoming. Yeah. And maybe a deliberate
choice to connect with something deeply personal
after decades navigating the, you know, often
less personal demands of Hollywood, moving from
the business side to pure artistic expression.
And that intense, dramatic work on stage seems
to flow right into his most high profile film
role in years. Oppenheimer. 2023, playing Isidore
Isaac Rabi. Nolan's film. Huge ensemble cast.
And Rabi, though technically a supporting role,
is strategically vital in that film. He's Oppenheimer's
friend. He's a fellow physicist. But crucially,
he's kind of Oppenheimer's conscience. He's the
one who doesn't join the Manhattan Project directly,
right? He maintains that ethical distance from
the bomb itself. Exactly. He represents that
moral counterbalance throughout the story. And
Krumholz's performance really landed. He shared
the Gold Derby Award for ensemble cast for the
film. It's almost unbelievable, isn't it? The
same actor who gave us Bernard the Elf's cynical
eye rolls is now embodying the moral scrutiny
surrounding the creation of the atomic bomb.
That's the arc. That's the versatility we're
talking about. But to really get the full picture
of how someone sustains that kind of career,
that relentless drive. We have to touch on the
personal context. Yeah. Especially the health
challenges he faced. Right, because that reinvention
decade we talked about, the 2010s, it didn't
start easy for him personally. Let's maybe start
with the positive anchor first, his family. Okay.
Yeah, he married actress Vanessa Britting, her
professional name. She's Vanessa Almeida Gunan
back in May 2010. Big wedding at the Plaza Hotel
in New York. And they have two children. Yes,
a daughter and a son, both born in the 2010s.
And that family focus maybe prompted a big life
change, too. A move. It seems like it. In 2017,
they relocated. moved from Los Angeles back east,
settling in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Back closer
to his New York roots. Feels significant, doesn't
it? Especially with him returning to Broadway
a few years later. Like a geographical shift,
mirroring an artistic one, maybe moving towards
things that felt more grounded or personally
resonant. But before that move, right at the
beginning of that decade, he faced a really serious
health crisis. A major one. July 2011, right
after number threes had ended, while he was sort
of in that uncertain phase professionally. He
was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Wow. That
puts everything in perspective. Absolutely. He
started radioactive iodine treatment about five
months later, and thankfully the outcome was
positive. He was declared cancer -free by the
end of January 2012. Facing something like cancer,
especially during a period when your career is
already in flux, it must change how you approach
things. You'd have to think so. It makes those
subsequent creative choices, like taking the
huge risk on Gigi does it, look less like...
Just trying something random and more like. Yeah.
Maybe a conscious decision to prioritize work
that felt artistically fulfilling, challenging,
maybe even necessary over just chasing the next
stable gig. The urgency probably shifts. The
what do I really want to be doing question becomes
louder. Exactly. Maybe that explains the drive
to create his own material, to tell his own stories
in his own way. There's also another layer to
the personal context, something much more recent
that he spoke about very candidly. Yeah. In an
interview with The New York Times just in October
2024, he opened up about a different health struggle.
This one related to cannabis use. What did he
share? He talks pretty openly about developing
a significant reliance on cannabis and described
a really difficult period where it seriously
impacted his health. He mentioned losing over
100 pounds at one point, being hospitalized multiple
times with severe physical symptoms. That takes
courage to talk about publicly. Immense courage.
He was eventually diagnosed with something called
cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. Okay. And this
openness, what does it add to our understanding
of his career? Well, I think it provides crucial
context about the pressures involved. The sheer
emotional and mental toll of maintaining such
a demanding, constantly shifting professional
life -switching characters, dealing with the
instability between jobs, the public scrutiny
can manifest in very real, very intense personal
struggles behind the scenes. It's part of that
unseen emotional labor we sometimes talk about.
And he also shared that he stopped using marijuana
now. Yes, he confirmed he stopped entirely after
the diagnosis and getting treatment, which again
points to that resilience we keep seeing. The
ability to face a profound challenge, whether
it's cancer or addiction or a career crossroads,
and make the necessary changes. The guy who plays
resilient characters seems to practice it profoundly
in his own life, too. So if we try to wrap this
all up, synthesize this incredible three -decade
journey. What's the core theme? What defines
the career of David Krumholtz? For me, it's this
unwavering commitment to the truth of the character
no matter what. It transcends genre. It transcends
physical demands. He's a deep actor. Totally.
Whether that character needs him to understand
and articulate complex math for years like Charlie
Epps or disappear inside prosthetics like Gigi
or find the cynical heart of an elf like Bernard.
He brings this grounded intelligence, this authenticity
every single time. He really does excel at being
that vital supporting piece, doesn't he? The
character actor who doesn't just fill a role,
but elevates the entire scene, the entire project.
He's never just one note. He often provides the
context, the intelligence, sometimes even the
moral compass, like we saw with Robbie in Oppenheimer.
His career really proves that long term success
in this business isn't always about being the
flashy leading man. It can be about becoming
indispensable, being the actor whose versatility
means you're never typecast and whose skill means
your absence would be genuinely felt. Well said.
He's built a career on being consistently excellent
in wildly inconsistent roles. So thinking about
that range and especially. his recent return
to really personal work like Lee Polstadt on
Broadway, a role he said helped him reconnect
with my own Judaism. It leaves you with a kind
of final thought, doesn't it? What's that? How
does an actor who started out channeling his
working class queen's background on a Broadway
stage manage to consistently bring such genuine
humanity, such deep context to characters that
span literal fantasy, complex history, and cutting
edge science? That really gets to the heart of
it. It makes you wonder about the unseen. effort,
the emotional heavy lifting required to maintain
that kind of fluidity. To be able to mentally
and emotionally pivot from playing, say, Goldstein
in Harold and Kumar, to embodying Herman Mertz
facing the Holocaust in Leopoldstadt, or Isidore
Rabi grappling with the ethics of the atomic
bomb. The constant shifting of gears must be
exhausting. You'd imagine so. But Krumholtz's
career is kind of a masterclass in how that dedication,
that hard -won versatility combined with personal
resilience can pay off artistically. It feels
like he somehow manages to inject a little piece
of that queen's reality, that groundedness, into
every single role, no matter how fantastical
or historical. It makes you think, doesn't it?
How does playing someone like Robbie, who carried
such immense ethical weight, maybe influence
how the actor himself reconciles the intense
demands of his own career with his own life,
his own well -being? That ongoing negotiation
between the public artist and the private person,
maybe that's the most compelling story of all.