Lewis Pullman

Lewis James Pullman is an American actor. A son of actor Bill Pullman, he began his acting career with the film The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017), starring his father. His subsequent film credits include The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), Bad Times at the El Royale (2018), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). On television, he has played Major Major Major Major in Catch-22 (2019) and starred in Outer Range (2022) and Lessons in Chemistry (2023). For playing a chemist in the last of these, he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Awards and Independent Spirit Awards.

Early life, family and education

Pullman is the son of actor Bill Pullman and modern dancer Tamara Hurwitz. He has a sister, Maesa, who is a singer-songwriter, and a brother, Jack, who is a puppet-maker. His mother is of Russian and Jewish descent.

He said he was "on the tractor division [in college]. I figured if acting didn't work out I could be on the road crew, working the back hoe." In 2015, he graduated from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina, with a bachelor's degree in Social Work.

Career

Pullman plays the drums in the band Atta Boy alongside Eden Brolin, Freddy Reish, and Dashel Thompson. They released their first album, Out of Sorts, in 2012 as a "whimsical experiment." Their second album, Big Heart Manners, was released in 2020 after an eight-year hiatus.

Pullman began his acting career with several short films, starting with The Tutor in 2013. He had to split his time between living in Los Angeles and Montana. After graduating college in 2015, he was asked by filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris to audition for Highston, a television series from Sacha Baron Cohen and Amazon Studios. In September 2015, his casting was confirmed and the series was given a six-episode order. The series starred Pullman in the lead role as a 19-year-old whose imaginary friends were real-life celebrities. The pilot episode, guest-starring Flea and Shaquille O'Neal, was well received by critics. In December 2017, however, Highston was canceled after only one episode.

Pullman made his feature film acting debut in 2017 with The Ballad of Lefty Brown, a Western starring his father in the titular lead role. His additional roles in 2017 include the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led Aftermath, the British drama Lean on Pete, and the critically acclaimed film Battle of the Sexes, the latter also starring his father.

In 2018, Pullman had a leading role in the slasher film The Strangers: Prey at Night. Though the film received mixed reviews when compared to its predecessor, it was a box-office success, grossing $32.1 million against a $5 million production budget. That same year, he starred alongside Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, and Chris Hemsworth in Bad Times at the El Royale. On casting Pullman, writer and director Drew Goddard said "it was one of those good old-fashioned casting searches. After meeting with lots and lots and lots of actors, Lewis came in and you just felt that immediately. The last time that happened, quite honestly, was when Chris Hemsworth walked in for The Cabin in the Woods. You're just looking for actors who inherently fit the role — and then also transcend the role. Lewis had that sort of magic." Upon release, the film received generally positive reviews from critics, and his performance was also singled out, with Den of Geek calling it a "standout" and The Seattle Times writing that he "shines as the troubled desk clerk, who serves as the film's (very) late-arriving moral conscience."

In 2019, Pullman had a recurring role as Major Major Major Major in Catch-22, the George Clooney-led Hulu adaptation of the 1961 novel. He also starred in the thriller Them That Follow, and in 2020, he had a small role in the indie film Pink Skies Ahead. In 2022, Pullman played Rhett Abbott in the Amazon series Outer Range, Lieutenant Robert "Bob" Floyd in the Tom Cruise-led sequel Top Gun: Maverick, and the romantic lead in Press Play. Top Gun: Maverick wrapped filming in 2019 but was delayed several times before releasing in 2022; it grossed over $1.4 billion in theaters and is Pullman's highest-grossing film to date. In 2023, Pullman played a youth pastor in The Starling Girl, the president of a fraternity in The Line, and had a major role in William Friedkin's final film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. He also starred alongside Brie Larson in the Apple TV+ miniseries Lessons in Chemistry. He will next star in the crime thriller Skincare, the James Wan-produced horror film adaptation of Stephen King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot, and as Robert Reynolds / Sentry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thunderbolts*, scheduled to be released in 2025.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Lewis Pullman at IMDb