John Magaro can look back at an impressive filmography that consists of projects from the world of film, television, and theater. He has just celebrated an outright triumph with Celine Song’s Past Lives (2023). His more recent works also include Tolga Karaçelik’s The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer (2024), Jack Huston’s Day of the Fight (2023), Shane Atkinson’s LaRoy, Texas (2023), George Tillman Jr.’s Big George Foreman (2023), Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up (2022) with Michelle Williams, which debuted at Cannes in 2022, and Phyllis Nagy’s Call Jane (2022), which was invited to Sundance in 2022.
The German production The Girl from Köln (2024) by Ido Fluk, starring Mala Emde, in which Magaro plays the world-famous jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein story The Bride (2025), in which his September 5 colleague Peter Sarsgaard also stars, alongside Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz, are both already in the finalization phase.
Magaro plays a supporting role in The Many Saints of Newark (2021), the prequel to the series The Sopranos, which brought him together with David Chase once again. Michael Gandolfini, Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, and Vera Farmiga also feature in the film, whose story is set during the Newark uprisings of the 1960s. In Eytan Rockaway’s Lansky (2021) he plays the part of the young Meyer Lansky alongside Harvey Keitel and Sam Worthington.
Magaro had already worked with Kelly Reichardt on First Cow (2019), in which he played the role of Otis “Cookie” Figowitz. The film, whose screenplay was written by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond, had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in 2019 and then appeared in competition at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. First Cow won the Best Film award at the 2020 New York Film Critics Circle Awards® and the National Board of Review® voted it one of the ten best films of that year. Magaro was nominated for a Gotham Award for his acting performance.
Magaro also appeared in Adam McKay’s The Big Short (2015), whose cast won awards in 2015 from the National Board of Review and at the Palm Springs Film Festival. Magaro was also nominated as part of the ensemble for a Critics Choice Award® and a Screen Actors Guild® Award.
His filmography also includes Craig Gillespie’s The Finest Hours (2016), Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015), Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken (2014), David Chase’s Not Fade Away (2012), which brought him the “Hollywood Spotlight Award” at the Hollywood Film Awards, Josh Radnor’s Liberal Arts (2012), Harold Guskin’s Down the Shore (2011), Wes Craven’s My Soul to Take (2010), Richard Kelly’s The Box (2009), Brett Simon’s Assassination of a High School President (2008), Vadim Perelman’s The Life Before Her Eyes (2007), and Neil Jordan’s The Brave One (2007).
Magaro is also no stranger to television. He recently appeared alongside Elliot Page in the hit Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, based on the eponymous comic book series by Gerard Way, and in the Amazon series Jack Ryan with John Krasinski and Crisis In Six Scenes alongside Rachel Brosnahan, Miley Cyrus, and Elaine May. He played recurring roles in series such as Orange Is the New Black, The Good Wife, and Taking Chance with Kevin Bacon. He has had guest appearances in Law & Order: SVU, Person of Interest, Body of Proof, Law & Order, and Conviction.
In the theatrical world, Magaro has appeared on stage at The Public Theater, playing Joe Papp in Richard Nelson’s Illyria. He celebrated his debut on Broadway in a remarkable supporting role in the new staging of Scott Rudin’s The Front Page in a production by Jack O’Brien. He also played the leading male role in the critically acclaimed Tigers Be Still by writer Kimberly Rosenstock and director Sam Gold for the Roundabout Theatre Company and was part of the ensemble of Rod McLauchlan’s Good Television in a production by Bob Krakower for the Atlantic Theater Company.
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