Jefferson Mays

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Jefferson Mays (born Lewis Jefferson Mays; June 8, 1965) is an American film, stage and television actor. Mays was raised in Clinton, Connecticut with his parents, a naval intelligence officer and a children's librarian, and his siblings. Mays graduated from Yale College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree, and the University of California, San Diego, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts. Mays appeared on Broadway in I Am My Own Wife, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Doug Wright, from November 2003 (previews) to October 31, 2004. He had appeared in the play Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in May 2003, and at the La Jolla Playhouse in July 2001. Mays won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show, an Obie Award, and a 2004 Theatre World Award for his solo performance. He also won the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play for seasons of I Am My Own Wife in Australia in 2006. In 2007, he appeared as Henry Higgins in a revival of Pygmalion and starred as Private Mason in a revival of Journey's End. In August 2009, Mays appeared at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Quartermaine's Terms by Simon Grey. Mays starred in the 2013 Broadway musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, in which he played eight roles. He won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He also was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and tied for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (with Neil Patrick Harris).

Filmography

Movies and shows, newest first

2026
Los Vampires
Movie George Wilmore
2025
Rebuilding
Movie Mr. Cassidy
2025
Weathermaker
Movie Dad
2023
Seneca
Movie Narrator (voice)
2022
Julia
TV show Albert Duhamel
2021
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Movie Doctor
2021
Hacks
TV show T.L. Gurley
2020
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Movie Narrator
2020
Perry Mason
TV show Virgil Sheets
2019
I Am the Night
TV show George Hodel
2018
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Movie Gilbert Longabaugh (segment "The Gal Who Got Rattled")
2018
Curated
Movie The Curator
2017
Rebel in the Rye
Movie William Maxwell
2016
Westworld
TV show Liam Dempsey, Sr.
2015
Ned Rifle
Movie Dr. Ford
2015
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
TV show Daddy (voice)