Corey Stoll

Character actor Corey Stoll gained critical recognition for portraying one of the most iconic literary figures of all time in a film written and directed by Woody Allen. While lesser actors might have been intimidated by playing Ernest Hemingway in an Allen film, Stoll brought the author back to life in "Midnight in Paris" (2011) with a nuanced, scene-stealing performance. Growing up with a background in experimental theater and performance art, Stoll eventually made his way to Hollywood and quickly landed supporting roles on television dramas and acclaimed features such as "North Country" (2005).

He often returned to his theater roots; in fact, it was a Broadway appearance that introduced Stoll to cinematic auteur Allen, who invited him to read for a part in "Midnight in Paris." Landing the role of Hemingway put Stoll on the map, and set him up for a long and successful career as an actor of the stage and screen.

Corey Daniel Stoll was born on March 14, 1976 on the Upper West Side of New York City. His love for acting began at a young age. Between 1988 and 1992, Stoll studied drama at Long Lake Camp for the Arts in New York before graduating in 1998 from Oberlin College, a performing and liberal arts institution in Ohio. Stoll mainly acted in experimental theater and performance art projects throughout college. After his return to New York, the actor immersed himself in the theater world.

When a play he was in transferred production to Los Angeles, Stoll decided to join the company and move out West. He landed his first television role in 2004, playing a clerk of an adult store in an episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS, 2000-15). His early career also included minor appearances on hit shows such as "NYPD Blue" (ABC, 1993-2005), "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009), and "Law & Order" (NBC, 1990-2010).

After taking on a myriad of television roles, Stoll made his feature film debut in "North Country." The drama was based on the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law and starred Charlize Theron in an Academy Award-nominated performance. Stoll was next cast as an orthodox Jewish hit man in the 2006 crime drama "Lucky Number Slevin" opposite Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, and Josh Hartnett.

That same year, he was cast as the boyfriend of the titular character in the TV movie "A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story" (Lifetime). The heartbreaking film was a fact-based drama about a transgender teen (J.D. Pardo) murdered by several men whom she was romantically involved with. Stoll continued with the action feature route that had begun with "Lucky Number Slevin" by taking on supporting parts in "Push" (2009) and "Salt" (2010), starring Angelina Jolie. He also landed his first starring role on a television series, playing a young, smart-mouthed detective on the short-lived "Law & Order: Los Angeles" (NBC, 2010-11).

Stoll often returned to his theater roots even while establishing his film and television career. In 2010, he co-starred with Scarlett Johansson and Live Schreiber on a Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's play "A View from the Bridge" (1955). When legendary filmmaker Woody Allen - who directed Stoll's co-star Johansson in several films - saw a performance of "A View from the Bridge," he was taken by Stoll's acting and asked him to read for a part in his feature film "Midnight in Paris" (2011).

Set in the modern day City of Lights, the romantic comedy starred Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams as a couple exploring the French city, with Wilson's character setting off on his own and entering a fantastical world that takes him back to 1920s Paris, where he meets literary and art giants such as F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody). Stoll was cast as the boorish, temperamental, and hard-drinking writer Ernest Hemingway. In a film filled with A-list names and delightful acting and with Allen at the helm, critics praised Stoll's deadpan portrayal of Hemingway, down to nailing the author's lyrical voice.

His revelatory performance in "Midnight in Paris" earned Stoll a nomination for Best Supporting Male at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards.

On the small screen, Stoll had a regular role as Detective Tomas "T.J." Jaruszalski on "Law & Order: LA" (NBC, 2010-11), yet another spin-off in Dick Wolf's perpetual "Law & Order" franchise. His T.J. was a Hollywood native, cynical of the entertainment industry and knowledgeable about narcotics from his days in vice who always managed to drop a sarcastic remark at just the right moment. After that series was canceled due to low ratings, Stoll returned to the big screen for a minor role in the action thriller "The Bourne Legacy" (2012), before returning to television with a major part in "House of Cards" (Netflix, 2013- ), a widely talked about series due to its entire first season being exclusively available for streaming over Netflix.

Stoll played Rep. Peter Russo, a drug-addled congressman whose arrest for drunk driving and soliciting prostitution lands him under the thumb of Machiavellian politico Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), who uses Russo to do his dirty work in exacting revenge for being passed over by the president (Michael Gill) as Secretary of Defense. Stoll's tragic performance became a fan favorite and the series itself was widely hailed by critics. After a supporting role in the acclaimed TV adaptation of Larry Kramer's play "The Normal Heart" (2014), Stoll co-starred in the TV thriller series "The Strain" (FX 2014) and co-starred in the family drama "This Is Where I Leave You" (2014) with Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Jane Fonda.

By Candy Cuenco