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Early life

Thomas Griffin Dunne was born on June 8, 1955, in New York City. He is the oldest child of Ellen Beatriz (née Griffin) and Dominick Dunne. His father was born and raised in an Irish Catholic family, while his maternal grandfather was Irish-American and his maternal grandmother was from Sonora, Mexico.¹² He is the older brother of Alexander and Dominique Dunne. His mother founded the victims' rights organization Justice for Homicide Victims after Dominique's murder in 1982. His father was a journalist, producer, writer, and actor.³⁴ He is also a nephew of writers John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. Raised in Los Angeles, Dunne attended the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, where he developed an interest in acting, appearing in many school plays. He was scheduled to perform in a school production of Othello when, on the eve of a performance, a teacher found him smoking marijuana. Dunne was subsequently expelled, and moved back to New York to pursue his acting interests.⁵ He studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre under Sanford Meisner.⁶⁷

Career

Acting

Dunne began his professional acting career at age 19 with a small supporting role in The Other Side of the Mountain in 1975. He has since appeared on both film and television, starring in An American Werewolf in London (1981) as Jack Goodman, Johnny Dangerously (1984) as Tommy Kelly, After Hours (1985) as Paul Hackett, Who's That Girl (1987) as Loudon Trott opposite Madonna, My Girl (1991) as Jake Bixler, Quiz Show (1994) as the Geritol Account Executive, Game 6 (2005) as Elliott Litvak, and I Like It Like That (1994) as Stephen Price. Dunne also played Dr. Vass, opposite Matthew McConaughey, in the Oscar-winning 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club.⁸

Dunne's television appearances include Frasier (pilot episode "The Good Son" as caller Russell, and in season 3 episode 11 "The Friend" as Bob), Saturday Night Live, Alias, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Episodes 5, 118, and 128). He portrayed Tony Mink in the comedy Trust Me on TNT. In 2012, Dunne guest-starred as management consultant Marco Pelios in seven episodes of the premiere season of the Showtime TV series House of Lies.

In 2018 he joined the cast of This is Us where he starred as Nicky Pearson, Jack Pearson's brother until the series concluded in 2022.

Producing

Dunne's first experience as a producer was the successful 1982 film Chilly Scenes of Winter, an adaptation of the 1976 novel of the same name by Ann Beattie.⁹ Dunne and his co-producers, Amy Robinson and Mark Metcalf, had formed their production company, Triple Play Productions, in the late 1970s and optioned Beattie's book after agreeing to her stipulation that she be given a role.¹⁰¹¹ The film had a less than successful short run in theaters when it was released three years earlier with a "happy" ending and an alternate title, at the insistence of the distributor, United Artists.¹²¹³ The trio persevered to have the film re-released with a more realistic ending and the same title as the book, which proved more successful.¹⁴¹⁵ Dunne had a small part in the film, as Mark, a young doctor. After Mark Metcalf left the company, Dunne and Robinson continued as producing partners.¹⁶ Their company, now called Double Play Productions, produced several films, including Baby It's You, After Hours, Running on Empty and Game 6. In 1986, the company had signed an agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a two-year production agreement.¹⁷

Directing

Dunne's directorial debut was the 1995 short film Duke of Groove. For it, Dunne received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, along with producer Thom Colwell.

Since then, he has directed five feature films, including Addicted to Love (1997) and Practical Magic (1998). He also directed one segment of the 2013 anthology sex comedy film Movie 43, which later earned him a Razzie. Dunne produced and directed Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold (2017), a documentary about his aunt, author Joan Didion, whom Dunne interviews and appears with on screen.

Writing

Dunne has written articles for New York Times Travel section, Details Magazine, Porter Magazine and has a Kindle Single collection of short stories on Amazon called Air Guitar. His New York Times best-selling family memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club, was released on June 11, 2024.

Personal life

Dunne was married to American actress Carey Lowell from 1989 to 1995. They had one daughter together, actress Hannah Dunne.¹⁸

He was married to Anna Bingemann, an Australian stylist, from 2009 to 2010.¹⁹

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

External links

• Griffin Dunne at IMDb

References

1. "Paid Notice: Deaths DUNNE, ELLEN GRIFFIN". The New York Times. January 13, 1997. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 28, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/13/classified/paid-notice-deaths-dunne-ellen-griffin.html ↩

2. "Celebrity Author And Hartford Native Dominick Dunne Dies At Age 83 -- Courant.com". August 28, 2009. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20090828032219/http://www.courant.com/entertainment/celebrity/hc-dominick-dunne-dies-aug27,0,1613531.story ↩

3. "Paid Notice: Deaths DUNNE, ELLEN GRIFFIN". The New York Times. November 3, 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/13/classified/paid-notice-deaths-dunne-ellen-griffin.html ↩

4. "Griffin Dunne Biography (1955-)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/33/Griffin-Dunne.html ↩

5. Nathan, Jean (May 18, 1997). "He's Adding Director to His List of Credits". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/18/movies/he-s-adding-director-to-his-list-of-credits.html ↩

6. "A conversation with Griffin Dunne". Little White Lies. Retrieved April 18, 2021. https://lwlies.com/interviews/griffin-dunne-joan-didion-after-hours-tv-show/ ↩

7. "Alumni". neighborhoodplayhouse.org. Retrieved April 18, 2021. https://neighborhoodplayhouse.org/alumni ↩

8. Radish, Christian (January 20, 2013). "Griffin Dunne Talks Directing a Segment in Comedy Anthology MOVIE 43, Matthew McConaughey's Weight Loss in DALLAS BUYER'S CLUB, and More". Collider. Retrieved February 5, 2021. https://collider.com/dallas-buyers-club-griffin-dunne-movie-43-interview/ ↩

9. Atlas, James (October 10, 1982). "How 'Chilly Scenes' Was Rescued". New York Times Books section. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/28/specials/beattie-chilly.html ↩

10. Atlas, James (October 10, 1982). "How 'Chilly Scenes' Was Rescued". New York Times Books section. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/28/specials/beattie-chilly.html ↩

11. Malooley, Jake (August 16, 2023). "AFTER HOURS takeover edition". Expanding Dan Substack. Retrieved September 29, 2023. https://expandingdan.substack.com/p/martin-scorsese-after-hours-oral-history/ ↩

12. Atlas, James (October 10, 1982). "How 'Chilly Scenes' Was Rescued". New York Times Books section. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/28/specials/beattie-chilly.html ↩

13. "Episode 310: Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)". The Projection Booth. Retrieved February 4, 2023. https://www.projectionboothpodcast.com/2017/02/episode-310-chilly-scenes-of-winter-1979.html ↩

14. Atlas, James (October 10, 1982). "How 'Chilly Scenes' Was Rescued". New York Times Books section. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/28/specials/beattie-chilly.html ↩

15. "Episode 310: Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)". The Projection Booth. Retrieved February 4, 2023. https://www.projectionboothpodcast.com/2017/02/episode-310-chilly-scenes-of-winter-1979.html ↩

16. Malooley, Jake (August 16, 2023). "AFTER HOURS takeover edition". Expanding Dan Substack. Retrieved September 29, 2023. https://expandingdan.substack.com/p/martin-scorsese-after-hours-oral-history/ ↩

17. "Dunne & Robinson Ink 2-Year Pact With MGM". Variety. March 5, 1986. p. 6. /wiki/Variety_(magazine) ↩

18. Westarp, Elaine (April 12, 1990). "Producer leaves town with babe". The News and Observer. p. 1E – via Newspapers.com. "Hannah Beatriz Dunne, 8 pounds, 12 ounces made her Carolina debut at 3:17 a.m. Sunday at Rex Hospital." https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/656000679 ↩

19. "Done and Dunne! Interior Designer Woos New York Royalty with Soho Loft". The New York Observer. June 15, 2010. https://observer.com/2010/06/15/done-and-dunne-interior-designer-woos-new-york-royalty-with-soho-loft/ ↩

20. Grobar, Matt (September 4, 2024). "Griffin Dunne Joins Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 4, 2024. https://deadline.com/2024/09/caught-stealing-griffin-dunne-joins-darren-aronofsky-sony-movie-1236077777/ ↩

21. "Griffin Dunne". IMDb. Retrieved September 16, 2018. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001162/awards ↩