# Reed Birney
**Reed Birney** (born 1954 in [Alexandria, Virginia](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandria-virginia)) is an American stage and screen actor whose career runs from a 1970s Broadway debut to a Tony Award for *The Humans* in 2016 and, at age 67, his first starring role in a feature film, *Mass* (2021)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083714/) • [2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/). He is known for decades of [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) work, including a record eight appearances at Playwrights Horizons, and for screen roles such as Donald Blythe on *House of Cards*[3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/) • [4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954, Alexandria, Virginia[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083714/) |
| Broadway debut | *Gemini* by Albert Innaurato, dated 1974 by Broadway.com and 1977 by HB Studio[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/) |
| Tony Award | 2016, for *The Humans* by Stephen Karam[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/) |
| Off-Broadway record | A record eight appearances at Playwrights Horizons, including *A Small Fire* and *Circle Mirror Transformation*[3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/) |
| Awards total | Three Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards plus a 2011 Special Drama Desk Award, one Tony[4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/) |
| First film lead | *Mass* (2021), at age 67[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/) |
| Family | Married to Constance Shulman since July 3, 1999; two children[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083714/) |
## Early life and training
Birney was born in 1954 in Alexandria, Virginia[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083714/). The Library of Congress authority record for him carries the birth year 1954[6](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr2005019389.html). He studied at [Boston University](https://www.edgepedia.org/boston-university)'s College of Fine Arts in the 1970s and left before graduating to move to New York[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/).
## Stage career
**Early Broadway.** Birney's Broadway debut came in Albert Innaurato's comedy *Gemini*, a smash hit; Broadway.com dates his appearance to 1974, while [HB Studio](https://www.edgepedia.org/hb-studio)'s faculty biography places the debut in 1977, and the two dates have not been reconciled[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/). After that early success, he spent decades working Off Broadway and in journeyman roles[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/).
**Off-Broadway work.** His Off-Broadway credits include Vanya in *Uncle Vanya* at Soho Rep, Ian in the 2008 New York premiere of [Sarah Kane](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarah-kane)'s *Blasted* at Soho Rep, Dr. Sweet in *Bug* at Barrow Street, and Shultz in *Circle Mirror Transformation* at Playwrights Horizons, for which he won both an Obie and a Drama Desk Award[7](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/reed-birney/). He has appeared at Playwrights Horizons a record eight times, including *A Small Fire*[3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/). He also played [Tony Blair](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-blair) in *Stuff Happens* at the Public Theater, appeared in the world premiere of [Tony Kushner](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-kushner)'s revised *Homebody/Kabul* at Steppenwolf, the Mark Taper Forum, and BAM, and played Hubert Humphrey opposite Bryan Cranston's Lyndon Johnson in *All the Way* at the American Repertory Theater[7](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/reed-birney/) • [8](https://web.archive.org/web/20161222212352/http:/arts.columbia.edu/theatre/faculty/reed-birney/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/).
**Broadway return.** After roughly three decades away from Broadway, he returned in the revival of William Inge's *Picnic* in 2012, playing Howard Bevins, followed by [Harvey Fierstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/harvey-fierstein)'s *Casa Valentina* in 2014, in which he played Charlotte and earned a Tony nomination[3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/) • [7](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/reed-birney/) • [8](https://web.archive.org/web/20161222212352/http:/arts.columbia.edu/theatre/faculty/reed-birney/). Two years later he won the Tony Award for his performance as another anguished father in Stephen Karam's *The Humans*[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/).
## Film and television career
Birney's early film work includes the role of Fred in *Not a Pretty Picture* (1976) and Louie Carnahan in [Arthur Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-penn) and [Steve Tesich](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-tesich)'s *Four Friends* (1981)[9](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/251099-Reed-Birney) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/). Later film credits listed by the AFI Catalog include *Twelve Thirty* (2011), *Molly's Theory of Relativity* (2013), and *Mad Women* (2015)[9](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/251099-Reed-Birney).
On television he played Representative Donald Blythe on the Netflix series *House of Cards*[4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/). His later screen work includes *Succession*, *The Handmaid's Tale*, *The Hunt*, *The Forty-Year-Old Version*, *Lost Girls*, and *Strawberry Mansion*[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/).
**Mass.** *Mass*, released October 8, 2021, is a chamber piece about two couples who meet six years after their sons died in a mass shooting at a local high school. Birney plays Richard, the father of the perpetrator, opposite [Ann Dowd](https://www.edgepedia.org/ann-dowd), Jason Isaacs, and [Martha Plimpton](https://www.edgepedia.org/martha-plimpton); at age 67 it was his first starring turn in a feature film[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/) • [5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/). At the time of the film's release he was filming *The Menu* in [Savannah, Georgia](https://www.edgepedia.org/savannah-georgia), with Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, John Leguizamo, and Judith Light[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/).
## Awards and recognition
Birney's honors center on stage work. He has received three Obie Awards and two Drama Desk Awards[4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/). His Obies include one for *Circle Mirror Transformation* and one for *Bug*; in 2006 he received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in [Performance](https://www.edgepedia.org/performance), and Actors' Equity awarded him the Richard Seff Award[7](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/reed-birney/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/). He won the 2014 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for *Casa Valentina*, alongside a 2014 Tony nomination[3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/) • [4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/). In 2011 he received a Special Drama Desk Award recognizing the three plays in which he appeared in one season, *A Small Fire*, *Tigers Be Still*, and *The Dream of the Burning Boy*, an honor HB Studio describes as marking his thirty-six years of work as an actor[4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/). For *Mass* he received a Gotham Award nomination, and the film's cast won the Robert Altman Award at the [Independent Spirit Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/independent-spirit-awards)[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/). Broadway.com also lists awards and nominations for *Man from Nebraska* among his recognized roles[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/).
## Career arc and critical reception
Birney's trajectory is a late-blooming one. By 2007, after decades in which he struggled to find work, he was seriously contemplating leaving the profession[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/). The turning point came in 2008, when he was cast as a racist, misogynistic tabloid writer in the New York premiere of Sarah Kane's *Blasted* at Soho Rep; the performance caught the attention of directors and playwrights and led to his Broadway return after a 30-year hiatus[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/). The New York Times, in Patrick Healy's January 3, 2013 profile "Actor Ages Into His Broadway Comeback," framed his return in *Picnic* as the translation of recent Off-Broadway success after decades of journeyman work[10](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/reed-birney).
Critics and profiles describe his register through the roles themselves. In *Mass*, Bostonia notes, Birney has "the most difficult role": a man struggling with regret but determined not to show his emotions, defensive, prickly, and haunted by the turn of events in his life[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/). His Tony-winning part in *The Humans* was, in the same profile's framing, another anguished father[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/).
## By the numbers
- Career on stage from *Gemini* in the mid-1970s (1974 or 1977, depending on the source) through Broadway work in the 2010s[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/).
- Eight appearances at Playwrights Horizons, described as a record for the theater[3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/).
- Three Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, one additional Special Drama Desk Award, and one Tony Award[4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/) • [3](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/).
- First starring role in a feature film at age 67, in *Mass* (2021)[2](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/).
## Recent work (2023 onward)
On television, Birney has appeared in a recurring role opposite Kim Kardashian in *American Horror Story*, and in Peacock's *Poker Face* and *Star Trek: Strange New Worlds*[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/). Broadway.com also reported that he would be seen in Kevin Costner's western *Horizon: An American Saga*[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/). On stage, he starred opposite his son Ephraim Birney in *Chester Bailey* at the Irish Repertory Theatre and in Donald Margulies' *Lunar Eclipse* at Shakespeare & Company[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/).
## Personal life
Birney has been married to Constance Shulman since July 3, 1999, and they have two children[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083714/). His son Ephraim Birney is also an actor, and the two have appeared together in *Chester Bailey* and *Lunar Eclipse*[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/).
## References
1. [Reed Birney, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083714/)
2. [In His New Film, Reed Birney Finds the Role of a Lifetime, Bostonia, Boston University (2021)](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/in-his-new-film-reed-birney-finds-the-role-of-a-lifetime/)
3. [People Who Make Theatre: Reed Birney, HB Studio](https://www.hbstudio.org/people-who-make-theatre-reed-birney/)
4. [Reed Birney, Atlantic Theater Company biography](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/reed-birney/)
5. [Reed Birney Biography, Broadway Buzz, Broadway.com](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/reed-birney/profile/)
6. [Birney, Reed, 1954-, LC Linked Data Service, Library of Congress](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr2005019389.html)
7. [Reed Birney, American Repertory Theater biography](https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/reed-birney/)
8. [Reed Birney, Columbia University School of the Arts faculty biography (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20161222212352/http:/arts.columbia.edu/theatre/faculty/reed-birney/)
9. [Reed Birney, AFI Catalog, American Film Institute](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/251099-Reed-Birney)
10. [Reed Birney topic page, The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/reed-birney)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Be to Bo*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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