# Terry Kinney
**Terry Kinney** (born 1954) is an American stage, film, and television actor and theater director, best known as a co-founder of the [Steppenwolf Theatre Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/steppenwolf-theatre-company) in Chicago and for his role as prison administrator Tim McManus on the HBO series *Oz*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) • [2](https://billions.fandom.com/wiki/Terry_Kinney)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954, Lincoln, Illinois[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) |
| Signature achievement | Co-founded Steppenwolf Theatre Company with Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise in 1973; ensemble member since 1973[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) • [3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney) |
| Breakout television role | Tim McManus, administrator of the Emerald City unit, on HBO's prison drama *Oz* (1997–2003), appearing in all six seasons[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/terry_kinney) |
| Acting honors | Tony Award nomination, Best Featured Actor in a Play, 1990, as Jim Casy in *The Grapes of Wrath*; Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble Acting, 1985, for *Balm in Gilead*[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/terry-kinney-48189) |
| Directing honors | *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* on Broadway (2001) won the Tony Award for Best Revival; Drama Desk nominations for directing *And a Nightingale Sang...* (1984) and *reasons to be pretty* (2009)[3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney) • [5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/terry-kinney-48189) |
| Film directing | *Diminished Capacity*, with Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda, screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival[6](https://vineyardtheatre.org/archive/terry-kinney/) |
| Later television | Recurring roles on *The Mentalist* (Sam Bosco, 2009), *Fargo*, *Billions* (Hall, 2016–2023), *Inventing Anna*, and *The Watcher*[3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney) • [7](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/kinney-mentalist-wavelength-57938/) |
## Early life and the founding of Steppenwolf
Kinney was born into a working-class family in Lincoln, Illinois, and entered [Illinois State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/illinois-state-university) in the early 1970s intending to become an actor.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/terry_kinney) While at the university, his friend Jeff Perry took him to Chicago to see a production of *Grease* starring their mutual friend [Gary Sinise](https://www.edgepedia.org/gary-sinise). In 1973 the three opened their own troupe, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in the basement of a church in [Highland Park, Illinois](https://www.edgepedia.org/highland-park-illinois).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) The company became a full-time endeavor in 1976 after the three founders graduated, and it has mounted a full season of ensemble works every year since.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) Steppenwolf's own account places those first performances in the basement of a school in Highland Park; the early troupe sold subscriptions, walked in parades, and held bake sales to draw audiences, selling perhaps 50 to 100 subscriptions in the first couple of years.[8](https://www.steppenwolf.org/about-us/our-history) • [9](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/steppenwolf-theatres-25th-anniversary-joan-allen-and-laurie-metcalf)
The company grew quickly in reputation and membership. The initial trio expanded to include [John Malkovich](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-malkovich), Laurie Metcalf, Joan Allen, John Mahoney, and others, and in 1985 Steppenwolf received a Tony Award for Regional Theatre Excellence.[9](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/steppenwolf-theatres-25th-anniversary-joan-allen-and-laurie-metcalf) • [10](https://jwcmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SR-FEB-2026.pdf) At the height of the company's fame, Kinney and Sinise served as Steppenwolf's artistic co-directors, and the three founders later made up the company's executive artistic board.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) • [9](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/steppenwolf-theatres-25th-anniversary-joan-allen-and-laurie-metcalf)
## Acting career
**Stage.** Kinney's Steppenwolf acting work includes *Balm in Gilead*, *Orphans*, *Tracers*, *The Grapes of Wrath*, and *Buried Child* on Broadway, in which he replaced another actor during the run and, by his own account, first suffered stage fright.[3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney) • [11](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/terrys-mad-for-cuckoos-nest-6331990.html) His performance as the Reverend Jim Casy in the Broadway *Grapes of Wrath* (1990) brought a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/terry-kinney-48189) His other Broadway appearances include *On the Waterfront* (1995, as Father Barry) and *Buried Child* (1996, as Tilden).[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/terry-kinney-48189) On television he had a recurring role on *Thirtysomething* (1987) before his regular role on *Oz*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/)
**Screen.** Kinney made his film debut with a bit part in *Seven Minutes in Heaven* (1986) and became a busy supporting actor from the mid-1980s onward, with credits including *The Last of the Mohicans* (1992), *The Firm*, *Sleepers* (1996), *Fly Away Home* (1996), *The House of Mirth* (2000), *Save the Last Dance* (2001), *Devil in a Blue Dress*, and *The Little Things* (2021).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) • [6](https://vineyardtheatre.org/archive/terry-kinney/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/terry_kinney) In 1997 he landed his breakout television role as Tim McManus, the administrator of the [Emerald City](https://www.edgepedia.org/emerald-city) experimental unit, on HBO's prison drama *Oz*, playing the part through all six seasons until the series ended in 2003.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/terry_kinney)
Through the 2000s and 2010s he worked steadily in television. In 2009 he joined the second season of CBS's *The Mentalist* as Agent Sam Bosco, head of the California Bureau of Investigation's Serial Crimes Unit, in a recurring role of at least seven episodes; Bosco's by-the-book methods put him in constant friction with [Simon Baker](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-baker)'s consultant [Patrick Jane](https://www.edgepedia.org/patrick-jane).[7](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/kinney-mentalist-wavelength-57938/) He followed with recurring roles on *Fargo* (FX), the HBO miniseries *Show Me a Hero* (2015), and *Good Behavior*, and in 2016 joined the Showtime series *[Billions](https://www.edgepedia.org/billions-tv-series)* as Hall, appearing in 34 episodes through 2023.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/terry_kinney) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/) More recent credits include *Inventing Anna* and *The Watcher* (both 2022).[3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney)
## Directing
Kinney has directed extensively for Steppenwolf, with credits including *Another Marriage*, *And a Nightingale Sang...*, *A Clockwork Orange*, *A Streetcar Named Desire*, *Of Mice and Men*, *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*, and *The Violet Hour*.[3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney) His Broadway production of *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* (2001) won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.[3](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney) In New York he directed the world premiere of Doug McGrath's *Checkers*, *reasons to be pretty* for MCC and on Broadway (a Tony nominee for Best Play), and *After Ashley* and *Beautiful Child* at the Vineyard Theatre.[12](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Terry-Kinney/)
In film he directed the short *Kubuku Rides (This Is It)* for Steppenwolf Films and the feature *Diminished Capacity*, with [Matthew Broderick](https://www.edgepedia.org/matthew-broderick) and [Alan Alda](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-alda), which appeared at the 2008 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) and was distributed by IFC Films.[12](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Terry-Kinney/) • [6](https://vineyardtheatre.org/archive/terry-kinney/) In a 1989 *BOMB Magazine* interview he described his directing style as deliberately seamless, aiming for performances that look as though the actors arrived at them on their own, and admitted he was a reluctant blocker who conceptualized as he went.[13](https://bombmagazine.org/articles/1989/04/01/terry-kinney/)
## Artistic approach
Kinney has resisted the "method acting" label often attached to Steppenwolf. In a 2010 interview he said the founders started the company because "we didn't find anything on stage we believed" and that they wanted to break down the fourth wall; he described the company's actual practice as the opposite of methodical, "we take the text and pound away until something gives."[11](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/terrys-mad-for-cuckoos-nest-6331990.html) He cited [John Cassavetes](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-cassavetes)'s film *A Woman Under the Influence* as the spur for bringing that immediacy to the stage, so that audiences would feel there was immediate danger rather than comfortable distance.[11](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/terrys-mad-for-cuckoos-nest-6331990.html)
## Personal life
Kinney was married to actress [Elizabeth Perkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-perkins) from 1984 to 1988 and to actress [Kathryn Erbe](https://www.edgepedia.org/kathryn-erbe) from 1993 to 2006; both marriages ended in divorce.[5](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/terry-kinney-48189)
## References
1. [Terry Kinney, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/)
2. [Terry Kinney, Billions Wiki](https://billions.fandom.com/wiki/Terry_Kinney)
3. [Terry Kinney, Steppenwolf Theatre Company](https://www.steppenwolf.org/people/terry-kinney)
4. [Terry Kinney, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/terry_kinney)
5. [Terry Kinney, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/terry-kinney-48189)
6. [Terry Kinney, Vineyard Theatre](https://vineyardtheatre.org/archive/terry-kinney/)
7. [Kinney, 'Mentalist' on Same Wavelength, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/kinney-mentalist-wavelength-57938/)
8. [Our History, Steppenwolf Theatre Company](https://www.steppenwolf.org/about-us/our-history)
9. [Steppenwolf Theatre's 25th Anniversary, Fresh Air Archive](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/steppenwolf-theatres-25th-anniversary-joan-allen-and-laurie-metcalf)
10. [Art & Artist, SR February 2026](https://jwcmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SR-FEB-2026.pdf)
11. [Terry's mad for Cuckoo's Nest, London Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/terrys-mad-for-cuckoos-nest-6331990.html)
12. [Terry Kinney, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Terry-Kinney/)
13. [Terry Kinney by Craig Gholson, BOMB Magazine (1989)](https://bombmagazine.org/articles/1989/04/01/terry-kinney/)
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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 Ki to La*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license