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Emmy Award-winner John Lithgow stars as John Mason, a middle aged surgeon, in NBC's new comedy Twenty Good Years.

Lithgow has been refining his craft in films, television, theater, song, and writing for children for more than 30 years. He has won enormous critical acclaim, as well as three Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, an American Comedy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his starring role in the hit comedy series, 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Additionally, Lithgow earned 10 Emmy nominations over the years and is also recognized for his film credits, which include Shrek (voice of Lord Farquaad), The Pelican Brief, The World According to Garp (which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination), Terms of Endearment (which earned him his second Oscar nomination), Cliffhanger, Ricochet, Memphis Belle, and Footloose. Most recently, Lithgow starred in Kinsey with Laura Linney and Liam Neeson, and in HBO's The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Lithgow returned to live theater in 2004 in San Diego's Old Globe Theatre's musical adaptation of the hit film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The show opened on Broadway in 2005, and won him his fifth Tony Award nomination. In 2002, Lithgow received his second of two Tony Awards for his portrayal of columnist J.J. Hunsecker in the Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success, which was based on the classic 1957 film. His tremendous depth and range have been consistently demonstrated in The Changing Room, for which he won his first Tony Award, and M. Butterfly. Overall, he has starred in 18 Broadway shows, earning three Drama Desk Awards in addition to his two Tonys. In 2005, Lithgow was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

An accomplished author as well, Lithgow's sixth children's book, Marsupial Sue Presents: The Runaway Pancake, was published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in 2005. "A Lithgow Palooza: 101 Ways to Entertain and Inspire Your Kids," was his first venture into books for adults, and contains a unique collection of ideas and activities for parents to teach to their children. Lithgow's picture books, Carnival of the Animals, I'm A Manatee, Micawber, Marsupial Sue, and The Remarkable Farkle McBride, are all New York Times bestsellers, and have been the inspiration behind the ideas and characters featured in his concerts for children and families Additionally, his next children's book, Mahalia Mouse Goes to College, is due out in stores soon, and on the music side, his third album for children, The Sunny Side of the Street, will be released this September.

Lithgow's longtime passion for theater and dance came together in 2003 with the creation of Carnival of the Animals for the New York City Ballet, in partnership once again with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. As creator of new verses for the ballet, Lithgow served as a narrator and portrayed one of the animal characters.

Born to a theatrical family in Rochester, New York, Lithgow's father, the one-time head of Princeton's McCarter Theater, moved his family to Ohio during his son's infancy to produce Shakespeare festivals throughout the state. Young Lithgow made his stage debut at age 6 in Henry VI, Part 3 with Ellis Raab.

A Harvard graduate, Lithgow won a Fulbright Scholarship and used it to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. While in England, he interned with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre. Lithgow then settled in New York to pursue his stage career. In 2005, he had the honor of giving the commencement address at Harvard's afternoon exercises as well as receiving the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Lithgow has three grown children and lives in Los Angeles with his wife Mary, a professor of economic and business history at UCLA.

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