Netflix’s adaptation of “East of Eden” is filled with familiar faces, from Marvel actor Florence Pugh to “We Were Liars” star Joseph Zada. One cast member you’ve no doubt seen before but may not be able to name is Tracy Letts, who plays Trask family patriarch Cyrus Trask. He might not be a household name, but if you take a look at his lengthy resume you’re bound to recognize a lot of titles, especially if you’re a fan of Greta Gerwig.
Like many directors, Gerwig has a few go-to actors she knows she can depend on. Letts is among them, as is Saoirse Ronan, who he’s worked with in two of Gerwig’s films. In Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel “Little Women,” Letts played Mr. Dashwood, the publisher of Ronan’s Jo March. Two years prior to that, Letts featured in “Lady Bird” as Larry McPherson, the father of Ronan’s Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson. Both films were successful, earning eleven Oscar nominations between them.
Letts has been in Homeland and a few big movies
Tracy Letts was a late bloomer in Hollywood. He started playing bit parts on TV in the late 1980s and that continued throughout the 1990s, with the Tulsa native popping up in minor roles on shows such as “Home Improvement” and “Seinfeld.” His big break came in the 2000s when he wrote the tragicomedy “August: Osage County,” for which he won the Tony award for best play. “I didn’t make any real money until I was in my forties, when ‘August: Osage County’ hit, so there’s always been economic considerations to work prior to that,” Letts told Interview magazine.
After his theater success, Letts took on what is arguably the defining role of his career to date: Andrew Lockhart in the Emmy-winning Showtime series “Homeland.” He was introduced in the third season as the CIA skeptic senator leading the committee looking into the Langley bombing, and Lockhart actually becomes the new director of the CIA in Season 4. A few years later he was a main cast member in the HBO dramedy “Divorce,” playing the husband of former “Saturday Night Live” star Molly Shannon, and Letts was finally nominated for an Emmy in 2024 after guest-starring in HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.”
Letts turned in a top performance in James Mangold’s sports drama film “Ford v Ferrari” (in which he portrayed Henry Ford II), and he was also in Steven Spielberg’s “The Post,” a political thriller about the Pentagon Papers and The Washington Post’s publication of them (Letts played Fritz Beebe, the real-life lawyer who became Chairman of the Board of the Washington Post Company). Other notable credits include the TV shows “The Sinner,” “Mr. Throwback,” “The Paper,” and “The Lowdown.”