Philip Ettinger (born September 8, 1985) is an American actor. He first gained attention for his supporting role as the troubled environmental activist, Michael, in Paul Schrader's First Reformed (2017). Other significant roles have been as Garrett Drimmer in the CBS All Access series One Dollar (2018), as the young-adult version of Mark Ruffalo's twin characters, Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, in HBO's I Know This Much Is True in 2020, and in the lead role of Cole Freeman in Braden King's cinematic adaptation of the Carter Sickels' novel The Evening Hour (2020).
Early life Philip Ettinger was born September 8, 1985 to a Jewish family in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. He attended Fair Lawn High School, where he was a member of the Masques drama club. He began studying film directing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. After unexpectedly winning the lead role in a play his freshman year, however, he enrolled in a summer acting program at William Esper Studio in New York City, where a teacher encouraged Ettinger to transfer to the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This course included spending a year in England studying at the Globe Theatre in London. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Career Ettinger's professional career began in 2008 in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
In 2014, Ettinger was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, for his work in Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews. (The awards are to recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway Theatre). Ettinger starred alongside Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried in the supporting role of Michael, the troubled husband of Seyfried's character, Mary, in Paul Schrader's film First Reformed, which was premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. The performance was a breakthrough for the actor; so much so, that the Los Angeles Times film critic, Justin Chang stated in an article regarding his personal choices for what should land on the 2018 Oscar nomination ballot, "When lead performances sneak into the wrong categories, it makes it all the harder for an organization to recognize a genuinely supporting turn — like, for example, Ettinger's galvanizing work in First Reformed, which lasts all of one scene and continues to stay with me.." Ettinger continued to make strides in 2018, starring as Garrett Drimmer, a young steel mill worker raising a toddler on his own, in the CBS All Access ensemble series One Dollar, and appearing in the Sebastián Silva-directed film Tyrel, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2020, Ettinger landed the role of playing the 17–19-year-old versions of Mark Ruffalo's twin characters, Dominick Birdsey and his paranoid schizophrenic twin, Thomas, in HBO's I Know This Much Is True. This brought him considerable critical notice, with Dan Seddon of NME noting, "Actor Philip Ettinger (among the series' supporting players) makes a case for himself too, whose stint as the college-aged twins during flashbacks is a raw and fascinating portrayal of the Birdseys complicated youth." Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson examined Ettinger and star Ruffalo's collaboration on the twins with favor, "The relationship between Dom and Thomas is drawn with aching clarity, one brother trying to be good to the other while resentments build up around them. Crucially, neither Ruffalo nor Ettinger overplay Thomas's condition. Though he is volatile, and frustrating, and wounded, there is nothing childlike about him, really—at least not in the style of so many misbegotten depictions of mental illness on screen... In the other role, Ruffalo and Ettinger both keenly express Dom's agony over his assumed responsibilities and all they deny him in his own life. It's particularly heartbreaking to watch Ettinger's youthful appetite for escape dissipate as he realizes just how serious his brother's situation is, how much time and attention and patience it will require. I Know This Much Is True is wise enough to both regret and accept that onus, gradually allowing Dom to find the ragged purpose in a life he feels has been robbed of that very thing. Ruffalo communicates that hopeful resignation quite well, building on Ettinger's more wide-eyed performance to craft a man in full." Haaretzs Adrian Hennigan pointed out Ettinger's success in portraying both twins, "The actors (including Donnie and Rocco Masihi) playing the younger versions of the twins are also outstanding: Philip Ettinger subtly delineates how these identical twins are very different characters..."
Earlier that year Ettinger attended both the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands to promote his first lead role as Cole Freeman in Braden King's cinematic adaptation of the Carter Sickels novel The Evening Hour. In it, Ettinger depicts a young nursing home aide struggling to support himself, and his grandparents, in economically depressed Appalachia, by buying excess pain meds from members of his West Virginian community, and reselling them to others in that same area. The film was released in 2021. Other projects include Ian Barling's 2021 short film Safe, which premiered at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes in July 2021, Hold Up in 2022 by writer-director Alex Rollins Berg, and Little Brother, an indie film written and directed by Sheridan O'Donnell. Ettinger also stars alongside Emmy-winner Martha Plimpton in Sardinia, a 2024 short film written and directed by Paul Kowalski and Executive Produced by Patton Oswalt. The film is about a serious man trying to avoid catching a deadly laughing plague in a growingly polarized and dystopian society, and was named a 2025 Oscar contender for Best Live Action Short by Deadline.
Filmography Film
Year Title RoleNotes 2010 Twelve Hunter McCulloch 2011 The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best John John2012 Compliance Kevin Sleepwalk with Me Doug 2013 The Maid's Room Brandon Crawford 2014 Chu and Blossom Donnie 2015 Anesthesia Roger2016 Indignation Ron Foxman Last Call Alexi2017 One Percent More Humid Billy The Pirates of Somalia Alex First Reformed Michael Mensana Brawl in Cell Block 99 Derrick November Criminals Mike Lorriner 2018 Tyrel Charles 2019 The Undiscovered Country Richie2020 The Evening Hour Cole Freeman Viena and the Fantomes Boyer 2021 Safe Danny Short film2022 Hold Up Graham Short film Every Last Secret Cabbot2023 Manodrome Jason Little Brother Pete Wildcat Cal Lowell2024 My First Film Dustin Sardinia Ryszard Przybyszewski Short film 2025 After This Death Ronnie 2026 Josephine Greg TBA TBA Post-production
Television
Year Title RoleNotes 2008 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Alec Bernardi Episode: "Babes" 2009 The Closer Jake Burrell Episode: "Maternal Instincts" 2010 Mercy Nathan Episode: "We're All Adults" 2011 Blue Bloods John John Episode: "Innocence" 2012 Girls Zach Episode: "The Return" 2013 The Good Wife Michael Episode: "A Precious Commodity" 2014 Manhattan Watts Episode: "Last Reasoning of Kings" 2016 Elementary Toby Dannon Episode: "Down Where the Dead Delight"2017 The Mist Nash 2 episodes Chicago Med Eric Adams Episode: "Trust Your Gut" 2018 One Dollar Garrett Drimmer 10 episodes 2020 I Know This Much Is True Young Dominick and Thomas Birdsey 2 episodes 2021 Cinema Toast Man (voice) Episode: "Warehouse Friends"2022 Angelyne Cory Hunt 3 episodes A Friend of the Family Joe Berchtold Miniseries 2023 Bupkis Evan 7 episodes 2025 Happy Face Shane Jesperson 2 episodes 2026 The Terror: Devil in Silver 'Louie' 2 episodes TBA Main role
Theatre Year Title Role Venue Notes2010EdgewiseRuckusWalkerspace2012-2013Bad JewsJonah HaberRoundabout Theatre Company
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2015 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a PlayBad Jews 2023Soho International Film FestivalBest Acting Performance in a Leading Role – US FeatureLittle BrotherWinner
References
External links
Philip Ettinger CBS interview Content Mode interview with Philip Ettinger Sitting in the Undefined: Philip Ettinger on The Evening Hour – Roger Ebert.com Mark Ruffalo interviews Philip Ettinger about I Know This Much Is True – Interview magazine