Jesse Plemons
Birthdate: Apr 2, 1988
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas, USA
Jesse Plemons (birthname: Jesse Lon Plemons) began his remarkable acting career, which includes an Oscar nomination and a Best Actor Palme at the Cannes Film Festival--at age ten in the indie comedy-drama, Finding North (1998), with Wendy Makkena and John Benjamin Hickey under Tanya Wexler’s direction, and which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Plemons was cast by director/producer Brian Robbins for the coming-of-age comedy-drama, Varsity Blues (1999), starring James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester, Scott Caan, Amy Smart, and Ali Larter, produced by MTV Productions and Tollin/Robbins Productions, and grossing over $54 million for Paramount Pictures.
Plemons played the younger self of the character played by Matt Damon in director/producer Billy Bob Thornton’s big screen version of Cormac McCarthy’s 1992 novel, All the Pretty Horses (2000), written by Ted Tally and co-starring Damon, Henry Thomas, Penelope Cruz and Sam Shepard, and released by Miramax Films (U.S.)/Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (International) to poor business and reviews. Plemons was cast for the Mark Medoff-directed comedy drama, Children on Their Birthdays (2002), based on Truman Capote’s 1949 story, with Sheryl Lee, Joe Pichler, Christopher McDonald and Tom Arnold, and then Plemons landed a small role in the NBA Productions movie released by 20th Century Fox, Like Mike (2002), with Lil’ Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki, Robert Forster, Crispin Glover and Eugene Levy, grossing a good $62.3 million.
Jesse Plemons appeared in director/co-writer/producer/editor Rocco DeVilliers’ aviation movie, The Flyboys (2008), with Jesse James, Stephen Baldwin and Tom Sizemore, and released by Warner Bros., and then Plemons joined director/writer Jody Hill’s crime comedy, Observe and Report (2009), starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena and Ray Liotta, produced by Legendary Pictures/De Line Pictures and released to a $27 million return by Warner Bros. Pictures. Plemons appeared as a weed dealer in the black comedy-drama, Shrink (2009), starring Kevin Spacey, Saffron Burrows, Keke Palmer, Mark Webber and Gore Vidal under Jonas Pate’s direction and released by Roadside Attractions (U.S.)/Mandate Pictures (International), followed by Plemons joining cast mates Rutger Hauer, Andie MacDowell, Mark Boone Junior and Ann Magnuson in director/writer Adam Sherman’s drama, Happiness Runs (2010), released by Strand Releasing.
Plemons had his first co-starring role (and title role) in the showbiz comedy, Meeting Spencer (2011), with Jeffrey Tambor and directed by Malcolm Mowbray, and then Plemons reunited with Seth Rogen (in a voice and motion capture performance in the title role) for co-writers/co-stars Simon Pegg’s and Nick Frost’s sci-fi comedy, Paul (2011), with Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, John Carroll Lynch and Sigourney Weaver under Greg Mottola’s direction, and released to a good box office return of $98 million. Plemons had a supporting role in his first significant movie, director/writer/producer Paul Thomas Anderson’s fascinating cult drama, The Master (2012), starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams (all three of whom were Oscar nominated) and Laura Dern, and which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival (where it won three awards including Anderson’s best director Silver Lion) before a release by The Weinstein Company.
Jesse Plemons continued to appear in supporting roles in higher-profile movies, such as director/producer Peter Berg’s Battleship (2012); star/director/co-writer Tommy Lee Jones’ Western co-starring Hilary Swank, The Homesman (2014); and the Scott Cooper-directed and Johnny Depp-starring Black Mass (2015), and then Plemons landed a major role in the Lance Armstrong biopic, The Program (2015), directed by Stephen Frears and written by John Hodge, starring Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Guillaume Canet and Dustin Hoffman, and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Plemons joined two Steven Spielberg movies within two years of each other—first, Bridge of Spies (2015), starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda and Sebastian Koch, and grossing a potent $165.5 million for distributors Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (U.S.-Canada)/20th Century Fox (International); and then Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated newspaper drama, The Post (2017), starring Meryl Streep (nominated for the Best Actress Oscar), Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood and Matthew Rhys, and earning a solid $180 million gross for 20th Century Fox.
Jesse Plemons had one of his first starring roles in director/writer Chris Kelly’s comedy-drama, Other People (2016), with Molly Shannon, Bradley Whitford, Maude Apatow and June Squibb, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and released by Vertical Entertainment, and then Plemons had a busy year in 2017 with roles in director/co-writer Charlie McDowell’s sci-fi movie for Netflix, The Discovery (2017), followed by the Tom Cruise-starring action comedy American Made (2017), and director/writer/producer Scott Cooper’s Western, Hostiles (2017), starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Adam Beach, Rory Cochrane and Ben Foster, premiering at the Telluride Film Festival and released by Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures. Plemons joined the ensemble of Game Night (2018), co-starring Jason Bateman (who also produced), Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Michael C. Hall, and Kyle Chandler under the co-direction of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and grossing an excellent $117.7 million for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Jesse Plemons began a new period of working with world-class filmmakers, first in the narrator voice role of director/writer/producer Adam McKay’s black political comedy about Dick Cheney, Vice (2018), starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Tyler Perry, Allison Pill, Lily Rabe and Sam Rockwell, receiving eight Oscar nominations and earning over $76 million for Annapurna Pictures. Plemons was cast by director/producer Martin Scorsese for his gangster epic, The Irishman (2019), starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham and Harvey Keitel, premiering at the New York Film Festival before receiving a theatrical and streaming release by Netflix, and then was nominated for ten Oscars including Best Picture.
Plemons co-starred opposite Aaron Paul and reprised his Breaking Bad role as a neo-Nazi in director/writer/producer Vince Gilligan’s feature film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019), with Krysten Ritter, Jonathan Banks, Bryan Cranston, and Robert Forster, and which was released by Sony Pictures Releasing. Plemons then starred in director/writer/producer Charlie Kaufman’s inventive adaptation of Iain Reid’s 2016 novel, I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), with Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, and David Thewlis, and released in theaters and on streaming by Netflix.
Jesse Plemons portrayed an FBI agents in roles in major 2021 movies with director/co-writer/producer Shaka King’s brilliant Black Panther drama, Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), starring Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders and Martin Sheen, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before a Warner Bros. Pictures release and earning six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Plemons joined the cast of his first Disney movie with Jungle Cruise (2021), starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, and Paul Giamatti under Jaume Collet-Serra’s direction, but grossed a disappointing $221 million (based on costs).
Plemons received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in director/writer/producer Jane Campion’s Western drama, The Power of the Dog (2021), based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee, nominated for 12 Oscars (winning only one for director Campion) and released theatrically and via streaming by Netflix. Plemons reunited with director/writer Scott Cooper for the supernatural horror movie, Antlers (2021), co-starring Keri Russell, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, and Amy Madigan, produced by Guillermo del Toro and released by Searchlight Pictures for a $19 million gross.
Jesse Plemons took on his first movie as actor/producer for director/co-writer/producer Charlie McDowell’s crime thriller for Netflix, Windfall (2022), co-starring Lily Collins and Jason Segel, and then Plemons portrayed a determined (pre-FBI) government detective in Martin Scorsese’s stunning Oklahoma drama based on author/reporter David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction saga, Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, grossing $159 million for distributors Paramount Pictures and receiving ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture, after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.
Plemons then co-starred with Emma Stone in back-to-back movies by filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, first in three roles in the triptych tale, Kinds of Kindness (2024), Lanthimos’ fifth screenplay collaboration with Efthimis Filippou, co-starring Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival (where Plemons won the Best Actor Palme) before earning over $16 million for distributor Searchlight Pictures; and then Plemons co-starred as a kidnapper opposite Stone, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias and Alicia Silverstone in director/producer Lanthimos’ Bugonia (2025), his and writer Will Tracy’s adaptation of Jang Joon-hwan’s South Korean Save the Green Planet! (2003), funded by Irish, American, and South Korean money, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival and released widely by Focus Features.
Plemons co-starred with Tom Cruise (who also produced), Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sophie Wilde, Riz Ahmed, and Emma D’Arcy in director/co-writer/producer Alejandro González Iñárritu’s provisionally titled black comedy, Untitled Alejandro González Iñárritu film (2026), produced by Legendary Pictures/TC Productions/M Productions and released by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Plemons played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026), adapted from Suzanne Collins’ 2025 novel by writer Billy Ray, starring Joseph Zada, Mckenna Grace, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Whitney Peak, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Maya Hawke, Elle Fanning, Kieran Culkin, Lili Taylor and Billy Porter under Francis Lawrence’s direction, and released wide by Lionsgate.
Jesse Plemons starred in Jonty (date to be announced), co-written/co-produced by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain (with fellow producers Erin David and Lars Knudsen), and co-directed by Lorene Scafaria and Eric Wareheim, funded by A24/Broadway Video and released by A24.
Personal life
Jesse Plemons was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Mart, Texas by parents Jim Bob Plemons (firefighter, amateur rodeo competitor) and Lisa Plemons (special education trainer). Plemons has a sister, Jill. Plemons attended public schools in Mart and then earned his high school diploma through a distance learning program via Texas Tech University Independent School District. Plemons studied acting at Dallas Young Actors Studio. Plemons has been married to actor Kirsten Dunst since 2022; the couple has two children, both sons, including son Ennis. Plemons’ height is 5’ 10”. Plemons’ estimated net worth is $15 million.
Jesse Plemons Movies
actor
Previous (28)
- 2025 |
- 2024 |
Kinds of Kindness
asRobert
A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning, and a woman searches for an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide.
- 2023 |
Killers of the Flower Moon
asTom White
When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one - until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.
- 2022 | Windfallas CEO
- 2021 |
The Power of the Dog
asGeorge Burbank
Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
- 2021 |
- 2021 |
Jungle Cruise
asPrince Joachim
Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element.
- 2021 |
Judas and the Black Messiah
asRoy Mitchell
Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
- 2020 | I'm Thinking of Ending Thingsas Jake
- 2019 | El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movieas Todd
- 2019 |
The Irishman
asChuckie O'Brien
An illustration of Frank Sheeran's life, from W.W.II veteran to hit-man for the Bufalino crime family and his alleged assassination of his close friend Jimmy Hoffa.
- 2018 |
- 2018 |
Game Night
asGary
A group of friends who meet regularly for game nights find themselves entangled in a real-life mystery when the shady brother of one of them is seemingly kidnapped by dangerous gangsters.
- 2017 | The Discoveryas Toby
- 2017 |
- 2017 |
- 2017 |
American Made
asSheriff Downing
The story of Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s in a clandestine operation that would be exposed as the Iran-Contra Affair.
- 2016 | Other Peopleas David
- 2016 |
Other People
asDavid
A struggling comedy writer, fresh off a breakup and in the midst of the worst year of his life, returns to Sacramento to care for his dying mother.
- 2015 | The Programas Floyd Landis
- 2016 |
The Program
asFloyd Landis
An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong's performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.
- 2015 |
Black Mass
asKevin Weeks
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
- 2012 | The Masteras Val Dodd
- 2012 |
Battleship
asBoatswain Mate Seaman Jimmy 'Ordy' Ord
A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals.
- 2011 | Meeting Spenceras Spencer West
- 2009 | Observe and Reportas Charles
- 2002 | Children on Their Birthdaysas Preacher Star
- 2002 | Like Mikeas Ox
Facts About Jesse Plemons
AKA: Jesse Plemons’ resemblance to Matt Damon (whose younger character he played in All the Pretty Horses) earned him the nickname “Meth Damon” for his popular, recurring role on Breaking Bad (2008).
Texan Heritage: Plemons is the great-great-great-great-grandson of early Texas settler Emily Margaret Brown Austin, sister of the so-called “Father of Texas,” Stephen F. Austin.
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