Timothy Olyphant
American actor
Timothy David Olyphant ( OL-ih-fənt; born May 20, 1968) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in an off-Broadway theater in 1995 in The Monogamist, winning the Theatre World Award for his performance. Olyphant then originated David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries in 1996. He then branched out to film. In the early years of his career, he was often cast in supporting villainous roles, most notably in Scream 2 (1997), Go (1999), Gone in 60 Seconds and The Broken Hearts Club (2000), A Man Apart (2003), and The Girl Next Door (2004).
Olyphant came to the attention of a wider audience with his portrayal of Sheriff Seth Bullock in HBO's western Deadwood (2004–2006), later reprising the role in Deadwood: The Movie (2019). He had starring roles in films such as Catch and Release (2006), Hitman (2007), A Perfect Getaway (2009), and The Crazies (2010). He also played the main antagonist, Thomas Gabriel, in Live Free or Die Hard (2007). Olyphant was a recurring guest star in season two of the FX legal thriller Damages (2009).
From 2010 to 2015, Olyphant starred as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in FX's modern-day Kentucky southern gothic Justified, a performance for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2011.
The public source identifies “Timothy Olyphant” as american actor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Timothy, Olyphant and American.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Timothy Olyphant”, the useful work is to connect “american actor” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q309835. VIAF identifies the subject as 47041610. The Library of Congress control number is no2003101113. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1968, 1995, 1996 and 1997.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Timothy Olyphant”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Timothy Olyphant primary sources, Timothy Olyphant archive and Timothy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Timothy Olyphant”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Timothy Olyphant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.