Early life

Leonard was born in Westwood, New Jersey, the son of Joyce Patricia (née Peterson), a nurse, and Robert Howard Leonard, a teacher of Spanish. He grew up in Ridgewood, where he attended Ridgewood High School before moving on to Fordham University and later Columbia University School of General Studies (GS).

Career

Because he shares his birth name with another actor, Leonard uses the name of his brother Sean for his Screen Actors Guild membership.

Leonard is a three-time Tony Award nominee (1993, 2001 and 2003), winning in 2001 (Best Actor - Featured Play) for his role as A. E. Housman in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love. He had a prior association with Stoppard's work, playing the role of Valentine in the New York premiere of Arcadia at Lincoln Center in 1995. His 2003 Tony nomination was for his portrayal of Edmund Tyrone in a well-received revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night that co-starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Dennehy and Vanessa Redgrave. Leonard has also appeared in Broadway musical productions, in 2001 replacing Craig Bierko as the lead performer in a successful revival of The Music Man. On February 8, 2011, it was announced that Leonard would co-star as Paul Verrall in the 2011 Broadway revival of Born Yesterday beginning in March.

In 1997, Leonard received rave reviews for his role in the Christopher Reeve-directed television film In the Gloaming. Entertainment Weekly said that, in the film, Leonard "does a first-rate job of juggling Danny's mixture of despair, neediness, and mordant jokiness."

From 2004 he played Dr. James Wilson, head of the oncology department, on the FOX TV series House, until the series ended in 2012. In 2007 Leonard appeared on Entertainment's Weekly's 100 list as "Dr. Underrated."

Personal life

Leonard maintains a good friendship with House co-star Hugh Laurie, as well as childhood friend, Dead Poets Society and Tape co-star, Ethan Hawke, with whom he founded the Malaparte theater company, along with James Waterston, Steve Zahn, and Frank Whaley.

He's been married to Gabriella Salick since 2008. They have two daughters: Eleanor (born 2009) and Claudia (born 2012).

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Manhattan Project	Max
1988	My Best Friend Is a Vampire	Jeremy Capello
1989	Dead Poets Society	Neil Perry
1990	Mr. & Mrs. Bridge	Douglas Bridge
1991	Married to It	Chuck Bishop
1993	Swing Kids	Peter Müller
1993	Much Ado About Nothing	Claudio
1993	The Age of Innocence	Ted Archer
1994	Safe Passage	Alfred Singer
1996	The Boys Next Door	Barry Klemper
1996	Killer: A Journal of Murder	Henry Lesser
1996	I Love You, I Love You Not	Angel of Death
1997	In the Gloaming	Danny
1998	Standoff	Jamie Doolin
1998	The Last Days of Disco	Tom Platt
1998	Ground Control	Cruise
2000	The Outer Limits	Robby Archer	Season 6, Episode 20
2001	Tape	Jon Salter
2001	A Glimpse of Hell	Lieutenant Daniel P. Meyer
2001	Driven	Demille Bly
2001	Chelsea Walls	Terry Olsen
2003	The I Inside	Peter Cable
2003	A Painted House	Jesse Chandler
2003	Malcolm in the Middle	Agent	Season 5, Episode 12
2004-12	House	Dr. James Wilson	Main Cast
2013-14	Falling Skies	Dr. Roger Kadar	Recurring
2013	The Blacklist	Frederick Barnes	Episode 7
2014	The Good Wife	Del Paul	Season 6, Episode 3
2015-16	Law & Order: SVU	ADA Kenneth O'Dwyer	Season 16 Episode 21 Season 17 Episode 3 Season 17 Episode 10
2015	Battle Creek	Brock	Season 1 Episode 13

Theatre

Year	Title	Role
1986	Brighton Beach Memoirs	Eugene Jerome
1987-88	Breaking the Code	Christopher Morcom
1991	The Speed of Darkness	Eddie
1993	Candida	Eugene Marchbanks
1994	Philadelphia, Here I Come!	Gareth O'Donnell in Private
1995	Arcadia	Valentine Coverly
1999	The Iceman Cometh	Don Parritt
2000-01	The Music Man	Harold Hill
2001	The Invention of Love	A. E. Housman
2003	Long Day's Journey into Night	Edmund Tyrone
2003	The Violet Hour	John Pace Seavering
2011-12	Born Yesterday	Paul Verrall
2013	To Kill a Mockingbird	Atticus Finch
2013	Pygmalion	Professor Henry Higgins

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 2001: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play - The Invention of Love

Nominations

• 1990: Chicago Film Critics Association for Most Promising Actor - Dead Poets Society
• 1993: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play - Candida
• 1997: Online Film & Television Association for Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries - In the Gloaming
• 2003: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play - Long Day's Journey into Night
• 2009: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series - House, M.D.
• 2011: People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Doctor - House, M.D.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]