Dr. Manhattan in the film version of Watchmen[br /]
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Billy Crudup is a darkly handsome stage and film actor known for taking serious-minded roles on stage and a variety of roles on screen. He gained notice as the rebellious brother Jacey in Inventing the Abbots (1997, with Liv Tyler) and then played Oregon running legend Steve Prefontaine in Robert Towne's 1998 film Without Limits. On stage he appeared in the 1997 Broadway production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, was nominated for a Tony for The Pillowman (2005) and won a Tony award in 2007 for his performance in The Coast of Utopia. He made a splash on the big screen in 2001, starring with Kate Hudson in the rock 'n roll nostalgia flick Almost Famous and got critical raves for playing a man playing a woman in Stage Beauty (2005), but it was the 2009 film version of Alan Moore's Watchmen (2009, with Malin Akerman) that gave Crudup a broader moviegoing audience.
His last name is pronounced "crew-dup."