
Jay O. Sanders
Department: Acting
Biography
Jay Olcutt Sanders (born April 16, 1953) is an American film, theatre and television actor and playwright. He frequently appears in plays off-Broadway at The Public Theatre. He has received a Drama Desk Award and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Sanders made his off-Broadway debut in a Shakespeare in the Park production of Henry V in 1976. He originated the role of Bradley in Sam Shepard's Buried Child (1978). He made his Broadway debut in the play Loose Ends (1979). He returned to Broadway in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1983), Saint Joan (1993), Pygmalion (2007), Girl from the North Country (2020), and Purlie Victorious (2023). He made his feature film debut in the comedy Starting Over (1979). He had notable roles in films such as Cross Creek (1983), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), Glory (1989), JFK (1991), Hostages (1992), Angels in the Outfield (1994), Music of the Heart (1999), Tumbleweeds (1999), and Revolutionary Road (2008). He took recurring roles in television series including Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, Blindspot, and Sneaky Pete. He has served as the narrator for the shows Wide Angle, Nova, and Secrets of the Dead. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jay O. Sanders, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

The Day After Tomorrow
2004

Along Came a Spider
2001

Starstruck
1981

JFK
1991

D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear
2003

The Matchmaker
1997

The Misfit Brigade
1987

My Boyfriend's Back
1993

Wedding Daze
2006

Half Nelson
2006

Angels in the Outfield
1994

Edge of Darkness
2010

Kiss the Girls
1997

The Big Green
1995

The Road to Galena
2022

V.I. Warshawski
1991

The Man Who Saved the World
2012

When You Finish Saving the World
2023

Three Wishes
1995

Dead Dog
2001

Revealing Evidence: Stalking the Honolulu Strangler
1990

Greetings from the Shore
2007

Starting Over
1979

The Secret Life of Girls
1999

Down Came a Blackbird
1995

Vice
2018

Cross Creek
1983

NOVA: Arctic Dinosaurs
2008

Ghosts of Stonehenge
2017

His Three Daughters
2024

Wrestling with Alligators
1998

Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story
1983

My Husband's Double Life
2001

Outrage
2023

The Confession
1999

Earthly Possessions
1999

Glory
1989

Cold Sassy Tree
1989

Revolutionary Road
2008

The Last Brickmaker in America
2001

Hair High
2004

The Prosecutors
1996

Daylight
1996

The Gathering Swarms
2014

Adventures in Plymptoons!
2011

Music of the Heart
1999

BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
2022

A Novel Romance
2011

Cadillac Records
2008

For Richer or Poorer
1997

Nobody's Children
1994

Salem Witch Trials
2002

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
2024

The Valley of Light
2007

The River
2013

The Undying
2009

Tucker: The Man and His Dream
1988

ATF
1999

Hanky Panky
1982

Inside Einstein's Mind: The Enigma of Space and Time
2015

Just Like in the Movies
1989

I'm Coming Over
2011

I Hate Valentine's Day
2009

Saving the Dead Sea
2019

NOVA: Secrets of the Sky Tombs
2017

A Doctor's Story
1984

Eddie Macon's Run
1983

NOVA: Secrets of the Viking Sword
2012

Hostages
1992

NOVA: Judgement Day - Intelligent Design on Trial
2007

Dawn of Humanity
2015

NOVA: Iceman Reborn
2016

NOVA: The Great Math Mystery
2015

NOVA: Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby?
2013

The Day Christ Died
1980

Abby Singer
2003

The Dissection of Thanksgiving
2008

NOVA: Ground Zero Supertower
2013

NOVA: Cold Case JFK
2013

NOVA: Life's Rocky Start
2016

NOVA: Mystery Beneath the Ice
2016

NOVA: Why Trains Crash
2017

NOVA: Secrets of Noah's Ark
2015

NOVA: Secret Tunnel Warfare
2016

The Jewel
2011

The Odd Couple II
1998

Earth from Space
2012

Tumbleweeds
1999

Silver Strand
1995

DC Noir
2019

Boss of Bosses
2001

Holocaust Escape Tunnel
2017

The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family, Play One: Hungry
2017

The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family, Play Two: What Did You Expect?
2017

The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family, Play Three: Women of a Certain Age
2017

Uncle Vanya
2019

NOVA: Prediction by the Numbers
2018

The Assistant
2020

Rio Shannon
1993

Broken Places
2018

That Hopey Changey Thing
2020

Meeting Venus
1991

Green Lantern
2011

Secrets of the Dead: The Nero Files
2019

The Jack Bull
1999

Mr. Destiny
1990

Sweet and Sad
2020

Sorry
2020

Regular Singing
2020

What Do We Need to Talk About?
2020

Secrets of the Dead: Graveyard of the Giant Beasts
2016

The Prince of Pennsylvania
1988

State of Emergency
1994

And So We Come Forth
2020

The Mystery of Mona Lisa
2014

Tapes
2020

Catfight
2016

Northern Borders
2015

Defenseless
1991

Kiss of Death
1995

Picnic
2000

Incidental Moments of the Day
2020

Riddles of the Sphinx
2010

The Violin Alone
2019

Secrets of Stonehenge
2010

NOVA: Decoding da Vinci
2019

Secrets of the Dead: The Real Trojan Horse
2015

NOVA: First Face of America
2018

Happenstance
2007

Wild Costa Rica
2000

Girl From the North Country
2024

Kill the Day
2008

Remain
2027

The Revolt of Mother
1988

Queens of Combat: Rome's Female Gladiators
2026

Kate & Allie
1984

Spenser: For Hire
1985

L.A. Law
1986

Roseanne
1988

Crime Story
1986

New York Undercover
1994

Northern Exposure
1990

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951

Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001

Booker
1989

Nature
1982

Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years
1995

The Outer Limits
1995

Manhunt
2017

ABC Afterschool Special
1972

Person of Interest
2011

NOVA
1974

True Detective
2014

Blue Bloods
2010

Pan Am
2011

Unforgettable
2011

Body of Proof
2011

Widows
2002

Blindspot
2015

Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001

Law & Order
1990

Law & Order
1990

Texas
1980

Stars in the House
2020

The Scarlet Letter
1979

Chicago Med
2015

Wonderland
2000

Sneaky Pete
2015

Miami Vice
1984

Secrets of the Dead
2000

The Good Wife
2009

Decoding the Universe
2024

Damages
2007

Salem Witch Trials
2003