1992–1999 At the age of 13, Krumholtz followed his friends to an
open audition for the
Broadway play Conversations with My Father (1992). When he tried out, he won the role of Young Charlie, with
Judd Hirsch,
Tony Shalhoub and
Jason Biggs, who was also making his Broadway debut. Soon after his run on Broadway, Krumholtz co-starred in two
feature films,
Life With Mikey (1993) with
Michael J. Fox and
Addams Family Values (1993) with
Christina Ricci. For his role in
Mikey, Krumholtz was nominated for a 1993
Young Artist Award. Although his work in these two films garnered him critical attention, Krumholtz is probably best known by children as the sarcastic head elf Bernard from
The Santa Clause (1994) and its first sequel,
The Santa Clause 2 (2002). While he did not appear in
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006) due to a scheduling conflict and his belief that the character was devalued, he reprised the role two decades later in the
Disney+ series
The Santa Clauses (2022). In 1994, Krumholtz co-starred in his first television series,
Monty, with
Henry Winkler; the show lasted only a few episodes. Krumholtz later starred in several short-lived series over the years. Along the way, he had the opportunity to work with
Jason Bateman (
Chicago Sons, 1997),
Tom Selleck (
The Closer, 1998),
Jon Cryer (
The Trouble with Normal, 2000), and
Rob Lowe (''
The Lyon's Den, 2003). In 2005, he finally found television success with the CBS series Numb3rs. Along with his starring roles on television, Krumholtz made guest appearances on ER as schizophrenic patient Paul Sobriki, as well as on Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Lucky, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared''. '' in September 2005 He broke out of the children's movie genre with
The Ice Storm (1997), directed by
Ang Lee, and
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), starring
Alan Arkin and
Natasha Lyonne. In 1999, Krumholtz starred as Michael Eckman in the popular
teen movie 10 Things I Hate About You with
Larisa Oleynik,
Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Julia Stiles, and
Heath Ledger. That same year, he portrayed a completely different teen character – that of Yussel, a young conflicted Jewish man in
Liberty Heights (1999).
2001–2011 It was the role of Yussel that brought Krumholtz to the attention of actor and filmmaker
Edward Burns, who cast him in the independent film
Sidewalks of New York (2001). In 2005, Krumholtz played Max in
My Suicidal Sweetheart (formerly
Max and Grace), once again starring opposite actress Natasha Lyonne. Krumholtz also returned to smaller roles in the successful films
Ray (2004) and
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), along with its two sequels. In September 2005, he was seen in
Joss Whedon's science fiction film
Serenity as "Mr. Universe", a
hacker and
information broker. In early 2006, Krumholtz's 2003 film
Kill the Poor screened in New York City at
IFC Center and across the country on Comcast's On Demand cable service. From 2005 to 2010, Krumholtz starred on the
CBS television show
Numb3rs, portraying
Charlie Eppes, a genius who used mathematics to help his FBI agent brother Don (
Rob Morrow) solve crimes. The cast of
Numbers also included
Judd Hirsch and
Peter MacNicol, who appeared with Krumholtz in
Addams Family Values as a camp counselor. Critic Matt Roush (
TV Guide) called Krumholtz's work on
Numbers "probably his best TV work to date".
Numbers was cancelled by CBS on May 18, 2010. He starred in the 2010 TV film/series pilot
Tax Man on
Fox but was not picked up to series. He starred in
The Playboy Club on NBC in 2011, but the show was cancelled after three episodes.
2012–present In 2012, Krumholtz was cast opposite
Michael Urie in
CBS' comedy TV series
Partners but the show was cancelled after six episodes. In 2015, he played the title role wearing heavy prosthetics as an elderly Jewish woman in the
IFC comedy series
Gigi Does It which he wrote and co-created with Ricky Mabe and Zach Golden. In recent years, he has had minor roles in the
Coen brothers films
Hail Caesar! (2016) and
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), while also appearing in films such as
This Is the End (2013),
The Judge (2014),
Sausage Party (2016), and
Wonder Wheel (2017). He had a prominent recurring role as adult filmmaker Harvey Wasserman in the first two seasons of the
HBO drama series
The Deuce, before being promoted to a series regular for the third season. In 2020, he appeared as a series regular playing Monty Levin in the HBO miniseries
The Plot Against America. In fall 2022, Krumholtz returned to the stage to play the role of Hermann Merz in the original
Broadway cast of
Tom Stoppard’s
Leopoldstadt at The
Longacre Theater in New York City.
Variety described his performance as "vulnerable and powerful". He earned a nomination for the
Drama League Award for Outstanding Performance. The following year Krumholtz portrayed physicist
Isidor Isaac Rabi in
Christopher Nolan's biographical drama
Oppenheimer (2023). ==Personal life==