1990s In 1996, Dano portrayed The Little Boy (Edgar) in the world premiere of
Terrence McNally's musical
Ragtime at the Ford Center of the Performing Arts (now the
Meridian Arts Centre) in
Toronto.
2000s Dano made his
Broadway debut at age twelve in
John Tillinger's revival of
Inherit the Wind, alongside
George C. Scott and
Charles Durning. He appeared in an episode of the sitcom
Smart Guy and had a minor role in the 2000 family drama
The Newcomers. He played the part of Patrick Whalen in several episodes of
The Sopranos (season 4). Dano acted in his first major film role when he was sixteen, playing Howie Blitzer, a teenage boy who becomes involved with a middle-aged
ephebophile (
Brian Cox) in
L.I.E. (2001). He then appeared in the television film
Too Young to Be a Dad as a high school student whose life is disrupted when his girlfriend becomes pregnant. He appeared in ''
The Emperor's Club in 2002 as Martin Blythe. In 2004, he played a small role as the young Martin Asher in Taking Lives, with Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke. Additionally, Dano starred in The Girl Next Door
, alongside Elisha Cuthbert, Emile Hirsch, and Chris Marquette. In 2005, he played supporting roles in The King and The Ballad of Jack and Rose''. He came to greater attention in 2006, when he played Dwayne, a voluntarily mute teenager as part of an ensemble in the comedic drama
Little Miss Sunshine, which received critical acclaim and collective awards for its cast. He also had a supporting role in the 2006 film
Fast Food Nation, based on the
nonfiction book by
Eric Schlosser. Dano had a dual role in the 2007 period film
There Will Be Blood, which earned him positive reviews and a
BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Texas Monthly said that his performance was "so electric that the movie sags whenever he's not around."
Peter Travers remarked, "All praise to the baby-faced Dano...for bringing sly cunning and unexpected ferocity to Plainview's most formidable opponent."
Rolling Stone magazine included Dano in its Hot List for 2007, calling his performance style "
Daniel Day-Lewis +
Billy Crudup ×
Johnny Depp." Dano appeared in several additional Broadway productions, including
A Thousand Clowns at the
Roundabout Theatre, and in
Ethan Hawke’s directorial debut,
Things We Want, during its 2007
Off-Broadway run. In 2008, he starred in
Gigantic, a poorly-reviewed film about a man seeking to adopt a Chinese baby, co-starring
Zooey Deschanel. He reunited with Brian Cox in 2009's
Good Heart, a low-budget English-language Icelandic film. He provided the voice of one of the creatures in the film adaptation of
Where the Wild Things Are (2009).
2010s premiere at the
Toronto International Film Festival 2014 He played a genius inventor in 2010's
Knight and Day, an action thriller starring
Tom Cruise and
Cameron Diaz. The same year, he appeared in ''
Meek's Cutoff, a well-reviewed historical drama. In 2011, he had a supporting role in the big-budget science fiction film Cowboys and Aliens''. Dano appeared in three feature films in 2012:
Ruby Sparks, as a writer whose fictional character (played by
Zoe Kazan, the film's writer and Dano's partner) inexplicably appears as a real person; in a supporting role alongside
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and
Bruce Willis in the time-travel thriller
Looper; and as the writer
Nick Flynn, alongside
Robert De Niro, in
Being Flynn, a film based on Flynn's memoir about his relationship with his father. In 2013, Dano appeared in
Steve McQueen's period-drama biopic
12 Years a Slave, based on the memoirs of
Solomon Northup. Dano portrayed John Tibeats, an overseer at the plantation Northup is sold to. The film was a critical success and won the
Academy Award for Best Picture and numerous other award. Dano also featured in the 2013
Denis Villeneuve film
Prisoners. He portrayed Alex Jones, a tormented man who was kidnapped by a nihilistic couple 26 years ago and initially framed as a suspect in a separate kidnapping. In 2014, Dano played a younger version of the
Beach Boys founder
Brian Wilson (with
John Cusack as an older version of Wilson) in the biopic
Love & Mercy, for which he received a
Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2015, Dano appeared with
Michael Caine and
Harvey Keitel in the Italian comedy-drama
Youth; Dano portrayed Jimmy Tree, an actor doing research for an upcoming role who is frustrated to be best known for a previous role as a robot. In January 2016, Dano appeared as
Pierre Bezukhov in the
BBC's six-part
adaptation of
Tolstoy's
War and Peace. In Fall 2016, he appeared in a video as an onstage "stand-in" during the
Nostalgic for the Present concert tour of Australian singer
Sia, for her song "
Bird Set Free." In July 2016, it was announced that Dano would make his directorial debut with the movie
Wildlife, based on the 1990 novel of the same title by
Richard Ford. The movie was set to be produced by June Pictures and to star
Carey Mulligan and
Jake Gyllenhaal. Dano stated, "I have always wanted to make films and have always known I would make films about family. I couldn't be happier to have such beautiful collaborators like Carey and Jake leading the way." The film received critical acclaim when it premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival. It also screened at the
Cannes Film Festival, the
Toronto Film Festival and the
Mill Valley Film Festival. The film has earned a 94% on
Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus reading, "Wildlife's portrait of a family in crisis is beautifully composed by director Paul Dano -- and brought brilliantly to life by a career-best performance from Carey Mulligan". In 2016, Dano played the role of Hank Thompson in
Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's absurdist black-comedy film
Swiss Army Man, alongside
Daniel Radcliffe and
Mary Elizabeth Winstead. His character is a suicidal man, stranded on an island, who befriends a farting corpse. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, and opened in theaters on June 24. Although some viewers walked out of the film viewing due to its bizarre humor, critics left generally favorable reviews of the film. Paul won the
Critics' Choice Award twice in 2007, and was nominated in 2014 and 2016. In 2018, he portrayed escaped inmate David Sweat in the Showtime miniseries
Escape at Dannemora alongside
Patricia Arquette and
Benicio del Toro, for which he received a nomination for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series. From December 27, 2018, to March 17, 2019, Dano starred in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of
Sam Shepard's
True West, with
Ethan Hawke, at the
Roundabout Theater Company's
American Airlines Theater in New York.
2020s In October 2019, Dano was cast as
The Riddler in
Matt Reeves's 2022 superhero film
The Batman. Reeves wrote the role with Dano in mind after seeing Dano's portrayal of Brian Wilson in
Love & Mercy. In April 2021, Paul Dano was cast in
Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film
The Fabelmans as Burt Fabelman, a character loosely based on Spielberg's father
Arnold. The film was released in 2022 to universal acclaim; with Dano's performance earning praise from Pete Hammond of
Deadline Hollywood describing him as "terrific as the genuinely nice and loving father torn between following his own career and caring for his wife and family under increasingly difficult circumstances" and
Stephanie Zacharek of
Time including Dano in
Time's Top 10 movie performances of 2022 describing his portrayal as "the sum of all the things that so many men of that generation just didn't know how to be; we also see a deep well of love, no less real for being left unexpressed." Dano would subsequently receive nominations for Best Supporting Actor at the
Screen Actors Guild Awards and
Critics' Choice Movie Awards. In 2022, Dano starred in
AMC's animated drama
Pantheon. In March 2022, it was announced that Dano would make his comic debut writing
The Riddler: Year One for DC's
Black Label imprint. The six issue limited series is set in the continuity of
The Batman and showcase the rise of Edward Nashton / Patrick Parker into becoming the Riddler. In September 2022, it was announced that Dano would star in
Craig Gillespie's
Dumb Money, an adaptation of
Ben Mezrich's
The Antisocial Network, alongside
Seth Rogen,
Sebastian Stan and
Pete Davidson. The film was released in theaters in September 2023. The same year, Dano was a member of the Feature Film Jury at the
2023 Cannes Film Festival. Dano joined
Adam Sandler and
Carey Mulligan in
Netflix's
Spaceman, an adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfař's novel
Spaceman of Bohemia, directed by
Johan Renck. The film was released in March 2024 on
Netflix. The same year, Dano appeared in the
television series Mr. & Mrs. Smith with
Donald Glover,
Maya Erskine,
Michaela Coel and
John Turturro. He received his second Emmy nomination for
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his appearance in the series. In March 2025, Dano appeared in
The Studio as a guest star. In June 2025, it was announced that Dano would write and potentially direct and produce "a high-concept comedy" for
Universal Pictures, produced by
The Daniels. In November 2025, it was announced that Paul Dano would star in
The Chaperones, an upcoming
A24 drama directed by
India Donaldson. In December 2025, Dano was reported to have joined the cast of
Florian Zeller's psychological thriller
Bunker. ==Personal life==