Early career

Broderick's first major acting role came in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day, playing opposite his father, a friend of Foote's. This was followed by a supporting role as Harvey Fierstein's gay adopted son, David, in the off-Broadway production of Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy; then, a good review by The New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow brought him to the attention of Broadway. Broderick commented on the effects of that review in a 2004 60 Minutes II interview:

Before I knew it, I was like this guy in a hot play. And suddenly, all these doors opened. And it's only because Mel Gussow happened to come by right before it closed and happened to like it. It's just amazing. All these things have to line up that are out of your control.^[13]

He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon Eugene Trilogy including the plays Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in Brighton Beach Memoirs.

Success in films

Broderick's first film role as Michael McPhee in 1983's Max Dugan Returns was also written by Neil Simon, but his first big hit film was WarGames, a summer hit in 1983,^[14] in which he played the main role of Seattle teen hacker David Lightman. Broderick next played Philippe Gaston in Ladyhawke, in 1985.^[11][15]

Broderick then won the role of the charming, clever slacker in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At the age of 23, Broderick played the titular high school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago. A 1980s comedy favorite, the film is one of Broderick's best-known roles (particularly with teenage audiences). Also in 1987, he played Air Force research assistant Jimmy Garrett in Project X. In 1988, Broderick played Harvey Fierstein's lover, Alan, in the screen adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy.

He starred in the 1989 film Glory alongside Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington, and received favorable reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw, whom Broderick physically resembled.

In the 1990s, Broderick appeared as Clark Kellogg in The Freshman in 1990, was the voice of adult Simba in Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King, and voiced Tack the Cobbler in Miramax's controversial version of The Thief and the Cobbler, which had originally been intended as a silent role and was fully released in 1995. He won recognition for two dark comedy roles: bachelor Steven Kovacs in 1996's The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey, and a high school teacher in Alexander Payne's 1999 film Election with Reese Witherspoon. He also played Dr. Niko Tatopoulos in 1998's Godzilla, and the title character in Disney's Inspector Gadget in 1999.

In the 2000s, Broderick starred as Brian in the 2000 drama You Can Count on Me, voiced Hubble in the 2003 film Good Boy!, starred with Nicole Kidman in the 2004 film The Stepford Wives (a remake of the 1975 film of the same name), starred opposite Danny DeVito in the 2006 Christmas comedy film Deck the Halls, was the voice of Adam Flayman in the 2007 animated comedy Bee Movie, and voiced Despereaux in 2008's The Tale of Despereaux.

Broadway

Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, winning a Tony Award for his performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Broderick then starred alongside Nathan Lane in the Mel Brooks 2001 stage version of The Producers which was a critical and financial success. He played Leopold "Leo" Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail that turns out to be successful. Broderick was nominated for another Tony Award but lost to his co-star Nathan Lane. The musical went on to win the most Tony Awards in history with 12 wins.^[16] Broderick and Lane reprised their roles in the 2005 film adaptation of the same name.

Broderick starred in a 2004 off-Broadway production of the award-winning Larry Shue play The Foreigner as the witty Charlie Baker.^[17] He was reunited with his co-star from The Lion King and The Producers, Nathan Lane, in The Odd Couple, which opened on Broadway in October 2005. He appeared on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28, 2009.^[18]

He returned to the Broadway stage in Spring 2012 to star in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.^[19] He notably starred in the 2015 Broadway adaptation of Sylvia, a play by A.R. Gurney directed by Daniel J. Sullivan.

Broderick made his West End debut in The Starry Messenger in May 2019, co-starring with Elizabeth McGovern.^[20]

In 2022, Broderick returned to Broadway in a revival of Plaza Suite where he starred alongside his wife Sarah Jessica Parker.^[21]

Later films and television

Broderick starred with Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda in the comedy Tower Heist in 2011.^[22] In 2018, it was announced that he was cast in the main role of Michael Burr in the Netflix comedy-drama series Daybreak.^[23]

In 2023, Broderick played the role of Laird Becker in the comedy film No Hard Feelings, and appeared as himself in two episodes of the Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building.

Family

Broderick with wife Sarah Jessica Parker in 2009

Broderick and actress Sarah Jessica Parker married on May 19, 1997, in an Episcopal ceremony officiated by his sister, Rev. Janet Broderick Kraft.^[24][25]

Parker and Broderick have a son, and twin daughters via surrogacy.^[26][27][28]

Although the couple live in the West Village,^[29] they spend a large amount of time at their second home in Kilcar, a village in County Donegal, Ireland, where Broderick spent his summers as a child.^[30] They also have a house in The Hamptons.^[31]

Broderick is a political liberal.^[32]

Ancestry

In March 2010, Broderick was featured in the NBC program Who Do You Think You Are? He said his participation in the ancestry research program emotionally reconnected him with the role he played in Glory, as he discovered his paternal great-great-grandfather, Robert Martindale, was a Union soldier. A veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg, Martindale, who belonged to the 20th Connecticut, was killed in the aftermath of the Battle of Atlanta and interred in an unnamed grave at the Marietta National Cemetery. Having identified the grave with the help of historian Brad Quinlin, Broderick's research enabled him to give his ancestor his name back. In the same program, Broderick discovered that his paternal grandfather, James Joseph Broderick II, whom he had never known, was a highly decorated combat medic in World War I, having earned his distinctions during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.^[7]

1987 car crash

On August 5, 1987, while driving a rented car outside Tempo, Northern Ireland, Broderick crossed into the wrong lane and collided head-on with another car. The driver, Anna Gallagher, 28, and her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, were both killed instantly.^[33][34] He was vacationing with Jennifer Grey, whom he had begun dating during the filming of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He suffered a fractured leg and ribs, a concussion, and a collapsed lung. Grey's injuries included severe whiplash, which later required surgery to avoid paralysis.^[35][33] Broderick told police he had no recollection of the crash and did not know why he had been in the wrong lane: "What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very strange feeling going on in my leg." He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced up to five years in prison, but was convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined £100 (US$175).^{[33][36][37][38][39]}

The victims' family called the verdict "a travesty of justice". The victims' brother/son, Martin Doherty, later forgave Broderick amid plans to meet him in 2003.^[40] In February 2012, when Broderick was featured in a multi-million-dollar Honda commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, Doherty said the meeting had still not taken place and that Broderick "wasn't the greatest choice of drivers, knowing his past".^[41]

Film

Television