Jon Tenney

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title: "Jon Tenney" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1961-births", "american-people-of-english-descent", "american-people-of-polish-jewish-descent", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-stage-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "american-male-voice-actors", "living-people", "male-actors-from-princeton,-new-jersey", "vassar-college-alumni", "juilliard-school-alumni", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "jewish-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-jews", "american-ashkenazi-jews"] description: "American actor (born 1961)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Tenney" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor (born 1961) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Jon Tenney
image	Jon Tenney (cropped).jpg
caption	Tenney in 2011
birth_name	Jonathan Frederick Tenney
birth_date
birth_place	Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
occupation	Actor
years_active	1986–present
children	1
spouse
education
::

| name = Jon Tenney | image = Jon Tenney (cropped).jpg | caption = Tenney in 2011 | birth_name = Jonathan Frederick Tenney | birth_date = | birth_place = Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1986–present | children = 1 | spouse = | education = Jonathan Frederick Tenney (born December 16, 1961) is an American actor. He played Special Agent Fritz Howard in TNT's The Closer and continued in its spin-off Major Crimes.

Early life

Tenney was born in Princeton, New Jersey. His mother, Dr. Lillian Sandra Baum, was a psychiatrist, and his father, Frederick Haworth Tenney, was a research physicist. His maternal grandparents were Polish Jewish immigrants, while his paternal forebears were of English ancestry. He received his B.A. degree from Vassar College in 1984, where he majored in drama and philosophy. He later attended The Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 19 (1986–1990).

Career

Tenney made his acting debut in a touring production of Mike Nichols' The Real Thing. He worked steadily on and off-Broadway, and in regional theater. At New York City, his stage credits include Biloxi Blues, The Substance of Fire and The Heiress. He began working on television, starring in a number of short-lived series, including Steven Bochco's Brooklyn South, Kristin Chenoweth's sitcom Kristin, and guest appearances on Cybill, Will & Grace, Murphy Brown, Spenser: for Hire and Get Real. Series with Tenney as a regular were canceled on all four major networks.

From 2005 to 2012, Tenney played Special Agent Fritz Howard, the husband of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) in TNT's The Closer. For the 4th season of Lifetime's The Division in 2004, he played Hank Riley. When The Closer ended he continued to act in its spin-off, Major Crimes, from 2012 to 2018, with Howard becoming an LAPD deputy chief in the third season. Later, he portrayed Dr. Simon Craig, a love interest of Nora Walker (Sally Field) in Brothers & Sisters. In 2013, he starred with Rebecca Romijn in TNT's King & Maxwell, as Sean King, a former Secret Service agent and lawyer who works as a private investigator. The series was canceled after one season. In 2014, he was cast in a recurring role on Shonda Rhimes' drama series Scandal.

Tenney appeared in several films, including the villainous CEO of Benbrook Oil Company in Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home and the friend of Alex Whitman (Matthew Perry) in Fools Rush In. He also starred in small roles for some films, including Tombstone, Beverly Hills Cop III, Nixon, Music from Another Room and the 2009 horror film remake of The Stepfather. He also appeared in John Cameron Mitchell's film, Rabbit Hole. He portrayed Martin Jordan in the 2011 superhero film Green Lantern.

Personal life

From 1994 to 2003, Tenney was married to Teri Hatcher, with whom he has a daughter, Emerson Rose Tenney. He married producer Leslie Urdang on June 16, 2012.

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Shopper Husband
1993	Watch It	Michael
1993	Tombstone	Johnny Behan
1994	Beverly Hills Cop III	Levine
1994	Lassie	Steve Turner
1995	Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home	John Milner
1995	Nixon	Reporter #1
1996	The Phantom	Jimmy Wells
1996	The Twilight of the Golds	Rob Stein
1997	Fools Rush In	Jeff
1997	Lovelife	Alan
1998	Homegrown	Helicopter Pilot
1998	Music from Another Room	Eric
1998	With Friends Like These...	Dorian Mastandrea
1999	Advice from a Caterpillar	Suit
2000	You Can Count on Me	Bob Steegerson
2002	Buying the Cow	Andrew Hahn
2009	The Stepfather	Jay
2010	Legion	Howard Anderson
2010	Rabbit Hole	Rick
2011	Green Lantern	Martin Jordan
2011	Hide Away	The Divorced Man
2013	As Cool As I Am	Bob
2014	The Best of Me	Harvey Collier
2015	Love the Coopers	Dr. Morrissey
2018	The Seagull	Dorn
2019	I See You	Greg Harper
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Garrett	Episode: "Shadowsight"
1988	Alone in the Neon Jungle	Todd Hansen	Television film
1989	Murphy Brown	Josh Silverberg	Episode: "The Brothers Silverberg"
1990–1991	Equal Justice	Peter Bauer	25 episodes
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Alex	Episode: "Half-Way Horrible"
1993	Crime & Punishment	Det. Ken O'Donnell	6 episodes
1995	Almost Perfect	Adams / Tony Madden	2 episodes
1996	Good Company	Will Hennessey	6 episodes
1996	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Lt. Ching	2 episodes
1996	Cybill	Jack	2 episodes
1997	The Outer Limits	Aidan Hunter	Episode: "Bits of Love"
1997–1998	Brooklyn South	Patrol Sgt. Francis 'Frank' Xavier Donovan	22 episodes
1999–2000	Get Real	Mitch Green	22 episodes
2001	Kristin	Tommy Ballantine	13 episodes
2001	Will & Grace	Paul Truman	Episode: "Moveable Feast"
2004	The District	Dan Lustig	Episode: "Family Values"
2004	Without a Trace	Mr. Benjamin Palmer	Episode: "Bait"
2004	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Charlie Macklin	Episode: "Formalities"
2005-2012	The Closer	FBI Special Agent Fritz Howard	109 episodes
2009	American Dad!	Father Carrington / Lawyer #2 / Man (voices)	3 episodes
2009–2010	Brothers & Sisters	Dr. Simon Craig	5 episodes
2012	The Newsroom	Wade Campbell	3 episodes
2012–2016	Major Crimes	FBI Special Agent/LAPD deputy chief Fritz Howard	23 episodes
2013	King & Maxwell	Sean King	10 episodes
2014–2016	Scandal	Andrew Nichols	15 episodes
2015	Hand of God	Nick Tramble	5 episodes
2017	Longmire	FBI Agent Vance	1 episode
2017	Story of a Girl	Ray Lambert	Television film
2020	Next	Special Agent Brian Farrell	1 episode
2022	The Lincoln Lawyer	Mickey Haller Sr	1 episode
2022	And Just Like That...	Peter	3 episodes
::

References

References

1. Boone, Roger S.. (1992). "Some Quaker Families, Scarborough/Haworth". Marjorie Morgan.
2. "Jon Tenney profile". FilmReference.com.
3. (2007-03-11). "Paid Notice - Deaths TENNEY, DR. LILLIAN BAUM". New York Times.
4. (Spring–Summer 2011). "All in the Family". Vassar, the Alumnae/i Quarterly.
5. (March 2010). "Alumni News". The Juilliard School.
6. Laura Hitchcock. (February 5, 2007). "Speeding the plow once again". Los Angeles Times.
7. "Jon Tenney Biography". Tvguide.com.
8. Margy Rochlin. (August 3, 2012). "Case Closed? The Squad Looks Familiar". New York Times.
9. Matt Richenthal. (October 19, 2009). "Jon Tenney Nabs Recurring Role on Brothers & Sisters". TVFanatic.com.
10. Vlada Gelman. (January 15, 2013). "TNT Greenlights Private Eye Series Starring Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn". TVLine.com.
11. . (2013-12-07). ["Jon Tenney Joins 'Scandal' As Mellie's New Man"](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/07/jon-tenney-scandal_n_4404465.html). *[[The Huffington Post]]*.
12. "Fools Rush In (1997)".
13. (February 27, 2008). "Jon Tenney and Amber Heard Join ''The Stepfather'' Remake". MovieWeb.
14. (May 17, 2009). "Oh, Esposito and Tenney Complete 'RABBIT HOLE' Film Casting". Broadway World.
15. (April 11, 2010). "The Closer Star Jon Tenney Joins Green Lantern". ComingSoon.net.
16. "Teri Hatcher biography". People.com.
17. Keck, William. (May 2, 2006). "Hatcher has eye on love". USA Today.
18. Jay Bobbin. (June 10, 2013). "Jon Tenney of TNT's 'King & Maxwell': It's good to be the King". Zap2it.

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