Ty Simpkins

Ty Simpkins (birthname: Ty Keegan Simpkins) has had considerable success as a child, adolescent, and young adult actor in a striking roster of prestigious movies with such major directors as Steven Spielberg, Todd Field, Sam Mendes, Darren Aronofsky, and Anthony and Joe Russo. Spielberg cast three-year-old Simpkins in his epic depiction of H.G. Wells’ sci-if saga, War of the Worlds (2005), with Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins.

Simpkins, at four, appeared in Field’s second feature, Little Children (2006), starring Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, and Noah Emmerich, and earning three Oscar nominations. After a role in writer-director Damian Harris’ drama, Gardens of the Night (2008), Simpkins appeared in writer-director Gavin O’Connor’s crime drama, Pride and Glory (2008), starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, and Emmerich. Ty Simpkins was then cast by director Mendes in his fine adaptation (with writer Justin Haythe) of Richard Yates’ modern classic novel, Revolutionary Road (2008), with Winslet, Leonard DiCaprio, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, and Kathy Bates, and grossing a solid $76 million and earning three Oscar nominations.

The next major movie for Simpkins was a supporting role in writer/director/producer Paul Haggis’ drama, The Next Three Days (2010), starring Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Brian Dennehy, Olivia Wilde, and Liam Neeson. Ty Simpkins won a competitive race for the role of the young Dalton Lambert in director James Wan’s hit horror movie, Insidious (2010), launching a successful franchise; it also marked Simpkins’ second role in which he plays the son of Patrick Wilson’s father, with co-stars Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shane, and Leigh Whannell, grossing an astounding $100 million on a $1.5 million budget after its world premiere at the Toronto film festival.

Writer-director Olivia Silver cast both Simpkins and his actor-sister Ryan Simpkins as co-leads (the first time, which occurred again in the 2015 U.K. thriller, Hangman) opposite John Hawkes in the drama, Arcadia (2012), premiering in Berlin’s Generation Kplus section, and released by Film Movement. Ty Simpkins’ next role in a Hollywood blockbuster was in the Shane Black-directed sequel, Iron Man 3 (2013), starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, and Ben Kingsley, and grossing a knockout $1.2 billion (on a $200 million budget).

Simpkins followed this with another sequel, Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), with the original cast again directed by James Wan, resulting in another tremendous box-office success of $162 million on a $5 million budget. Simpkins was cast in a supporting role in debuting director-cinematographer Reed Morano’s well-reviewed drama, Meadowland (2015), staring Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Juno Temple, Elisabeth Moss, Giovanni Ribisi, and John Leguizamo, which premiered at the Tribeca film festival.

Ty Simpkins’ next role in a Hollywood franchise blockbuster was in the first installment of the Jurassic World Trilogy, Jurassic World (2015), directed and co-written by Colin Trevorrow (with Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Derek Connolly), and co-starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Omar Sy, BD Wong, and Irrfan Khan, and earning nearly ten times costs ($150-215 million) with a $1.67 billion return.

Simpkins reunited with director Shane Black and Russell Crowe in the cast of the Joel Silver-produced buddy comedy, The Nice Guys (2016), with Ryan Gosling, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, and Kim Basinger, but failing to make a profit for Warner Bros. After a cameo appearance in the Marvel mega-hit, Avengers: Endgame (2019), writer-director John Mathis cast Simpkins in his first main lead role in the indie horror movie, Where’s Rose (2021), with Skyler Elyse Philpot and Kathy Searle, and which premiered at the Raindance film festival.

Ty Simpkins had one of his most significant roles to date in Darren Aronofsky’s screen adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale (2022), starring Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, and Samantha Morton, and premiering at the Venice film festival, and grossing a robust $55 million on a $3 million budget. Simpkins reunited with Patrick Wilson (as co-star and director) of the sequel, Insidious: The Red Door (2023), with new cast members Hiram Abbass and Sinclair Daniel, and released to solid box office (exceeding $156 million) by Screen Gems/Sony Pictures.

Simpkins earned a starring role in one of his first comedies, The Re-Education of Molly Singer (date to be announced), with Britt Robertson, Wendie Malick, and Jamie Pressly under Andy Palmer’s direction. Simpkins then starred in the espionage thriller, BirdsEye (date to be announced), written by Mary Aloe and T.M. Hayes, and co-starring Maria Bakalova, Connie Nielsen, and Jean Reno.