Actor Sam Waterson Receives Goodermote Humanitarian Award

Emmy award-winning actor Sam Waterston is the recipient of the Goodermote Humanitarian Award from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for his longtime support of refugees around the world. Waterston was presented with the award at a ceremony at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., on May 9.

“Mr. Waterston’s acting accomplishments are well known, but his work as an advocate for the displaced victims of war is far less celebrated,” said Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “We admire Mr. Waterston’s support of this important cause and commend his commitment.”

Waterston is perhaps best known for his portrayal of District Attorney Jack McCoy in the long-running television series Law & Order, for which he earned three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, the 1999 Screen Actors Guild Award, a Screen Actors Guild nomination in 1998 and a Golden Globe nomination in 1995. Waterston also received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for The Killing Fields, a film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

As a philanthropist and activist, Waterston has been a board member of Refugees International for more than 25 years. He also serves on the boards of Oceana, an ocean conservation organization, Austen Riggs, and the Public Theater in New York City.

Waterston’s other accomplishments include three Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award for I’ll Fly Away, and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Most Promising Newcomer for the “Nick Carraway” role in The Great Gatsby. He was awarded an Emmy as host of the ten-part NBC informational series Lost Civilizations, and, in England, has received numerous BAFTA nominations.

He also appeared in Woody Allen’s films Interiors, Hannah and Her Sisters, September, and Crimes and Misdemeanors, John Waters’ Serial Mom, Hopscotch, Heaven’s Gate and two Anthony Harvey films: Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie with Katharine Hepburn, Michael Moriarty, and Joanna Miles and Eagles Wing with Martin Sheen and Harvey Keitel.

Waterston earned a Tony Award nomination as Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois and an Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award for his “Benedick” in Much Ado About Nothing. Among his numerous stage appearances, he has appeared in every production of Hamlet in the Park in the last 40 years.

Waterston is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Connecticut with his wife Lynn. They have four children and three grandchildren.

The Goodermote Humanitarian award was established in 2008 by Dean Goodermote and the Goodermote family to support the Bloomberg School’s training and education mission, and to honor the commitment of the its alumni to advancing public health worldwide. Dean Goodermote chairs the advisory committee for the Bloomberg School’s Center for Refugee and Disaster Response.

The Goodermote award is the Bloomberg School’s premiere humanitarian honor. Previous recipients include CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien and NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo.

In addition to the award, the Goodermote family has established a scholarship for students studying international health who are committed to addressing the needs of displaced people and to furthering the mission of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response.

Contact for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu.