“The Great Gatsby” Revisited: An Evening with Sam Waterston

Sam Waterston

An Emmy, a Golden Globe, a SAG award, and Oscar and Tony Award nominations are just a few of Sam Waterston’s many achievements in a long and prestigious career. He has been in some of the most memorable works of film, television and stage.

Recently Waterston starred in the Emmy-winning limited series “The Dropout,” where he portrayed the polarizing figure George Shultz opposite Amanda Seyfried. Additionally, he was a lead opposite Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Martin Sheen on the Emmy-nominated Netflix Original series “Grace and Frankie,” which ran for seven seasons, making it the longest-running Netflix Original series. Waterston also co-starred alongside Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer in the Aaron Sorkin HBO series “The Newsroom.” He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Jack McCoy on the iconic “Law and Order” franchise, reprising his role earlier this year.

Waterston started his career on the New York stage, appearing in multiple revivals of Shakespeare. His theater credits include “Indians,” “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,” “A Doll’s House,” “Hamlet” and his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Gerald Gutierrez’s “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” for which he received rave reviews and a Tony nomination.

On the big screen, Waterston played Nick Carraway opposite Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in “The Great Gatsby.” Through his relationship with Woody Allen, he also starred in the Academy Award-nominated “Interiors,” “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “September.” Roland Joffe’s biographical drama film about the Khmer Rouge, “The Killing Fields,” earned Waterston an Academy Award nomination for his role as journalist Sydney Schanberg.

Waterston has served as board chair of Oceana, the world’s largest ocean-focused NGO, and on the board of Refugees International.

Anne Thompson

Anne Thompson was named NBC News’ chief environmental affairs correspondent in 2007. Her reports appear across all platforms of NBC News including “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” “TODAY,” MSNBC and NBCNews.com.

Thompson previously served as the chief financial correspondent reporting on financial and economic news for NBC News. In 2000, Thompson was NBC News' lead correspondent covering the presidential campaigns. Thompson first joined NBC News in 1997 as a national correspondent.

In 2006, Thompson received the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award, and was part of the "NBC Nightly News" team that won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award and the Emmy Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. In 2004, she was awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism for a series of reports that aired on "Nightly News" on the jobless economic recovery. She was also nominated for four business and financial news Emmys.

Before joining NBC News, Thompson was a general-assignment reporter for WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, since 1986. While at WDIV, Thompson was honored with seven Emmy Awards for a variety of stories.

Raised and educated in Europe, Thompson received her high school diploma from the International School of Brussels in Belgium. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from University of Notre Dame, where she was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees in 2010. Thompson is on X at @annenbcnews.