Paul Dano
Paul Franklin Dano (born June 19, 1984) is an American actor. He began his career on Broadway before making his film debut in The Newcomers (2000). He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance for his role in L.I.E. (2001) and received accolades for his role... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Looper
2012
Spaceman
Half a year into his solo mission on the edge of the solar system, an astronaut concerned with the state of his life back on Earth is helped by an ancient creature he discovers in the bowels of his ship.
The Fabelmans
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Dumb Money
Vlogger Keith Gill sinks his life savings into GameStop stock and posts about it. When social media starts blowing up, so do his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich—until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.
The Batman
In his second year of fighting crime, Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City that connects to his own family while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler.
The Guilty
A demoted police officer assigned to a call dispatch desk is conflicted when he receives an emergency phone call from a kidnapped woman.
Escape at Dannemora
A female prison employee in upstate New York becomes romantically involved with a pair of inmates and helps them escape.
Okja
A young girl named Mija risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend - a massive animal named Okja.
Swiss Army Man
A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body, and together they go on a surreal journey to get home.
Youth
Retired orchestra conductor Fred Ballinger is on vacation with his daughter Lena and his film director best friend Mick Boyle in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday.
Love & Mercy
The life of reclusive and eccentric Beach Boys songwriter and musician Brian Wilson.
Prisoners
A Pennsylvania man kidnaps the person he suspects is behind the disappearance of his young daughter and her best friend.
12 Years a Slave
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity.
Ruby Sparks
Calvin is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him.
Looper
In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up.
Being Flynn
During his twenties, a young man works at various homeless shelters in Boston, where he often intersects with his brilliant but troubled father.
Cowboys & Aliens
A stranger stumbles into the desert town of Absolution with no memory of his past and a futuristic shackle around his wrist.
The Extra Man
A man who escorts wealthy widows in New York's Upper East Side takes a young aspiring playwright under his wing.
Meek's Cutoff
Settlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
Knight and Day
An action-comedy centered on a fugitive couple on a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure where nothing and no one - even themselves - are what they seem. Amid shifting alliances and unexpected betrayals, they race across the globe, with their survival ultimately hinging on the battle of truth vs. trust.
Where the Wild Things Are
An adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, where Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world--a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler.
The Good Heart
Jacques is the curmudgeonly owner of a gritty New York dive bar that serves as home to a motley assortment of professional drinkers. Jacques is determinedly drinking and smoking himself to death when he meets Lucas, a homeless young man who has already given up on life.
Taking Woodstock
A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.
Gigantic
Young mattress salesman Brian decides to adopt a baby from China but is distracted when he forms a relationship with quirky, wealthy Harriet whom he meets at his mattress store. As their relationship flourishes, unbeknownst to them, a hitman is trying to kill Brian.
Explicit Ills
The film follows four inter-connecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia
There Will Be Blood
A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around turn-of-the-century prospector, Daniel Plainview, in the early days of the business.
Light and the Sufferer
Realism and fantasy collide in Jonathan Lethem's genre-bending coming-of-age story, which follows two estranged brothers as they try to leave New York City for a new life in California only to find their plans--and lives--being forever changed by the appearance of a mysterious alien.
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine is a comedy about a family of six who are all having a mental breakdown at the same time. To ease their mental lows they decide to take a cross country road trip to a “Little Miss Sunshine” contest that their daughter has qualified for. An Academy Award winning comedy with memorable performances from its all actors.
Fast Food Nation
Inspired by author Eric Schlosser's New York Times best-seller of the same name, director Richard Linklater's ensemble drama examines the health issues and social consequences of America's love affair with fast food and features an all-star cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and Luis Guzman.
The Ballad of Jack and Rose
Jack Slavin is an environmentalist with a heart condition who lives with his daughter, Rose, on an isolated island. While Jack fights against developers who wish to build in the area, he also craves more contact with other people. When he invites his girlfriend, Kathleen, and her sons, Rodney and Thaddius, to move in, Rose is upset.
The Girl Next Door
A teenager's dreams come true when a former porn star moves in next door and they fall in love.
Taking Lives
An FBI profiler is called in by French Canadian police to catch a serial killer who takes on the identity of each new victim.
The Emperor's Club
An idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigable student.
L.I.E.
A 15-year-old Long Island boy loses everything and everyone he knows, soon becoming involved in a relationship with a much older man.