Oliver Platt
Biography
Oliver Platt was born in Windsor, Ontario, to American parents, Sheila Maynard, a social worker, and Nicholas Platt, a career diplomat. His parents were both from upper-class families, and his maternal great-grandmother, Cynthia Roche, was the sister of Princess Diana's maternal grandfather, Maurice Roche.
Platt spent his childhood in Washington, D.C., Asia, and the Middle East. Oliver graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Drama in 1983 from Tufts University. He then trained at Shakespeare & Co. with Kristin Linklater.
A second cousin, once removed, of Princess Diana, of Wales. Diana was the great-granddaughter of the 3rd Baron Fermoy and Platt was his great-great-grandson. By extension, he is a third cousin of Prince William of Wales.
His father, Nicholas Platt, served as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia, and the Philippines.
Three children: Lily (b. 1995), George (b. 1997), and Claire (b. 1999).
His great-great-grandmother Frances Eleanor Work was heir to a maternal pork-packing fortune created in Chillicothe, OH, and a paternal dry good and finance fortune created in New York City. Her father Frank's fortune was estimated at $15 million, and he served as a stockbroker to Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Born in Windsor, Ontario, to American parents. Son of Nicholas Platt (b. March 10, 1936, New York, NY), a career diplomat, and wife Sheila Maynard, a clinical social worker who worked in Islamabad, Pakistan. His father had served at various times as US Ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia, and the Philippines.
Attended Tufts University.
He is missing the end knuckle from the middle finger on his right hand. He got it caught in the wheel of a generator when he was 12 years old during a tour with his father in China.
Graduate of the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (high school) in Carbondale, CO(near Aspen). The school's main curriculum is based on the "Outward Bound" education program, which teaches wilderness survival and expedition courses.
He has English, a smaller amount of Scottish, and more distant Irish, Dutch, and French, ancestry.
His mother, Sheila Maynard, was the daughter of Walter Maynard and Eileen Burden Maynard Robins (10/15/1910 - 3/24/70), and a granddaughter of the Hon. Cynthia Burke-Roche (October 4, 1884 - August 12, 1966), who married (1) Arthur Scott Burden (August 11, 1879 - June 15, 1921), Oliver's great-grandfather, in 1906, and (2) Guy Fairfax Cary, Sr. (November 14, 1879 - August 27, 1950), in 1922.
Cynthia was the sister of Edmund Maurice Burke-Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy in the Peerage of Ireland (of Irish and English extraction, and the son of American heiress Frances Eleanor Work), who was the maternal grandfather of Princess Diana, of Wales.
Has an older brother, Adam Platt, a "New York" Magazine restaurant critic, and a younger brother, Nicholas Platt, Jr.
His paternal great-grandfather was landscape gardener/designer, artist, and architect, Charles Adams Platt, and among his paternal great-great-grandfathers are diplomat and lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate, and Gen. Robert Shaw Oliver, who was Assistant Secretary of War, from 1903 to 1913.
He is the paternal grandson of architect Geoffrey Platt and his wife Helen (Choate).
Appeared in three movies with Kevin Bacon: Flatliners (1990), Frost/Nixon (2008), and X-Men: First Class (2011).
David E. Kelley originally wanted him to play the role of Bobby Donnell on the TV show The Practice (1997).
Was a Boston Red Sox fan, but is now a New York Mets fan because his son likes the team.
In the 1950s, his great-grandmother Cynthia Burke Roche resided at the famous Elm Court mansion in Newport, RI.
As mentioned in Are You There God? It's Me, Peter (2018),.
