2026 Honoree - Performing Arts

In an article about television for WIRED, Jordan Crucchiola called actor DAVID COSTABILE “a performer who inhabits his characters so perfectly as to consistently be a fan favorite,” and “‘one of the best things about’” every television show in which he has appeared.

Costabile is currently shooting the new Netflix series “The Roman.” His previous television work includes memorable parts in some of the most innovative shows in recent years. He starred as Mike “Wags” Wagner in the popular Showtime drama “Billions." In the third and fourth seasons of Vince Gilligan’s “Breaking Bad,” he played Walt’s lab assistant Gale Boetticher, a mild-mannered, coffee-perfecting chemist with a penchant for poetry and karaoke (“Major Tom”). Many consider the scene in which Gale puttered around his apartment, singing Italian at breakneck speed, one of the series’ finest. On “Flight of the Conchords,” Costabile was Doug, Mel’s long-suffering husband and on “Suits,’ he’s Daniel Hardman, the heavy who fought for control of law firm Pearson Hardman. Costabile’s credits also include the final season of David Simon’s “The Wire,” in which he portrayed the managing editor of a struggling BALTIMORE SUN, and “Damages,” where he played killer Detective Rick Messer. Costabile co-starred as a cult leader in the event series “Dig” and as Simon Boyd, an internal affairs investigator whose murder case begins to go cold on “Low Winter Sun.” He’s recently completed season-long arcs on the popular Disney + series “Percy Jackson & The Olympians,” “Tracker” for CBS and NBC’s “Chicago Med.” Recent limited series include “American Tragedies: Waco - The Trials” as well “Obliterated” for Netflix.

On film, Costabile most recently co-starred in the independent features HERSHEY and THE SNACK SHACK. Previously he portrayed Doc McGhee in the Mötley Crüe biopic THE DIRT. Costabile has twice worked for Steven Spielberg: he memorably portrayed Republican abolitionist James Ashley in LINCOLN, written by Tony Kushner and celebrated columnist Art Buchwald in THE POST. Additional feature credits include Michael Bay’s 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI, Steven Soderbergh’s SIDE EFFECTS, RUNNER RUNNER, directed by Brad Furman and SOLITARY MAN, directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, amongst others.

Prior to LINCOLN, Costabile first collaborated with Kushner on the Tony and Drama Desk award wining musical “Caroline, or Change,” co-written by Jeanine Tesori. Costabile co-starred in the original Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre production and its Broadway transfer. His Broadway credits also include the Tony Award-winning “Titanic,” as well as “Translations” and “The Tempest.” Off-Broadway, he has worked at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “Henry V” and “Troilus and Cressida.” Other Off-Broadway credits include “The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence” at Playwrights Horizons, “Mr. Marmalade” at the Roundabout Theatre Co., “Carnival” and “Can-Can” at the Encores! Series at New York City Center, and “The Winter’s Tale” at Classic Stage Company. “The New Bozena,” an original work Costabile co-created, played off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre before touring nationally. Costabile was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Tufts University and received his MFA in Acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.