Craig Richard Nelson (born September 17, 1947 Salt Lake City, Utah, USA) is an American theater, film and television actor.
After graduation, he was cast in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Two Gentlemen of Verona.
A casting director saw him in that show and cast him in the Oscar-winning film The Paper Chase, as a mean-spirited law student. This led to a long career in film and television, including three Robert Altman films, A Wedding, 3 Women, and Quintet and a role in the coming-of-age comedy My Bodyguard, as well as a reoccurring role as drama teacher Mr. Spacek on the 1980s television show Square Pegs.
