William Atherton has starred in motion pictures, on Broadway, and on television. He first achieved international prominence starring in Steven Spielberg's directorial debut, The Sugarland Express, followed by John Schlesinger's classic, The Day of the Locust. Atherton is best known for his roles as an antagonistic news anchorman in the action blockbusters, Die Hard I and II, as the zealous bureaucrat in the original smash hit comedy, Ghostbusters, and as the conniving professor in Martha Coolidge's Real Genius. Other major films include Richard Brooks's Looking For Mr. Goodbar, Robert Wise's The Hindenberg, John Landis's Oscar, Bill Duke's Hoodlum, Richard Pearce's No Mercy, Alan J. Pakula's The Pelican Brief, Costa Gravas's Mad City, Andy Fickman's Who's Your Daddy?, and Ed Zwick's The Last Samurai. Most recently, William co-produced and starred in the award-winning psychological thriller/horror, Head Space, and has starring roles in three upcoming independent features, bgFATldy, a comedic murder-mystery with Gil Bellows, The Girl Next Door, based on Jack Ketchum's cult classic novel, and Antonio Negret's Towards Darkness with America Ferrara, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

On television, he has starred in numerous cable movies, including Frank and Jesse, Joan Didion, and John Gregory Dunne's Broken Trust for TNT; the Hallmark mini-series, Gone, But Not Forgotten; and he portrayed Darryl F. Zanuck in HBO's Golden Globe-winner, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

Consistently honored for his work on the stage, Atherton has created roles on and off Broadway for many of America's leading playwrights. He won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for creating the title role in David Wiltse's Suggs in the City and an Obie nomination for the title role in David Rabe's The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. He also earned a Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and received Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for his work in Misalliance.

He starred in the original productions of John Guare's House of Blue Leaves and Rich and Famous, the Broadway productions of Arthur Miller's The American Clock, and Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. His repertoire also includes Steve Tesich's The Passing Game, George Abbott's Broadway with Gilda Radner, The Kennedy Center's highly acclaimed staging of The Scarecrow , and the Los Angeles productions of Child's Play and Nicholas Meyer's Loco Motives. He starred in the regional premiere of the award-winning Art, directed by Judd Hirsch, most recently off Broadway in the world premiere of Franz Kafka's The Castle at The Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, and the critically acclaimed original production of Address Unknown, adapted and directed by Frank Dunlop.