It’s Hamilton Binge Night
Time to grab a blanket, pop some popcorn, and curl up on the couch to enjoy a movie or TV show with a Hamilton connection!
(Films and shows are available through various streaming services; search for them online. If you have recommendations for other titles to be added to this list, email them to editor@hamilton.edu.)
Television
Paul Lieberstein ’89
The Office (2005-13)
Join the team at Dunder Mifflin, including mild-mannered human resources director Toby Flenderson, played by Paul Lieberstein ’89, who also was a writer and executive producer of the NBC sitcom.
Sarah Rafferty ’93
My Life with the Walter Boys (2023-); Suits (2011-19)
Rafferty currently stars as the mother in the popular Netflix series My Life with the Walter Boys. In the legal drama Suits, originally on the USA Network, Rafferty played Donna, the firm’s quick-witted secretary.
Tony Goldwyn ’82
Law & Order (2024-); Scandal (2012-18)
From the big screen to your TV, catch Tony Goldwyn ’82 as DA Nicholas Baxter on NBC's Law & Order and fictional U.S. President Fitzgerald Grant III in the ABC political drama Scandal.
Wynn Van Dusen ’15
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2018-)
The senior news producer shared in an Emmy for outstanding scripted variety series for her work on the hit HBO series.
Ryan Serhant ’06
Million Dollar Listing NY (2012-21); Owning Manhattan (2024-)
Catch Ryan Serhant ’06 in this Emmy-nominated series that follows four luxury real estate agents. He also stars in the spin-off, Sell it Like Serhant, and in Netflix's Owning Manhattan.
Nat Faxon ’97
Ghosts (2025)
OK, to be fair, Faxon has appeared in dozens of television shows — including starring roles in the Fox comedy series Ben and Kate (2012–13) and the FX comedy series Married (2014–15) . He also voices Elfo in the Netflix adult animated television series Disenchantment (2018–23). But we picked his 2025 guest role on CBS’s Ghosts since he portrays none other than Alexander Hamilton!
Alex Haley
Roots (1977)
The Emmy Award-winning series is based on Alex Haley’s 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Haley wrote the first draft of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book while on College Hill serving as a writer-in-residence.
Peter Falk ’49
Columbo (1968-78)
NBC’s long-running crime series starred the rumpled, cigar-toting homicide detective played by Peter Falk ’49.
Deirdre Fenton ’04
O.J.: Made In America (2016)
Part of ESPN’s series 30 for 30, the five-part documentary examines O.J. Simpson’s childhood, NFL career, murder trial, and current life. When the miniseries won the Academy Award in the best documentary category, Deirdre Fenton ’04, one of its producers, shared in the Oscar.
Kevin Burns ’77
A&E's Biography (1987)
Although he received an Emmy Award as executive producer of A&E's Biography (1987) series, this masterpiece is just one of many high-profile documentaries Burns has brought to our screens. Just a few others include Empire of Dreams: the Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004), Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman (2006), Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007) (which earned three Emmy nominations), The Valkyrie Legacy (2008), and Ancient Aliens (2009).
Film
Thomas Meehan ’55
Hairspray (2007); The Producers (2005); Annie (1982)
You can’t stop the beat! These three hit Broadway musicals, with books written by Tony Award-winning playwright Thomas Meehan ’55, made successful leaps from stage to screen.
Nat Faxon ’97
The Descendants (2011)
Faxon has made appearances in many films, but he took home an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for The Descendants starring George Clooney.
Odd Man Rush (2020)
filmed in Sage Rink
Based on a true story of a Harvard hockey player who follows his dreams to Europe. Hamiltonians will no doubt notice that hockey scenes were filmed in Sage Rink.
Natalie Babbitt, writer
Tuck Everlasting (2002)
If you could drink from a magical spring that would give you the power to live forever, would you do it? That’s the theme of this film based on the 1975 classic children's novel by Natalie Babbitt, wife of Kirkland College President Sam Babbitt. The book was ranked 16th among the “Top 100 Chapter Books” of all time in a 2012 survey by School Library Journal.
Tony Goldwyn ’82
Tarzan (1999)
Time studying on College Hill prepares you to be anything — even a 20-year-old man raised by gorillas! Tony Goldwyn ’82 gave voice to the hero in this animated Disney film. You can also catch Goldwyn in Ghost (1990) as Carl Bruner; Nixon (1995) as Harold Nixon; and The Last Samurai (2003) as Colonel Bagley.
John Nichols ’62
The Sterile Cuckoo (1969); The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)
Based on the book by John Nichols ’62 and starring Liza Minnelli, many of the scenes were filmed on Hamilton’s campus with student “extras.” Nichols’ book The Milagro Beanfield War, which tells of how a poor New Mexican farmer defends his small beanfield against political and business interests, was also adapted for a 1988 film directed by Robert Redford.
Thomas Tull ’92
The Dark Knight (2008)
The adventures of Batman continue in this second film in the trilogy of the same name. It was produced by Thomas Tull ’92 when he was chairman and CEO of Legendary Entertainment, which also lists The Hangover series (2009, 2011, 2013) and Inception (2010) among its many blockbusters.
Ernie Found ’74
The Miracle Season (2018)
William Hurt takes on the role of Ernie Found in this true story of how a high school volleyball team must band together to win the Iowa state championship after the tragic loss of its star player (and Ernie's daughter), Caroline Line Found. The 17-year-old was killed in a freak moped accident while on her way to the hospital to visit her mother, who was dying of cancer. Helen Hunt plays the team's coach.
Grayson McCouch ’91
Armageddon (1998)
After appearing alongside Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, and Ben Affleck in what would become the highest-grossing film of 1998, McCouch turned his talents to the small screen where, among many roles, he joined the cast of As the World Turns from 2003-10 as Dusty Donovan.
Peter Cameron ’82, writer
The City of Your Final Destination (2009)
Based on Cameron's award-winning novel of the same name, this film starring Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney tells the story of a graduate student who travels to Uruguay seeking permission from the family of an obscure deceased writer to write his biography.
Yance Ford ’94
Strong Island (2017)
Yance Ford ’94 directed and produced this documentary that focuses on the murder of his brother in 1992. Nominated for an Academy Award, the film won an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, making Ford the first openly transgender man and the first Black openly transgender person to win Emmy honors.
Robert Bilheimer ’66
Not My Life (2011)
This film deals with human trafficking and contemporary slavery. Bilheimer’s other works include The Cry of Reason (1988), an Academy Award-nominated documentary in which an anti-apartheid activist discusses human issues confronting the people of South Africa, and A Closer Walk (2003), about the global AIDS epidemic.
Loch Phillipps ’83 and Matthew Levine ’83
Utica: The Last Refuge (2021)
Phillips directs and Levine is associate producer of this powerful documentary that follows the Azeins, a refugee family of four from Sudan, over the course of two-and-a-half years as they transition from isolation to being part of a larger community.
Andy Horton ’66
The Dark Side of the Sun (1988)
Here’s a great trivia question: Which Hamilton alum gave Brad Pitt his big break? The answer is Andy Horton ’66, who wrote this film in which Pitt landed his first leading role as a young man in search of a cure for a dreaded skin disease.
