- 2009: Nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (“Milk”)
- 2008: Nominated for the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (“Milk”)
- 2008: Portrayed George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's controversial film "W." about the 43rd President of the United States
- 2008: Co-starred in Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic "Milk" as city supervisor Dan White, who assassinated San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone
- 2007: Played a crooked narcotics agent in Ridley Scott's drug dealer epic "American Gangster"
- 2007: Co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem in the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men"
- 2007: Starred in "Planet Terror," Robert Rodriguez's half of the goretastic double feature "Grind House" a collaboration with Quentin Tarantino
- 2006: Cast opposite Timothy Olyphant in Victor Nunez' "Coastlines" (filmed in 2001)
- 2005: Appeared in the Steven Spielberg-produced TNT miniseries "Into the West"
- 2005: Cast in the Woody Allen comedy "Melinda and Melinda"
- 2003: Cast as the title character in the short lived series "Mister Sterling"
- 2000: Portrayed Kevin Bacon's scientist rival in Paul Verhoeven's "The Hollow Man"
- 2000: Made Broadway debut in revival of Sam Shepard's "True West"; alternated leading role of brothers with co-star Elias Koteas
- 2000: Starred opposite Gretchen Mol in the CBS remake of "Picnic"
- 1999: Played the former druggie boyfriend of Claire Danes' Julie in the film adaptation of the classic TV series "The Mod Squad"
- 1999: Had featured role as a shallow, self-centered academic caught accused of assaulting a young woman in "Best Laid Plans"
- 1998: Cast in the thriller "Nightwatch," a remake of the 1995 Danish film "Nattevagten" (1994); film reteamed him with Arquette
- 1998: Cast in his father's directorial debut, "My Brother's War" a political thriller set in Northen Ireland; father also acted in film
- 1997: Turned up as a wise-acre lab rat in "Mimic"
- 1996: Co-starred "Flirting With Disaster" as a bisexual cop who, in a memorable sex scene, licks Patricia Arquette's armpit
- 1994: Cast as cop romancing two women in the short-lived NBC primetime soap opera "Winnetka Road"
- 1989: Played a young Wild Bill Hickock in "The Young Riders" (ABC); father directed him in one episode
- 1989: Played opposite his father James Brolin (as father and son) in TNT movie "Finish Line"
- 1987: Debut as series regular on the short-lived "Private Eye" (NBC)
- 1987: TV acting debut in the movie "Prison for Children" (CBS)
- 1985: Feature debut in the Richard Donner-directed movie "Goonies," penned by Chris Columbus from a story by Steven Spielberg
- Raised in California
- Co-founded the Reflections Festival at the GeVa Theatre in Rochester, New York and worked there five years as an artistic director, acting in and directing productions




