Todd Field began acting after graduating from high school in Portland, Oregon. A budding jazz musician as well, he skipped college in favor of a move east to New York to study acting. Once there, he began performing with the Ark Theatre Company as both an actor and musician. He subsequently won a role in Woody Allen's nostalgic Radio Days. Field had an independent Spirit Award-nominated turn in Victor Nunez's Sundance Film Festival Grand jury Prize-winner Ruby in Paradise. Field also starred in Nicole Holofcener's Walking and Talking which won the Grand Special Prize at the Deauville Film Festival in France. Other credits include Scott Ziehl's Broken Vessels in which Field starred and produced, and Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece, Eyes Wide Shut in which he played the mysterious Nick Nightingale. Field has made a name for himself as a writer/director. His first film When I Was a Boy was selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center as part of their New Directors/New Films series and was shown at the Museum of Modern Art. His next film, Nonnie & Alex received both the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Best Film prize at the Aspen Film Festival. The film was honored with a special citation from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Field also earned the Franklin J. Schaffner Award for Excellence from the AFI, one of the Institute's highest honors bestowed upon a filmmaker. In 2001, Field made his feature writing/directing debut with In the Bedroom, an intensely emotional portrayal of the repercussions of family tragedy on a New England couple. Field won two Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe nomination, and was named Best Director of the year by the National Board of Review. Internationally acclaimed by critics, the film was named Best Picture of the Year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journel, New York Magazine, The New York Observer, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
His father in law is famed screenwriter Bo Goldman. His daughter, Alida P. Field, has appeared in three movies with him.