It pays to have friends and family with great taste, according to actor Tony Goldwyn, whose homes—a 1840s farmhouse in Connecticut and a New York apartment in a landmarked building—are backdrops to show off some of the fascinating items he’s been given over the years.

“Our design is very personal, and there’s a lot of family stuff,” says Goldwyn, who is married to production designer Jane Musky, about his Connecticut perch. “It’s comfortable. It doesn’t feel designed when you walk in, but the environments Jane creates are really beautiful.”

From a memorable early-career turn as the villain in the 1990 classic Ghost, to playing the U.S. president on the TV drama Scandal and U.S. attorney Gordon Gray in the 2024 Oscar-winner Oppenheimer, Goldwyn has been a reliable MVP on screens big and small for decades. His latest role, District Attorney Nicolas Baxter on NBC’s long- running Law & Order franchise, finds him filling the shoes of Sam Waterson, who retired from the show after 19 seasons.

“Honestly, I didn’t know quite what I was getting into,” admits the actor. “I had directed a Law & Order episode almost 20 years ago with Sam and I really enjoyed that experience,” he says. “It’s a New York institution.”

Still, when the offer came his way to take over for Waterson, he hesitated. “But they’ve written a really interesting character for me, and the show is also evolving into a more modern version of itself, which is intriguing,” says the actor. Also intriguing is the fact that the actor sits on the board of the Innocence Project, a real-life nonprofit devoted to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals, a fact that lightly inspired his DA character’s biography.

Aside from his own star power, Goldwyn’s last name might sound familiar. “I’m the third generation of people in show business in my family,” says the actor, whose roots in theater and film can be traced to both the maternal and paternal sides of his clan. His mother was actress/painter Jennifer Howard, and his father was producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of Samuel Goldwyn, a titan of the American movie industry. Meanwhile, his maternal grandfather, Sidney Howard, was an acclaimed screenwriter and playwright, while his maternal grandmother Clare Eames was an actress and stage director.

It’s no surprise that some of the items he’s been gifted over the years are a bit more fabulous than your average family hand-me-downs, given his heritage. Some of them are among Goldwyn’s five favorite items at home.

1. ANTIQUE BUDDHA BUST 

This treasured piece lived in Goldwyn’s mother’s house for ages. “I don’t know the provenance of it. It’s just been in my house since I was born. It was in our dining room my entire childhood,” Goldwyn recalls. When his mother passed, she left it to Goldwyn and his wife, and he’s had it in their own home ever since. “I know it’s from India, and I think it may have belonged to her parents before her,” he says.

2. PHOTOGRAPH OF ELEONORA DUSE

The photo of the Italian theatrical powerhouse is a family heirloom.

“Duse was one of the two preeminent actresses in the late 19th century, the other being Sarah Bernhardt,” Goldwyn says. Her legacy looms large because, as Goldwyn explains, she represents “the 20th-century style of theater,” associated with Stanislavsky, the iconic Russian theater practitioner, whose method ushered in modern, naturalistic acting.

“Duse was the embodiment. She was the first great actress who really viewed emotional reality as important, compared to a more presentational, old-fashioned kind of acting. So that has always been a very important bit of iconography for me.”

3. WARHOL ‘MOONWALK’ LITHOGRAPH

Goldwyn’s father gave this piece to him as a congratulatory gift in 1999. But it’s not just the artist’s pedigree that makes the piece special.

“I had played Neil Armstrong in the [1998] HBO miniseries From Earth to the Moon, and that same year directed my first film, A Walk on the Moon, which featured the moon landing prominently in the storyline,” says the actor.

4. KAMIKOTO JAPANESE KITCHEN KNIFE

Another present that’s made its way to the Goldwyn household is this Japanese knife from friend Sabine Hoffman, the editor on the 2023 film Ezra, which Goldwyn directed, about parents on a journey—literally and metaphorically—with their autistic son.

“She gave this to me as a birthday present. I love to cook and it’s one of the best knives I’ve ever had. I use it for everything,” says Goldwyn, who’s been known to whip up meals such as grilled lobsters and steak to vegetarian dishes for his wife. “When you find a great cutting knife, that’s it,” he says.

5. BREVILLE ESPRESSO MACHINE 

The actor keeps this utility player in his New York apartment. “When I’m going to work early in the morning, it’s so great. Just to have that espresso machine and, in two seconds, have an amazing cup of coffee.” He tries to limit it to two strong cups in the morning. “That’s perfect for the day.”