Timothy David Olyphant was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but moved to Modesto, California, at the age of two. His parents are Katherine (née Gideon) and John Vernon Bevan Olyphant, who worked as vice president of production at Gallo Winery. He has an older brother, Andrew, and a younger brother, Matthew. His parents divorced when Olyphant was a teenager; both remarried. He is of English, German, Scottish, Dutch, Irish, and one-eighth Russian-Jewish ancestry.
Olyphant has been married to his college sweetheart Alexis Knief since 1991. They live in Westwood, Los Angeles, and have three children. From 2006 to late 2008, Olyphant was the sports reporter for Joe Escalante’s morning radio show on Los Angeles’ Indie 103.1; film director David Lynch served as the show’s weatherman. Olyphant phoned the station every weekday, delivering his reports in an unconventional style. Following the station’s demise, he joked: “If you know of anyone looking for sports reports from an actor who is often just going off of what he recalls happened yesterday, or reading it directly from the newspaper, then I’m your guy.” He is also a keen tennis player, and has participated in many pro-celebrity tournaments. He is a fan of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Dodgers game in 2013.
2010年，蒂莫西 出演了 FX 的现代西方系列剧 Justified ，在剧中他扮演美国副元帅 Raylan Givens ，他在迈阿密对一名罪犯进行了“合理”但迅速的开枪射击后被重新发配到他的家乡东部肯塔基。在那里，他遇到了许多童年时代的小混混。许多电视评论家都将 Raylan Givens 描述为 蒂莫西 职业生涯的“定义角色”。旧金山纪事报的 Tim Goodman 称赞“令人难以置信的表演”：“他钢铁般的凝视让人们想到年轻的 Clint Eastwood 。”
他是那种外表聪慧、性情温雅却在影片中经常饰演诸如毒枭、杀人犯等黑暗复杂角色的演员，正是这样的反差造就了他非凡的银幕魅力，此外演技可以用变色龙来形容的他在喜剧作品中也常常有着令人兴奋的表现。
| Title | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | The First Wives Club | Brett Artounian |
| 1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Hiker |
| Scream 2 | Mickey Altieri | |
| 1998 | 1999 | Hooks |
| When Trumpets Fade | Lieutenant Terrence Lukas | |
| 1999 | No Vacancy | Luke |
| Go | Todd Gaines | |
| Advice from a Caterpillar | Brat | |
| 2000 | The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy | Dennis |
| Gone in 60 Seconds | Detective Drycoff | |
| 2001 | Head Over Heels | Michael |
| Auggie Rose | Roy Mason | |
| Rock Star | Rob Malcolm | |
| Doppelganger | Brian | |
| 2002 | Coastlines | Sonny Mann |
| 2003 | The Safety of Objects | Randy |
| Dreamcatcher | Pete Moore | |
| A Man Apart | Hollywood Jack | |
| 2004 | The Girl Next Door | Kelly |
| 2006 | Catch and Release | Fritz Messing |
| 2007 | Live Free or Die Hard | Thomas Gabriel |
| Hitman | Agent 47 | |
| 2008 | Stop-Loss | Lt. Col. Boot Miller |
| Meet Bill | Chip Johnson | |
| 2009 | A Perfect Getaway | Nick Bennett |
| High Life | Dick | |
| 2010 | The Crazies | Sheriff David Dutten |
| Elektra Luxx | Dellwood Butterworth | |
| 2011 | Rango | The Spirit of the West |
| I Am Number Four | Henri | |
| 2013 | Dealin’ with Idiots | Max’s Dad |
| 2014 | This Is Where I Leave You | Horry Callen |
| 2016 | Mother’s Day | Henry |
| Snowden | CIA Agent Geneva | |
| 2018 | Dark Was the Night | Steven Lang |
| 2019 | Missing Link | Willard Stenk |
| Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | James Stacy | |
| 2021 | The Starling | Travis Delp |
| National Champions | Elliott Schmidt | |
| 2022 | Amsterdam | Tarim Nilfax |