Mopping floors at the Actors Studio turned out to be the perfect training for playing the shadiest people on prestige television.
At a glance
- Known for
- Doug Stamper in House of Cards, CIA Agent Mike November in Jack Ryan
- Before fame
- Mopped floors at the Actors Studio before becoming a lifetime member at 26
- Off-screen
- Plays guitar in two bands, Leroy Justice and the Home Grown Lopes
Rise to Fame
A cross-country scholarship was supposed to lead to law school. An intro to acting elective at Coastal Carolina changed the plan entirely. He became the university's first performing arts graduate in 1992, then moved to New York and mopped floors at the Actors Studio until they made him a lifetime member at 26.
He played an FBI agent on The Sopranos and spent six months in Africa shooting Generation Kill for HBO. Solid work, no name recognition. Netflix cast him as Doug Stamper in House of Cards, and he stayed for all 73 episodes across six seasons. Four Emmy nominations followed. He didn't win any of them.
In the Spotlight
Every prestige show needs someone to play the guy running things from a windowless office, and he's become the first call. After Doug Stamper, he stepped into CIA Agent Mike November on Jack Ryan for three seasons, then a Falcone crime family underboss in HBO's The Penguin. He doesn't seem to mind.
The Spacey scandal could've ended more than one career on that set. He described it as "heartbreaking in so many ways" and hasn't spoken to Spacey since the firing. He went back for the final season anyway, walked onto a set full of different people, and finished the job.
Side Notes
Collider ran a headline calling him "just way too good at playing the shadiest characters," which is the kind of compliment that follows you to dinner parties. Off-screen, he appeared on the Martha Stewart Podcast to discuss his "softer side," not the typical press tour for a guy whose credits read like a CIA personnel file.
He plays guitar in two bands, Leroy Justice (named after a college friend's father) and the Home Grown Lopes. The gap between who he plays and who he appears to be is the kind of thing actors spend entire careers trying to manufacture. He didn't have to try.