Robert Knepper: Past, Present and Future Projects

It’s not a surprise that Robert Knepper is best known by the current generation for his portrayal of T-Bag in Prison Break. Some of you also might know him as Samuel Sullivan from Heroes or Sid Rothman from Mob City. But let me tell you, this is just a very small fraction of the amazing characters he portrayed along the years.

Everyone who has seen him onscreen knows to expect great acting, but not enough people are familiar with his work. Not enough people know that behind the bad-ass villains he usually plays, there is a kind, sweet and funny guy.

His career started almost 30 years ago, in both television and film. His first television gig was The Paper Chase (1986) followed later that year by his first movie, in the company of two great actors. He played Steve Larwin in That’s Life, alongside Jack Lemmon and  Julie Andrews.

From here, he made guest appearances in well known tv shows like LA Law, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder,She Wrote, Law & Order, ER, Star Trek: Voyager, Profiler, La Femme Nikita, The West Wing and CSI: Miami; and got bigger parts in films: Wild Thing, D.O.A., Young Guns II, Everyone Says I Love You, Jaded, Absence of the Good and Species III. In 2001 he played Robert F. Kennedy in the television film Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot.

After his recurring role as Tommy Dolan, in HBO’s Carnivale, he got cast as Theodore Bagwell in Prison Break. After struggling for almost 20 years to make it as an actor, it was finally his time to shine and prove just how amazingly talented he is. Soon, Prison Break became a big hit, one of the best shows ever and T-Bag became one of TV’s best villains.

Getting a big break, people to know your name and lots and lots of fans, these are the things you dream about when you’re an actor. Now it was about time he would join the big leage!

While doing Prison Break, he also starred in the  historical drama film Good Night and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney and starring David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson and Jeff Daniels. This amazing film was nominated for six Academy Awards at the 2006 Academy Awards, six BAFTAs at the 2005 BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globes at the 2006 Golden Globe Awards.

This was followed by Hostage (2005) alongside Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollack and Ben Foster; Hitman (2007) alongide Timothy Olyphant and Dougray Scott, where he played Yuri Marklov, lead agent of an FSB force; The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) alongside Keanu Reeves,  Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and Jon Hamm. In 2008 he played the main antagonist opposite Jason Statham, in Transporter 3.

He came along to revive the last season of NBC SF drama series Heroes, being the primary antagonist. He played Samuel Sullivan, the mysterious leader of “Sullivan Bros. Carnival”, who has the ability of terrakinesis.

He had guest star roles in Stargate Universe, Chase, Criminal Minds, Shameless and reprised his role as T-Bag in the third episode of the first season of Breakout Kings.

In 2012, he played the part of Frank Sinatra in the French biographical drama Cloclo / My Way, directed by Florent Emilio Siri; and Lieutenant Commander in the television film Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden.

2013 was a big year for Robert. He was cast in the television series Cult as Roger Reeves, an actor playing Billy Grimm on a show called Cult; had a small part in R.I.P.D. , guest starred in season 1, episode 5 of The Blacklist and voiced Kronos in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Same year, he portrayed one of his most iconic characters, Sid Rothman in Frank Darabont’s Mob City.

Next, he was cast as William Tockman / Clock King in both Arrow and The Flash. He starred in a drama film written and directed by Helen Hunt, Ride (2014), and played Antonius in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.

And speaking of great years, 2015 was not bad either. He had a guest role in Chicago Fire and Chicago PD, where he played Adrian Gish / Trenton Lamont, a really weird, but extremely smart arsonist.

He was part of the all-star cast of Texas Rising, alongside Bill Paxton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser, Olivier Martinez and Cynthia Addai-Robinson. Here, he plays another amazing character, Empresario Buckley. He’s your classic opportunist, representing Mexico’s interests and of course, his own.

Wondering what’s next for Robert?

You can see him as the chief of police, Captain Johanson, in TNT’s new cop drama, Public Morals. The series is created, written and directed by Edward Burns and executive produced by Steven Spielberg.  It’s set in the 1960s, and for New York City’s finest, walking the line between morality and criminality is part of getting the job done.

Edward Burns surrounded himself with an excellent ensemble cast, including Michael Rapaport, Robert Knepper, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Neal McDonough, Brian Dennehy, Timothy Hutton, Wass Stevens and many more. Together, they create a very compact world on shades of gray, where cops have their own moral code: working hand in hand with the bad guys to keep them in line.

From period cop drama, right to zombie world! This is one of the things that I love the most about Robert, being able to play such different characters. The CW’s breakout hit series iZombie has nabbed him to play Angus DeBeers, Blaine’s father, in Season 2.

His upcoming movies include the final instalment of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay Part 2, that will premiere November 20, 2015; Badsville, alongside Emilio Rivera, a drama set amongst rival gangs in the town of Badsville – it follows the The Badsville Kings gang as they confront each other’s loyalty and rival gang The Aces.

Can’t wait for people to see a whole other side of Robert. And now they’ll have the chance to see the funny side of him, cause he’ll be playing Kush, a weed dealer with a Jamaican accent in the upcoming Frat Pack.

Robert and Paul Sorvino are starring in Cold Deck, a indie heist drama, where he will  play the role of a malicious business man running underground poker games.

And of course, you just gotta stay close for the revival of Prison Break. As I’m sure you all know by now, FOX is planning a 10-episode season that will bring back the characters Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield. And more! It is expected to air on FOX by 2016.

Robert is returning to his hometown of Maumee to join in the city’s Maumee Film Festival, where he will be one of the judges of the festival. The screenings will take place on September 19th, 2015.

There are two kind of people: people that love Robert Knepper, and people that haven’t seen his acting yet. He puts his heart in every role he plays. That’s the kind of guy he is. He’s brilliant, he’s sweet and funny and he’s humble. He’s everything you could ever look up to in an actor and in a human being.

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