Leo Burmester

Burly character player, on stage and in films from the late 1970s, Leo Burmester oft plays cops and rural types on TV and in films, but on stage has performed as Osric in "Hamlet" (Kevin Kline in title role) for the New York Shakespeare Festival, as well as in such Broadway hits as "Big River," and as the heartless innkeeper, Thenardier, in the original cast of "Les Miserables." Burmester has worked for director John Sayles several times, including "Passion Fish" (1992) and "Lone Star" (1996), and is also for directors such as John Schlesinger, Sidney Lumet, and as the Apostle Nathaniel in Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988). Burmester was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began college studies at Western Kentucky University as a biology major before switching to drama. After receiving an MFA from the University of Denver, he taught college for a year before taking the plunge as a working actor.