Michael Gaston

Actor Michael Gaston built a career on playing shadowy authority figures in various network dramas including "Jericho" (CBS, 2006-08), "The Mentalist" (CBS, 2008-2015) and "Blindspot" (NBC, 2015-2020). Born in Walnut Creek, CA in 1962, Gaston initially trained to be a teacher before attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. After making his screen debut playing the Justice of the Peace in Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet" (1993), he made the first of numerous appearances in the "Law and Order" (NBC, 1990-2010) franchise and played a sharpshooter in "Amateur" (1994), agents in "Hackers" (1995) and "Ransom" (1996), and a hacker in "Sudden Death" (1996). Gaston then guested on multiple episodes of crime series "Profiler" (NBC, 1996-2000) and "newsroom drama" Deadline (NBC, 2000), showed up in "The Crucible" (1996), "Cop Land" (1997) and "Double Jeopardy" (1999), and enjoyed a supporting role in period drama "Cora Unashamed" (2000). Gaston continued to play characters in positions of power, including Detective Bugatti in "Bless the Child" (2000), USS Pierce Captain in "Thirteen Days" (2000) and Major Waldron in "High Crimes" (2002), but roles as office executive Stan Fine in "Far from Heaven" (2002) and abusive father Jesse in "Runaway" (2005) helped stretch his talents, too. Having racked up dozens of small screen guest spots, Gaston was finally given some regular screentime on numerous crime dramas, including "Blind Justice" (ABC, 2005), "Brotherhood" (Showtime, 2006-08) and "Damages" (FX, 2007-2012), and also played salt mine owner-turned-politician Gray Anderson on post-apocalyptic cult hit "Jericho" (CBS, 2006-08). Gaston also enjoyed minor parts in "Stay" (2005), "Out There" (2006), "Lonely Hearts" (2006) and "Sugar" (2008), starred opposite Marcia Gay Harden in "Home" (2008) and worked with Ridley Scott on "Body of Lies" (2008), Oliver Stone on "W." (2008) and Christopher Nolan on "Inception" (2010). After a four-episode stint as Pentagon consultant Sanford Harris on "Fringe" (Fox, 2008-2013), Gaston enjoyed the recurring roles of financial officer Burt Peterson in "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007-2015), Agent Donald Bloom in "Rubicon" (AMC, 2010), attorney Ben Zeitlin in "Terriers" (FX, 2010) and industrialist Barton Sinclair on "Last Resort" (ABC, 2012-13), and landed the more significant parts of CBI Director Gale Bertram in "The Mentalist" (CBS, 2008-2015) and Detective Mike Costello on "Unforgettable" (CBS, 2011-16). Gaston then returned to the big screen in "Big Miracle" (2012), "Bridge of Spies" (2015) and "First Reformed" (2017), portrayed General Charles Scott in "Turn: Washington's Spies" (AMC, 2014-17) and played dog killer Dean in The "Leftovers" (HBO, 2014-17), CIA Deputy Director Tom Carter in "Blindspot" (NBC, 2015-) and hardware store owner Mark Sampson in "The Man in the High Castle" (Amazon, 2015-). After adding "Murder in the First" (TNT, 2016-18), "Madam Secretary" (CBS, 2014-) and "Power" (Starz, 2014-) to his resume, Gaston appeared in TV movie "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (2017), showed up in "Irreplaceable You" (2018) and "The Land of Steady Habits" (2018), and landed the parts of President Pickett in "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" (Amazon, 2018-) and Jack's father-in-law Virgil in "Strange Angel" (CBS All Access, 2018-).