Timothy Olyphant
Adept at both comedy and intense, dramatic action, Timothy Olyphant was an eclectic but appealing presence in two highly-regarded series - "Deadwood" (HBO, 2004-06) and "Justified" (FX, 2010-15) - and an inveterate scene-stealer in films and series like "Go" (1999), "Damages" (FX Network/Audience Network, 2007-2012) and "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007). Born Timothy David Olyphant on May 20, 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he moved with his family - Gallo wine executive J.V. Bevan Olyphant, his wife, Katherine and two brothers - to Modesto, California when he was two years of age. There, he nurtured an interest in competitive swimming at Fred C. Beyer High School, and considered a career in art. Olyphant was recruited to the University of Southern California by its swimming coach, but upon discovering that he would be unable to swim and pursue his chosen major- architecture - he chose to earn his degree in fine arts. Upon graduating in 1990, he married his college sweetheart, Alexis Knief, and the pair relocated to New York, where Olyphant dabbled in coaching and stand-up comedy before abandoning fine art in favor of an acting career. After completing a two-year course of study at the William Esper Studio, he began landing minor roles on television series and in features like "Sex and the City" (HBO, 1998-2004) and "Scream 2" (1997). His first break came as a drug-dealing anti-hero in Doug Liman's edgy comedy-drama "Go" (1999), which in turn led to an offer from its producer, Mickey Liddell, to star in "The Broken Hearts Club" (2000), a romantic comedy about gay men in West Hollywood, California. Response to the film set the template for much of Olyphant's film output in the next few years: Olyphant's slyly bemused performances was, more often than not, the sole bright spot in indie and studio efforts like "Auggie Rose" (2000); "Gone in Sixty Seconds" (2000), with Nicolas Cage; "Head Over Heels" (2001); "Rock Star" (2001) with Mark Wahlberg, and "The Girl Next Door" (2004). That same year, Olyphant received one of his best showcases in "Deadwood," producer David Milch's proudly profane and intricately plotted Western series about the lives of real and imagined individuals in the notorious titular South Dakota mining camp. Olyphant played Seth Bullock, the hot-tempered but law-abiding camp sheriff, whose notions of right and wrong often ran afoul of Ian McShane's Machiavellian saloonkeeper, Al Swearengen. A critical favorite for Milch's ornate dialogue and cast of accomplished players, "Deadwood" was only a modest ratings hit, and the cost of maintaining an entire town set led to its untimely demise after two seasons. But even with the abbreviated run, the attention afforded by critics and industry figures to "Deadwood" helped to boost Olyphant's profile from comic support to dramatic lead and co-lead, which in turn led to major roles in a slew of motion pictures. The most successful of these was undoubtedly "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007), whch cast him as a cyber-terrorist pitted against Bruce Willis' reluctant hero, but as before, Olyphant was the most notable element of films like "Hitman" (2007), which afforded him a rare lead; "The Perfect Getaway" (2009); "The Crazies" (2010) and "Elektra Luxx" (2010). Olyphant was soon back on television, where he played Rose Byrne's highly suspect boyfriend in the second season of "Damages," and a brief run as a handsome paper salesman on several episodes of "The Office" (NBC, 2005-2013). His performance on "Damages" led to network chief John Landgraf offering him the lead on "Justified," a crime thriller based on Elmore Leonard's stories about a flinty U.S. Marshal. The series helped to do what "Deadwood" had promised - to provide Olyphant with a long-running and high-quality showcase for his talents, which earned a Emmy nomination in 2011. When "Justified" ran its course after five seasons, Olyphant bounced between comic and dramatic efforts: the former included an amusing turn as a vain, fictionalized version of himself on "The Grinder" (Fox, 2015-16) and a series lead in the Netflix dark comedy "The Santa Clarita Diet" (2017-19), with Olyphant as a suburban husband attempting to contend with his wife (Drew Barrymore), who has transformed into a cannibalistic zombie. In 2019, long-standing rumors of a "Deadwood" revival finally materialized as a two-hour TV-movie for HBO, with Olyphant reprising his role as an older, slightly less irascible Bullock.
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Timothy Olyphant
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
31% |
|
Amsterdam | Unknown (Character) | $14.9M | 2022 |
66% |
|
National Champions | Elliott Schmidt (Character) | $455.5K | 2021 |
20% |
|
The Starling | Travis Delp (Character) | - | 2021 |
98% |
|
Deadwood: The Movie |
Seth Bullock (Character), Executive Producer |
- | 2019 |
86% |
|
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood | James Stacy (Character) | $142.4M | 2019 |
88% |
|
Missing Link | Willard Stenk (Voice) | $16.6M | 2019 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Behold My Heart | Steven Lang (Character) | - | 2018 |
61% |
|
Snowden | Matt Kovar (Character) | $21.6M | 2016 |
8% |
|
Mother's Day | Henry (Character) | $32.5M | 2016 |
44% |
|
This Is Where I Leave You | Horry Callen (Character) | $34.3M | 2014 |
33% |
|
Dealin' With Idiots | Max's Dad (Character) | $15.3K | 2013 |
88% |
|
Rango | The Spirit of the West (Voice) | - | 2011 |
32% |
|
I Am Number Four | Henri (Character) | $55.1M | 2011 |
24% |
|
Elektra Luxx | Dellwood Butterworth (Character) | $10.8K | 2010 |
72% |
|
The Crazies | Sheriff David Dutton (Character) | $39.1M | 2010 |
80% |
|
High Life | Dick (Character) | - | 2009 |
62% |
|
A Perfect Getaway | Nick (Character) | $15.5M | 2009 |
64% |
|
Stop-Loss | Lt. Col. Boot Miller (Character) | $10.9M | 2008 |
20% |
|
Meet Bill | Chip Johnson (Character) | $59.1K | 2007 |
16% |
|
Hitman | Agent 47 (Character) | $39.7M | 2007 |
82% |
|
Live Free or Die Hard | Thomas Gabriel (Character) | $134.5M | 2007 |
23% |
|
Catch and Release | Fritz (Character) | $15.3M | 2006 |
56% |
|
The Girl Next Door | Kelly (Character) | $14.6M | 2004 |
10% |
|
A Man Apart | Jack Slayton (Character) | $26.2M | 2003 |
28% |
|
Dreamcatcher | Pete (Character) | $33.7M | 2003 |
48% |
|
Coastlines | Sonny Mann (Character) | $6.5K | 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Shadow Realm | Eli West (Character) | - | 2002 |
50% |
|
The Safety of Objects | Randy (Character) | $319.1K | 2001 |
53% |
|
Rock Star | Rob (Character) | $17.0M | 2001 |
54% |
|
Auggie Rose | Roy Mason (Character) | - | 2000 |
64% |
|
The Broken Hearts Club | Dennis (Character) | $1.7M | 2000 |
26% |
|
Gone in Sixty Seconds | Detective Drycoff (Character) | $101.6M | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
No Vacancy | Luke (Character) | - | 1999 |
91% |
|
Go | Todd Gaines (Character) | $16.8M | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Advice From a Caterpillar | Brat (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
When Trumpets Fade | Lt. Lukas (Character) | - | 1998 |
81% |
|
Scream 2 | Mickey Altieri (Character) | $101.3M | 1997 |
No Score Yet |
|
Ellen Foster | Roy Hobbs (Character) | - | 1997 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
86% | 79% | Terminator Zero | Terminator (Character) | 2024 |
92% | 47% | Justified: City Primeval |
U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Character), Executive Producer |
2023 |
78% | 55% | Full Circle | Derek (Character) | 2023 |
No Score Yet | 61% | Late Night With Seth Meyers | Guest | 2014 2017-2020 2022 |
No Score Yet | 84% | The Great North | Unknown (Guest Voice) | 2022 |
85% | 76% | The Simpsons | Sheriff Flanders (Guest Voice) | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Conan | Guest | 2012-2021 |
90% | 78% | The Mandalorian | Cobb Vanth (Guest Star) | 2020 |
89% | 94% | Santa Clarita Diet |
Joel Hammond (Character), Executive Producer |
2017-2019 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen | Guest | 2018 |
83% | 70% | The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Guest | 2012-2015 2017 |
No Score Yet | 44% | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2016 |
93% | 81% | The Grinder | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2015-2016 |
97% | 95% | Justified |
Raylan Givens (Character), Executive Producer |
2010-2015 |
86% | 83% | The Mindy Project | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Late Night With Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2011 2013 |
91% | 84% | Archer | Lucas Troy (Guest Voice) | 2013 |
81% | 83% | The League | Sushi Chef (Guest Star) | 2012 |
81% | 89% | The Office | Danny Cordray (Guest Star) | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bonnie Hunt Show | Guest | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rachael Ray | Guest | 2010 |
91% | 88% | Damages | Wes Krulik (Character) | 2007 2009-2010 |
77% | No Score Yet | Samantha Who? | Winston Funk (Guest Star) | 2008 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Late Night With Conan O'Brien | Guest | 2007 |
92% | 95% | Deadwood | Seth Bullock (Character) | 2004-2006 |
82% | 88% | My Name Is Earl | Billy Reed (Guest Star) | 2006 |
70% | 80% | Sex and the City | Sam (Guest Star) | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | High Incident | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |