Ted Levine
Ted Levine | |
---|---|
Born | Frank Theodore Levine |
Spouse | Kim Phillips |
Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as transvestite serial killer Jame Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs and for his role as Captain Leland Stottlemeyer on the popular television series Monk.
Career
Early career
Levine was born in Bellaire, Ohio, in 1957. In 1975, he enrolled at Marlboro College and then later University of Chicago. He became a fixture in the Chicago theatre scene and joined the Remains Theatre which was co-founded by Gary Cole and William L. Petersen. After his stage experience, Levine began to devote most of his energy during the 1980s toward finding roles in film and television such as a minor part in Charlie's Angels. He also managed to get a tiny part in Rambo: First Blood Part II, as one of the men getting the P.O.W.'s off the helicopter.
Mainstream success
After his breakout role in The Silence of the Lambs, there was a period where he was typecast in villainous roles. Levine was able to remedy this by playing more positive characters, such as a member of Al Pacino's police unit in Heat, astronaut Alan Shepard in the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, and Paul Walker's police superior Sergeant Tanner in The Fast and the Furious. In the drama Georgia, he played Mare Winningham's husband, one of his most sympathetic roles. His résumé also includes an uncredited role as the voice of the sociopathic trucker "Rusty Nail" in 2001's Joy Ride, and his performance as Detective Sam Nico in the 2003 film Wonderland, based on the gruesome murders in Los Angeles Wonderland District. Since 2002, he has co-starred in his role as Captain Leland Stottlemeyer on USA Network's detective series Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub.
Levine also provided the voice of the supervillain Sinestro in Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. Most recently, Levine appeared as a patriarch whose family takes a turn for the worse in the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (2006). In 2007, he portrayed local Sheriff James Timberlake in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and appeared in Ridley Scott's American Gangster, alongside Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.
In a January 12, 2006 interview on The Late Late Show, actor Seth Green credited Levine as the inspiration for the voice of his character Chris Griffin on Family Guy.
Filmography
- Crime Story (1986–1988) ... Frank Holman
- Betrayed (1988) ... Wes
- Next of Kin (1989) ... Willy Simpson
- Love at Large (1990)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ... Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb
- Death Train a.k.a. Detonator (1992)...Alex Tierney
- Nowhere to Run (1993) ... Mr. Dunston
- The Last Outlaw (1994) ... Potts
- The Mangler (1995) ... Officer John Hunton
- Heat (1995) ... Bosco
- Bullet (1996) ... Louis Stein (Butch's brother)
- Switchback (1997) ... Deputy Nate Booker
- Flubber (1997) ... Wesson
- From the Earth to the Moon (1998) (miniseries) ... Alan Shepard
- Moby Dick (1998) ... Starbuck
- Wild Wild West (1999) ... General 'Bloodbath' McGrath
- Harlan County War (2000) ... coalmine worker Silas Kincaid
- Evolution (2001) ... General Russell Woodman
- The Fast and the Furious (2001) ... Sgt. Tanner
- Joy Ride (2001) (uncredited) ... Rusty Nail
- Ali (2001) ... Joe Smiley
- Monk (2002) ... Leland Stottlemeyer
- The Truth About Charlie (2002) ... Emil Zadapec
- Wonderland (2003) ... Sam Nico
- The Manchurian Candidate (2004) ... Colonel Howard
- Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) ... Colonel Derricks
- The Hills Have Eyes (2006) ... Big Bob
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) ... Sheriff James Timberlake
- American Gangster (2007) ... Toback
- Shutter Island (2009) ... Warden