# Pruitt Taylor Vince

Pruitt Taylor Vince (born July 5, 1960) is an American character actor. He had roles in the films Mississippi Burning (1988), Jacob's Ladder (1990), JFK (1991), Identity (2003), and Constantine (2005). He played J.J. Laroche in The Mentalist (2008–2015).
Vince has also appeared on many television series. In 1997, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role as Clifford Banks in the second season of the television series Murder One.

## Early life

Vince was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5, 1960. He attended Louisiana State University.
For most of his life, Vince has had a condition called nystagmus, the involuntary movement of the eye.

## Career

Vince made his film debut in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law, but his scenes were edited out. He had prominent supporting roles in several major films, including a turn as a dimwitted Ku Klux Klan member in Mississippi Burning (1988), Lee Bowers in JFK (1991), and the main character's best friend in Nobody's Fool (1994). His first lead role was in James Mangold's independent film Heavy (1995), playing a sweet, silent overweight cook harboring a crush on a waitress played by Liv Tyler. He starred in Giuseppe Tornatore's film The Legend of 1900 (1998).
Vince often alternates between heroic and villainous characters. Vince played a Southern policeman in the neo-noir psychological horror film Angel Heart (1987), a kidnapper's assistant in the crime thriller film Trapped (2002), and a deputy prison warden in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994). He played a lovable, small town pub owner in Beautiful Girls (1996); a mentally ill serial killer in the 2003 mystery thriller film Identity (a second collaboration with director Mangold); a pompous sheriff in Nurse Betty (2000); a gossip columnist in Simone (2002); and a dissolute Roman Catholic priest with psychic abilities in the 2005 supernatural horror film Constantine. He can also be seen in the dramatic film Love from Ground Zero (1998) playing as Walter. Other film titles include the psychological horror film Jacob's Ladder (1990), the neo-noir film China Moon (1994), the action thriller film Homefront (2013), and the supernatural horror film The Devil's Candy (2015).
Guest appearances on TV shows include Deadwood, Alias, The X-Files, Miami Vice, Quantum Leap, Chicago Hope, In the Heat of the Night, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Highlander: The Series, and the American remake of Touching Evil. In 2011, he appeared as Otis in the AMC television series The Walking Dead. He also had a guest role playing a 600-lb. patient in Fox's medical drama House. From 2010 to 2014, he had a multi-episode appearance in The Mentalist. In 2012, he appeared in a full episode of Justified. He took a comic role as "Jelly" in Flypaper. In 2018, he appeared on an episode of The Blacklist as Lawrence Devlin.

## Awards

Vince received an Emmy Award, in 1997, for Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as serial killer Clifford Banks during the second season of the television series Murder One.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Down by Law | | (scenes deleted), First role |
| 1987 | Angel Heart | Det. Deimos | |
| 1987 | Shy People | Paul | |
| 1987 | Barfly | Joe | |
| 1988 | Red Heat | Night Clerk | |
| 1988 | Mississippi Burning | Lester Cowens | |
| 1989 | K-9 | Benny the Mule | |
| 1989 | Homer and Eddie | Cashier | |
| 1990 | Wild at Heart | Buddy | |
| 1990 | Fear | Shadow Man | |
| 1990 | Come See the Paradise | Augie Farrell | |
| 1990 | Jacob's Ladder | Paul | |
| 1991 | JFK | Lee Bowers | |
| 1994 | China Moon | Daryl Jeeters | |
| 1994 | City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold | Bud | |
| 1994 | Natural Born Killers | Deputy Warden Kavanaugh | |
| 1994 | Nobody's Fool | Rub Squeers | |
| 1995 | Heavy | Victor Modino | |
| 1995 | Under the Hula Moon | Bob | |
| 1996 | The Cottonwood | Mark Salli | |
| 1996 | Beautiful Girls | Stanley 'Stinky' Womack | |
| 1997 | The End of Violence | Frank Cray | |
| 1997 | A Further Gesture | Scott | |
| 1997 | Cold Around the Heart | Johnny 'Cokebottles' Costello | |
| 1998 | Dr. Dolittle | Patient at Hammersmith | Uncredited |
| 1998 | The Legend of 1900 | Max Tooney | |
| 1998 | Love from Ground Zero | Walter | |
| 1999 | Mumford | Henry Follett | |
| 2000 | Nurse Betty | Ballard | |
| 2000 | The Cell | Dr. Reid | |
| 2001 | Mental Hygiene | Mr. Adams | Short |
| 2002 | 13 Moons | Owen | |
| 2002 | Rebellion | Vito | |
| 2002 | S1m0ne | Max Sayer | |
| 2002 | Trapped | Marvin | |
| 2002 | Trapped from Within | Himself | Video documentary short |
| 2003 | Identity | Malcolm Rivers | |
| 2003 | Monster | Gene / Stuttering "John" | |
| 2005 | Constantine | Father Hennessey | |
| 2005 | Drop Dead Sexy | Spider | |
| 2005 | Nobody Wants Your Film | Himself | Documentary |
| 2007 | When a Man Falls in the Forest | Travis | |
| 2007 | Captivity | Ben Dexter | |
| 2008 | The Echo | Joseph | |
| 2009 | The Smell of Success | Cleveland Clod | |
| 2009 | In the Electric Mist | Lou Girard | |
| 2009 | Don McKay | Mel | |
| 2009 | Leaves of Grass | Big Joe Sharpe | |
| 2011 | Stanley DeBrock | Earl Wayne | |
| 2011 | Flypaper | Wyatt 'Jelly' Jenkins | |
| 2011 | Cameraman | Jeremy | |
| 2011 | Drive Angry | Roy | |
| 2011 | On the Inside | Ben Marshal | |
| 2011 | Butter | Ned Eaten | |
| 2011 | Creature | Grover | |
| 2012 | Bending the Rules | Happy | |
| 2012 | Jules Verne's Mysterious Island | Gideon Spilett | |
| 2012 | Brake | Driver / Boss Terrorist (voice) | |
| 2013 | Broken Blood | Earl Wayne | |
| 2013 | The Making of Broken Blood | Himself | Video documentary short |
| 2013 | Homefront | Werks | |
| 2013 | Dark Tourist | Carl Marznap | |
| 2013 | Beautiful Creatures | Mr. Lee | |
| 2013 | 13 Sins | Vogler | |
| 2015 | The Devil's Candy | Ray Smilie | |
| 2016 | 59 Seconds | Robert | |
| 2018 | Gotti | Angelo Ruggiero | |
| 2018 | ASIA A | Noah | Short |
| 2018 | Bird Box | Rick | |
| 2025 | Superman | Jonathan Kent | Post-production |
| TBA | Reckoning | Tommy | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | Miami Vice | Cruz | Episode: "Bad Timing" |
| 1989 | I Know My First Name is Steven | Irving Murphy | TV movie |
| 1990 | In the Heat of the Night | Leonard Grissom | Episode: "Perversions of Justice" |
| 1991 | Sweet Poison | Coyle | TV movie |
| 1991 | Dead in the Water | Lou Rescetti | TV movie |
| 1992 | Till Death Us Do Part | Michael Brockington | TV movie |
| 1992 | Quantum Leap | Hank Pilcher | Episode: "Moments to Live - May 4, 1985" |
| 1993 | Sisters | Joe Abruzzia | Episode: "Things Are Tough All Over" |
| 1995 | Chicago Hope | Walter Platt | Episode: "Small Sacrifices" |
| 1995 | The Marshal | Two-Cats | Episode: "Buy Hard" |
| 1995 | Highlander | Mikey | Episode: "The Innocent" |
| 1996 | The X-Files | Gerry Schnauz | Episode: "Unruhe" |
| 1997 | Night Sins | Olie Swain | TV movie |
| 1997 | Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer | Clifford Banks | TV mini-series |
| 1997 | Murder One | Clifford Banks | 6 episodes |
| 2001 | Gideon's Crossing | James Tooley | Episode: "The Lottery" |
| 2001 | Thieves | Roy Lichter | Episode: "Dey Got De Degas" |
| 2003 | L.A. Confidential | Sid Hudgens | TV movie |
| 2003 | The Handler | Ray / Sergei | Episode: "Street Boss" |
| 2003 | Alias | Campbell / Schapker | Episode: "Breaking Point" |
| 2004 | Touching Evil | Cyril Kemp | 5 episodes |
| 2004 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Marty Gleason | Episode: "Swap Meet" |
| 2005–2006 | Deadwood | Mose Manuel | 10 episodes |
| 2006 | House | George | Episode: "Que Sera Sera" |
| 2008 | Canterbury's Law | Louis Minot | Episode: "Baggage" |
| 2010 | Medium | Peter Winant | Episode: "Deja Vu All Over Again" |
| 2010 | Infamous | The Patriarch | 3 episodes, also director |
| 2010 | Memphis Beat | Martin Matthews | Episode: "I Want to Be Free" |
| 2010–2013 | The Mentalist | J.J. LaRoche | 12 episodes |
| 2011 | The Cape | Goggles | Episode: "Goggles and Hicks" |
| 2011 | The Walking Dead | Otis | 3 episodes |
| 2012 | Justified | Glen Fogle | Episode: "Harlan Roulette" |
| 2012 | Bones | Haze Jackson | Episode: "The Prisoner in the Pipe" |
| 2012 | Hawaii Five-0 | Richard Branche | Episode: "Ha'alele" |
| 2014 | True Blood | Finn | 5 episodes |
| 2015 | Heroes Reborn | Casper Abraham | 7 episodes |
| 2017 | Stranger Things | Ray Carroll | 2 episodes |
| 2017–2018 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Grill | Recurring; 4 episodes |
| 2018 | The Blacklist | Lawrence Devlin | 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Lady in the Lake | Bob Bauer | Miniseries |