# Michael Raymond-James

Michael Raymond-James (born Michael Weverstad; December 24, 1977) is an American actor. He is best known for playing René Lenier in the first season of the HBO series True Blood, Britt Pollack on the FX series Terriers, Neal Cassidy/Baelfire on the ABC series Once Upon a Time, Mitch Longo on the CBS All Access series Tell Me a Story and Joseph Colombo on the "Godfather of Harlem" MGM.

## Life and career

Raymond-James was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated Clarkston High School in 1996, where he was a football and track standout. He started out doing theater and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, with George Loros, Geoffrey Horne and Robert Castle. Following several stage appearances in New York, including The Petrified Forest at the Pantheon Theater, he relocated to Los Angeles.
He has guest starred in such series as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Medium, Boston Legal, ER and the season two premiere of Lie to Me. He starred in the FX original series Terriers which was canceled by FX on December 6, 2010 after the first season. Raymond-James also played the role of Rene Lanier on the HBO original series True Blood.
In his feature debut Raymond-James played the best friend of Justin Timberlake's character in Black Snake Moan with Christina Ricci and Samuel Jackson. The actor also starred in Jonny Hirschbein's award-winning short film 'The Fix,' working alongside Robert Patrick and David Paymer. His feature-film credits include 'Moonlight Serenade,' starring as a piano prodigy opposite Academy Award-nominee Amy Adams.
In an episode of The Walking Dead titled "Nebraska", Raymond-James played a young man named Dave, who presents a threat to series protagonist Rick Grimes and his group.
He starred in Once Upon a Time as Neal Cassidy/Baelfire, who is Henry's father as well as Rumpelstiltskin's son and is later revealed to be the grandson of Peter Pan.
In 2020, Raymond-James was cast to play the lead role of Gavin Wolcott in the NBC apocalyptic drama pilot La Brea which was written by David Appelbaum; however, he left the project and was replaced by Eoin Macken. In the 2021-22 season he recurs on Law & Order: Organized Crime as Jon Kosta.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2000 | Minor Blues | Dill | |
| 2006 | Black Snake Moan | Gill Morton | |
| 2010 | The Twenty | Unknown | |
| 2011 | Bowman | Mickey | Short film |
| 2012 | Jack Reacher | Linsky | |
| 2014 | Road to Paloma | Timmy "Irish" Murphy | |
| 2014 | The Salvation | Paul Delarue | |
| 2016 | The Finest Hours | A.B. Seaman D.A. Brown | |
| 2017 | Carter & June | Carter Jennings | |
| 2021 | Sweet Girl | FBI Detective John Rothman | |
| 2021 | American Insurrection | Gabe | |
| 2022 | The Integrity of Joseph Chambers | Lone Wolf | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Line of Fire | Threat | Episode: "Take the Money and Run" |
| 2003 | The Handler | Mace | Episode: "Off the Edge" |
| 2004 | ER | Mr. Tunny | Episode: "Try Carter" |
| 2004 | North Shore | Damien Pruitt | Episode: "Meteor Shower" |
| 2005 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Aaron Colite | Episode: "Unbearable" |
| 2006 | Boston Legal | Kevin Armus | Episode: "Ivan the Incorrigible" |
| 2006 | Medium | Travis McQueen | Episode: "Ghost in the Machine" |
| 2008–2011 | True Blood | Rene Lenier | 14 episodes |
| 2009 | ER |
| 2009 | ER | Stuart Moore | Episode: "The Family Man" |
| 2009 | Cold Case | John "Shameless" Clark '76 | Episode: "Jackals" |
| 2009 | Lie to Me | Gavin Howell | Episode: "The Core of It" |
| 2009 | Life | "Tex" | Episode: "Canyon Flowers" |
| 2009 | Last of the Ninth | Tommy "Babyface" Leone | Television film |
| 2010 | Saving Grace | Westy Stevenson | Episode: "Hear the Birds?" |
| 2010 | Terriers | Britt Pollack | 13 episodes |
| 2011 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Eddie Skinner | Episode: "Smoked" |
| 2012 | The Walking Dead | Dave | Episode: "Nebraska" |
| 2015 | Sons of Liberty | Paul Revere | TV miniseries |
| 2012–2016 | Once Upon a Time | Neal Cassidy / Baelfire | 24 episodes |
| 2016 | Game of Silence | Gil Harris | 10 Episodes |
| 2016 | Lethal Weapon | Chad Jackson | Episode: "Spilt Milk" |
| 2018 | Frontier | Fortunato | Main role |
| 2018–2019 | Tell Me a Story | Mitch Longo | Main role (Season 1) |
| 2019–2020 | Prodigal Son | Paul Lazar | Recurring role, 3 episodes |
| 2019–2020 | Billions | Jackie Connerty | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | Big Sky | Blake Kleinsasser | 4 episodes |
| 2021 | Law & Order: Organized Crime | Jon Kosta | Recurring role, 3 episodes |
| 2022 | See | Ranger | Main role (Season 3) |
| 2023 | Godfather of Harlem | Joseph Columbo | Main role (Season 3) |
| 2024 | FBI: Most Wanted | Ethan McPherson | Recurring role, 3 episodes |