# Clark Gregg

Robert Clark Gregg Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for portraying the ex husband of Julia Louis Drefus on "The New Adventures of Old Christine " and Phil Coulson in films and television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2008 to 2024. Gregg also voiced Coulson in the animated television series Ultimate Spider-Man (2012–2017) and the video games Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013), Marvel Heroes (2013), and Lego Marvel's Avengers (2016).
Gregg is also known for his role as FBI Special Agent Mike Casper on the NBC political drama series The West Wing (2001–2004) and as Richard, the ex-husband of Christine Campbell, in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010).
He wrote the horror film What Lies Beneath (2000), and wrote and directed the black comedy Choke (2008) and the comedy-drama Trust Me (2013). He appeared in the films The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998), One Hour Photo (2002), We Were Soldiers (2002), In Good Company (2004), When a Stranger Calls (2006), 500 Days of Summer (2009), Much Ado About Nothing (2012), The To Do List (2013), Labor Day (2013), Live by Night (2016) and Being the Ricardos (2021).

## Early life

Gregg was born April 2, 1962, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Mary Layne (née Shine) and Robert Clark Gregg Sr., an Episcopal priest and eventual Stanford University professor. Because his family relocated frequently, he had lived in seven cities by the time he was 17. He attended high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his father was a professor at nearby Duke University.
He attended Ohio Wesleyan University for two years before dropping out and moving to Manhattan. He worked various jobs, such as being a bar back, a security guard at the Guggenheim Museum, and a parking valet at a restaurant. He later enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied drama and English, and graduated in 1986.

## Career

Gregg was a founding member, and later artistic director, of the off-Broadway Atlantic Theater Company, which formed in 1983. Gregg has been featured in a number of supporting roles in films, such as Lovely & Amazing, The Human Stain, and In Good Company, and a number of guest spots on TV series, such as Will & Grace, Sports Night, Sex and the City and The West Wing. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2000 thriller What Lies Beneath.
He is the director and screenwriter of the 2008 film Choke, based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name, starring Sam Rockwell. Gregg consulted his father, a retired religion professor at Stanford, for the quotation from Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians which Gregg used in Choke. Gregg's father is also the former chaplain at Stanford Memorial Church.
In 2008, Gregg appeared in the film Iron Man as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson. In 2010, Gregg reprised his role as Agent Coulson for Iron Man 2. Gregg had since signed up for a multiple film deal as the character with Marvel Studios. In 2011, he returned again as Coulson for Thor. Gregg noted his being a part of the expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe as being very exciting; "Agent Coulson was one of the guys who wasn't really in the comic books, and he was a very kind of small role in Iron Man," he said, "and I was just very lucky that they chose to expand that character and chose to put him more into the universe of it. It's really a blast!" Following on from his appearance in Thor, he again reprised his role in The Avengers. Gregg also stars in a series of Marvel short films that center around his character and can be seen on the Blu-ray releases of the films.
In October 2010, Gregg was part of the cast of a staged reading of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart alongside Dylan Walsh, Lisa Kudrow, and Tate Donovan, presented in Los Angeles on the occasion of the play's 25th anniversary (and preceding the play's 2011 Broadway premiere, which retained elements of this staged reading); the reading was directed by his then-father-in-law, Joel Grey.
From 2013 to 2020, Gregg portrayed Agent Phil Coulson in the ABC television superhero drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., set within the MCU, alongside Ming-Na Wen and Chloe Bennet. He also went on to direct episodes in seasons five and six.
On April 20, 2013, Trust Me, a film written, produced, and directed by Gregg, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film found limited release in the United States in June 2014.
Gregg reprised his role as Agent Coulson in the 2019 superhero film Captain Marvel and the animated series What If...?, episodes "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" and "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?", released in 2021.
In 2022, he joined the TNT series Snowpiercer for its fourth and final season. However, the series was dumped by the network before it could air there. The fourth season was picked up by AMC, and aired in 2024.

## Personal life

Gregg married actress Jennifer Grey on July 21, 2001; the couple co-starred in the Lifetime TV movie Road to Christmas. They have a daughter Stella, born December 3, 2001. Gregg and Grey were two of the demonstrators at the 2017 Women's March held on January 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. On July 3, 2020, Grey and Gregg announced they had separated amicably on January 18, 2020, and were in the process of divorcing. Their divorce ruling was issued in November and that became official finalized on February 16, 2021.
Gregg is a sober alcoholic and describes himself as a member of a Jewish family (his former wife's faith).
He has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Gregg is a cousin of New York State government official and former New York City mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | Things Change | Stage Manager | |
| 1989 | Fat Man and Little Boy | Douglas Panton | |
| 1991 | Lana in Love | Marty | |
| 1994 | Ride Me | Jake Shank | |
| 1994 | I Love Trouble | Darryl Beekman, Jr. | |
| 1994 | Clear and Present Danger | Staff Sergeant | |
| 1995 | The Usual Suspects | Dr. Ridgly Walters | |
| 1995 | Above Suspicion | Randy | |
| 1997 | The Spanish Prisoner | FBI Sniper | |
| 1997 | The Last Time I Committed Suicide | Cop No. 1 | |
| 1997 | Six Ways to Sunday | Benjamin Taft | |
| 1998 | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Hank / Henrietta Rossi | |
| 1999 | Magnolia | WDKK Floor Director | |
| 2000 | State and Main | Doug Mackenzie | |
| 2000 | What Lies Beneath | None | Screenwriter |
| 2001 | A.I. Artificial Intelligence | Supernerd | |
| 2001 | Lovely & Amazing | Bill | |
| 2002 | One Hour Photo | Det. Paul Outerbridge | |
| 2002 | We Were Soldiers | Capt. Tom Metsker | |
| 2003 | Northfork | Mr. Hadfield | Uncredited |
| 2003 | 11:14 | Officer Hanna | |
| 2003 | The Human Stain | Nelson Primus | |
| 2004 | Spartan | Miller | |
| 2004 | In Enemy Hands | Executive Officer Teddy Goodman | |
| 2004 | In Good Company | Mark Steckle | |
| 2006 | When a Stranger Calls | Ben Johnson | |
| 2006 | Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas | Publisher | |
| 2006 | Hoot | Chuck Muckle | |
| 2007 | In the Land of Women | Nelson Hardwicke | |
| 2007 | The Air I Breathe | Henry | |
| 2008 | Choke | Lord High Charlie | Also screenwriter and director |
| 2008 | Iron Man | Agent Phil Coulson | |
| 2009 | 500 Days of Summer | Vance | |
| 2010 | Iron Man 2 | Agent Phil Coulson | |
| 2011 | Thor | Agent Phil Coulson | |
| 2011 | Mr. Popper's Penguins | Nat Jones | |
| 2011 | The Consultant | Agent Phil Coulson | Short film |
| 2011 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer | Agent Phil Coulson | Short film |
| 2012 | The Avengers | Agent Phil Coulson | |
| 2012 | Much Ado About Nothing | Leonato | |
| 2012 | Brightest Star | Mr. Markovic | |
| 2013 | The To Do List | Judge George Klark | |
| 2013 | Labor Day | Gerald Wheeler | |
| 2013 | Trust Me | Howard Holloway | Also screenwriter, producer, and director |
| 2014 | Very Good Girls | Edward Berger | |
| 2015 | Thrilling Adventure Hour Live | Mason Grantz | |
| 2016 | Live by Night | Chief Inspector Calvin Bordurant | |
| 2018 | Spinning Man | Paul | |
| 2019 | Captain Marvel | Agent Phil Coulson | |
| 2020 | Run Sweetheart Run | James R. Fuller | |
| 2021 | Moxie | John | |
| 2021 | Being the Ricardos | Howard Wenke | |
| 2022 | The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 | Bruce Edwards Ivins | Documentary |
| 2024 | Thelma | Alan | |
| 2025 | G20 | TBA | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | Lip Service | Stage Manager | Television film |
| 1991 | Law & Order | Patrick Dunne | Episode: "Life Choice" |
| 1991 | Shannon's Deal | Mercer | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | A Woman Named Jackie | Ken O'Donnell | Miniseries |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Dickinson | Episode: "Princeton, February 1916" |
| 1994 | The George Carlin Show | Dad | Episode: "George Does A Bad Thing" |
| 1995 | Tyson | Kevin Rooney | Television film |
| 1995 | The Commish | Tom Cannon | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Central Park West | Manager | Episode: "Behind Your Back" |
| 1996 | Touched by an Angel | Don Dudley | Episode: "Lost and Found" |
| 2000 | Sports Night | The Stranger / Calvin Trager | 2 episodes |
| 2000 | Sex and the City | Harris Bragen | Episode: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" |
| 2000 | The Practice | Julie McGrath's Brother | Episode: "Brother's Keepers" |
| 2001–2004 | The West Wing | FBI Special Agent Michael Casper | 8 episodes |
| 2002 | My Sister's Keeper | Harvey | Television film |
| 2002 | Live from Baghdad | Eason Jordan | Television film |
| 2003 | Will & Grace | Cam | Episode: "May Divorce Be with You" |
| 2004 | The Shield | William Faulks | 2 episodes |
| 2005 | CSI: NY | D.A. Allen McShane | Episode: "The Fall" |
| 2006 | The Road to Christmas | Tom Pullman | Television film |
| 2006–2010 | The New Adventures of Old Christine | Richard Campbell | Main role |
| 2012–2017 | Ultimate Spider-Man | Phil Coulson, Nanny Bots (voice) | Main cast; 29 episodes |
| 2013 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Himself | Episode: "Clark Gregg Wears a Navy Blazer & White Collared Shirt" |
| 2013–2020 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Phil Coulson / Pachakutiq / Sarge | Main role; 136 episodes Also directed episodes: "Fun & Games" and "Missing Pieces" |
| 2015 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent | Himself | Episode: "The Mastermind Is Revealed" |
| 2016 | Lip Sync Battle | Himself | Episode: "Clark Gregg vs. Hayley Atwell" |
| 2016 | BattleBots | Himself | Episode: "The Gears Awaken" |
| 2016 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Academy | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot | Phil Coulson | Episode: "Vendetta" |
| 2019 | SMILF | Mr. Daddy | Episode: "Single Mom is Losing Faith" |
| 2020 | The Conners | Ron | 2 episodes |
| 2021; 2024 | What If...? | Phil Coulson (voice) | 3 episodes |
| 2023 | Florida Man | Deputy Sheriff Ketcher | Miniseries; 7 episodes |
| 2023 | How I Met Your Father | Nick Foster | 3 episodes |
| 2023 | Painkiller | Arthur Sackler | Miniseries; 6 episodes |
| 2024 | Criminal Minds: Evolution | FBI Director Ray Madison | Recurring role |
| 2024 | Will Trent | Arthur Highsmith | Episode: "Me Llamo Will Trent" |
| 2024 | Snowpiercer | Admiral Milius | Main role (season 4) |
| 2025 | Zero Day | Robert Lyndon | Post-production |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Voice role |
| 2013 | Lego Marvel Super Heroes | Phil Coulson |
| 2013 | Marvel Heroes | Phil Coulson |
| 2016 | Lego Marvel's Avengers | Phil Coulson |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2000 | Film Independent Spirit Award | Best Supporting Male | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Nominated |
| 2000 | National Board of Review Award | Best Acting by an Ensemble | State and Main | Won |
| 2001 | Online Film Critics Society Award | Best Ensemble Cast Performance | State and Main | Won |
| 2001 | Florida Film Critics Circle Award | Best Ensemble Cast | State and Main | Won |
| 2006 | Women's Image Network Award | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | The New Adventures of Old Christine | Won |
| 2008 | Sundance Film Festival Award | Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic | Choke | Nominated |
| 2008 | Sundance Film Festival Award | Special Jury Prize: Dramatic, Work by an Ensemble Cast | Choke | Won |
| 2013 | Saturn Award | Best Supporting Actor | The Avengers | Won |