Timothy Olyphant

Timothy David Olyphant (born May 20, 1968) is an American actor. His notable roles include the television drama series Deadwood, Damages and Justified and such films as Scream 2, Gone in 60 Seconds, Dreamcatcher, Live Free or Die Hard, A Perfect Getaway, The Crazies and Hitman.
He portray Danny Cordray on The Office.
==Early life==
Olyphant was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and moved to Modesto, California, a rural town east of San Francisco, at the age of 2, where he was raised.[1] His father worked for a winery.[2] Olyphant began competitive swimming at age 6, and started training seriously in the seventh grade. He was a finalist at the USA Swimming Short Course National Championships in 1986 in the 200 Individual Medley.[3] He graduated from Modesto's Fred C. Beyer High School that year.[4]
Olyphant continued swimming at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he studied fine art. He took a beginning acting class as an elective at UC Irvine, in order to fulfill the final credits he needed to graduate from USC. Olyphant then decided to move to New York City to study acting, rather than pursue a master's degree in fine arts. He took acting classes with William Esper at William Esper Studio for two years, and then started looking for acting work.[5]
==Career==
Olyphant began acting off-Broadway, making his professional debut in 1995 in the Playwrights Horizons' production of The Monogamist as Tim Hapgood. He received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance for his performance.[6] He subsequently appeared in the one-man play The SantaLand Diaries in 1996, written by David Sedaris, adapted and directed by Joe Mantello,[7] and in Plunge.
Olyphant returned to Los Angeles and found work in television. He landed his first TV role in a pilot for a remake of the series 77 Sunset Strip in 1995, produced by Clint Eastwood. He was cast in the pilot of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996), a short-lived CBS spy series, as Scooby, Mr. Smith's (Scott Bakula's) assistant.[8] Olyphant appeared in 3 episodes of the acclaimed police drama High Incident and in the Hallmark Channel TV film Ellen Foster in 1997. A role in the HBO movie When Trumpets Fade was next in 1998, a dramatization of the 1944 Battle of Hürtgen Forest, followed by a guest starring role in the Sex and the City episode "Valley of the Twenty Something Guys", as one of Carrie Bradshaw's boyfriends.
Olyphant made his feature film debut with a small part in The First Wives Club (1996). He appeared briefly in A Life Less Ordinary (1997), starring Ewan McGregor, but gained notice starring in the horror film Scream 2 (1997), as a cynical film student, Mickey. He portrayed the drug dealer Todd Gaines in Go (1999), directed by Doug Liman, a comedy-drama with Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf and Sarah Polley in the cast, and a script by first time screenwriter John August.[2] He followed the role up with parts in Advice from a Caterpillar (1999), No Vacancy (1999), The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).
Olyphant played the lead role of Sheriff Seth Bullock on HBO's Deadwood from March 2004 until the series' end. Olyphant considered it to be one of his first leading roles as a "complicated" and "complex" character.[9] Prior to that he had roles in Rock Star (2001) and Dreamcatcher (2003). He played a porn film producer in The Girl Next Door in 2004 alongside Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert.
In January 2007, Olyphant appeared in the comedy Catch and Release, playing the love interest of Jennifer Garner's character; Olyphant was cast in the role over several other known actors, including Matthew Fox.[10] Olyphant had studied acting alongside Jennifer Garner when he moved to New York.[1] He next appeared in Live Free or Die Hard, as the villain, a cyber-terrorist and in Hitman, as the title character. Olyphant shaved his head for his role in Hitman. His 2008 roles included Stop-Loss, about the Iraq War, playing a Lieutenant Colonel, Meet Bill, a comedy co-starring Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba, and a voice-acting role in Turok (2008) as Cowboy.
Olyphant served as the on-air, unpaid sports commentator for Joe Escalante's morning show on LA radio station Indie 103.1, every Monday through Friday, until the channel's demise in January 2009.
In June 2008 he joined the cast of FX's show Damages, starring Glenn Close. As a result, his part in Samantha Who? was recast and filled by Billy Zane.[11]
In 2009, he starred with Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich in the thriller A Perfect Getaway as an Iraq war veteran and possible serial killer of honeymooners on the Hawaii islands. In late November 2008, it was announced that he had officially signed on for the lead role of the town sheriff in the 2010 film The Crazies.
In the spring of 2010, Olyphant began portraying the lead role of Raylan Givens in the FX series Justified. His character is a 21st century U.S. Marshal who, for his questionable tactics, is banished to the part of Kentucky in which he was born and raised. Givens wears a Stetson hat and behaves like an Old West sheriff. The show is based on a character created by Elmore Leonard in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap, and the short story "Fire in the Hole". The pilot episode was an adaptation of the latter. Olyphant plays a paper salesman in fall 2010 season 7 of NBC Television's hit comedy, The Office.
==Personal life==
Olyphant lives in Westwood, Los Angeles with his wife, Alexis Knief, and their three children. The couple married in 1991.[1]
==Television==
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1996 	Mr. & Mrs. Smith 	Scooby 	Pilot guest star
1997–1998[12] 	High Incident 	Brett Farraday 	Recurring role, 3 Episodes
1998 	Sex and the City 	Sam 	Guest star, 1 Episode
2002 	Night Visions 	Eli 	Guest star, 1 Episode
2004–2006 	Deadwood 	Sheriff Seth Bullock	Ended
2006 	My Name Is Earl 	Billy Reed 	Guest star, 1 Episode
2009–2010[13] 	Damages 	Wes Krulik 	Regular season 2 only
2009 	Samantha Who? 	Winston Funk 	Recurring role, 2 Episodes
2010 	The Bonnie Hunt Show[14]	himself 	Talk show
2010–present[15]	Justified 	Raylan Givens 	Series regular
2010 	The Office 	Danny Cordray[16] 	Guest star
==Filmography==
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1996	The First Wives Club 	Brett Artounian 	
1997	A Life Less Ordinary 	Hiker 	
1997	Scream 2 	Mickey Altieri 	
1998	1999 (Girls and Boys) 	Hooks 	
1998	When Trumpets Fade 	Lt. Terrence Lukas 	
1999	No Vacancy 	Luke 	
1999	Go 	Todd Gaines 	
1999	Advice from a Caterpillar 	Brat 	
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds 	Det. Drycoff 	
2000	The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy	Dennis 	
2001	Head Over Heels 	Michael 	
2001	Auggie Rose 	Roy Mason 	
2001	Rock Star 	Rob Malcolm - Guitarist, Blood Pollution	
2001	Doppelganger 	Brian 	
2002	Coastlines 	Sonny Mann 	
2003	The Safety of Objects 	Randy 	
2003	Dreamcatcher 	Pete Moore 	
2003	A Man Apart 	Hollywood Jack 	
2004	The Girl Next Door 	Kelly 	
2007	Catch and Release 	Fritz 	
2007	Live Free or Die Hard 	Thomas Gabriel 	(also known as Die Hard 4.0)
2007	Hitman 	Agent 47 	
2008	Stop-Loss 	Lt. Col. Boot Miller 	
2008	Meet Bill 	Chip 	
2009	A Perfect Getaway 	Nick 	Nominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2009	High Life 	Dick 	
2010	The Crazies 	David Dutten 	
2010	Elektra Luxx 	TBA 	post-production
2010	Hitman 2 	Agent 47 	being scripted
2011	I Am Number Four 	Henri[17] 	In production
2011	Rango 	The Spirit of the West 	voice only
Category:Crew
Category:Actors