W. Earl Brown

W. Earl Brown
Brown in August 2011
Born	William Earl Brown (1963-09-07) September 7, 1963 Golden Pond, Kentucky, U.S.
Education	Murray State University (BA) DePaul University (MFA)
Occupations	Actor screenwriter producer musician songwriter
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Carrie Paschall ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	1

William Earl Brown (born September 7, 1963) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, musician, and songwriter. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Kenny, the cameraman in the film Scream (1996), Warren in the film There's Something About Mary (1998), Dan Dority on the HBO series Deadwood (2004–2006), and the voice and motion capture of Bill in the video game The Last of Us (2013). He has appeared in films such as Backdraft, The Master, Being John Malkovich, The Sessions, Vanilla Sky, The Lone Ranger, and Bloodworth (which he also wrote and produced), as well as series such as Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, The X-Files, Six Feet Under, Preacher, Bates Motel, True Detective, American Horror Story, Chicago Fire, Psych, and The Mandalorian.

Early life

Brown was born in Golden Pond, Kentucky. He earned a bachelor's degree from Murray State University before moving to Chicago, where he received an MFA from DePaul University Theatre School in 1989.

Career

After his breakout performance in Steppenwolf Theatre Company's outreach staging of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, Brown began working in television and film. He appeared in films such as Backdraft, The Babe, Excessive Force, and Rookie of the Year. In 1993, he moved to Los Angeles and was cast in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. He also had a minor role in Craven's Vampire in Brooklyn, and a bigger one as a news cameraman working for Gale Weathers in Craven's Scream. He played Warren in the 1998 comedy film There's Something About Mary and later took roles in Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, The Alamo, and The Big White.

In 2009, Brown wrote, produced, and appeared in the film Bloodworth. His 2010s film credits include The Master, The Sessions, The Lone Ranger, Brother's Keeper, and Wild. On television, he is best known for his portrayal of Dan Dority on the HBO series Deadwood (2004–2006). He has also guest starred on Bates Motel, Rectify, Luck, American Horror Story, Justified, Six Feet Under, NYPD Blue, X-Files, The Mentalist, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Ellen, Seinfeld, True Detective, and others. He also portrayed singer Meat Loaf in VH1's television film Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back. In 2013, he performed the voice and motion capture of Bill in the critically acclaimed video game The Last of Us.

Brown also writes and performs with the country music band Sacred Cowboys.

He is set to appear in the upcoming film Shirley, which stars Regina King opposite Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, André Holland, Terrence Howard and newcomer Ethan Jones Romero.

Personal life

Brown married Carrie Paschall in 1989. They live in Los Angeles and have a daughter, Anna.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Backdraft	Paramedic
1992	The Babe	Herb Pennock
1993	Rookie of the Year	Billy Frick (Bullpen Catcher)
1993	Excessive Force	Vinnie DiMarco
1994	Wes Craven's New Nightmare	Morgue Attendant
1995	Without Evidence	Grace
1995	Vampire in Brooklyn	'Thrasher'
1996	Scream	Kenny
1997	Kiss the Girls	Locksmith
1998	Deep Impact	McCloud
1998	There's Something About Mary	Warren Jensen
1999	Being John Malkovich	J.M. Inc. Customer
2000	Dancing at the Blue Iguana	Bobby
2000	Lost Souls	William Kelson
2001	Vanilla Sky	Barman
2001	Sugar & Spice	Hank 'The Terminator' Rogers
2003	Pauly Shore Is Dead	Bucky From Kentucky
2003	Dunsmore	Ronny Roy Pritcher
2004	Killer Diller	Holister
2004	The Last Shot	Willie Gratzo
2004	The Alamo	David Burnet
2005	The Big White	Jimbo
2005	Kids in America	'Boss' McGinn
2010	Bloodworth	Brady Bloodworth	Also writer and producer
2010	The Last Rites of Ransom Pride	Matthew
2012	The Sessions	Rod
2012	The Master	Fighting Businessman
2013	A Single Shot	'Puffy'
2013	AIC 23	Alan Poole McLard	Short film, also co-writer
2013	The Lone Ranger	Mustached Ranger
2013	Beneath the Harvest Sky	Roger
2013	Knights of Badassdom	Randy
2013	Brother's Keeper	Turner Monroe
2014	Wild	Frank
2014	Draft Day	Ralph Mowry
2015	Chasing Ghosts	Roger Simons
2015	Black Mass	Johnny Martorano
2016	Porcupine	Owen Talbott
2016	Spaceman	Dick Dennis
2018	Dad Band	Jim 'Jimbo'	Short film, also writer
2019	The Highwaymen	'Ivy' Methvin
2021	No Man of God	Warden Wilkenson
2021	The Unforgivable	Mac Whelan
2023	The Dead Don't Hurt	Alan Kendall
2024	Shirley	George Wallace

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Angel Street	Patrolman	Unknown episode
1993	The Untouchables	Jack Zuta	2 episodes
1993	The Woman Who Loved Elvis	Pete	Television film
1993	Bakersfield P.D.	Hood	Episode: "The Ex-Partner"
1994	Seinfeld	Al	Episode: "The Stand In"
1994	Murder, She Wrote	Guard	Episode: "Murder of the Month Club"
1994	Lily in Winter	Sheriff Boyd	Television film
1995	Ellen	Customer #3	Episode: "Gladiators"
1995	The Single Guy	The Cabbie	Episode: "Neighbors"
1995	Nowhere Man	Roy	Episode: "It's Not Such a Wonderful Life"
1996	Project ALF	Ernie	Television film
1996	A Season in Purgatory	Fatty Malloy	Television film
1996	Caroline in the City	Floyd Gerber	Episode: "Caroline and the Therapist"
1996	The Cherokee Kid	Calloway	Television film
1997	Diagnosis: Murder	Dusty Wilton	Episode: "Murder, Country Style"
1997	Smart Guy	Sonny	Episode: "The Dating Game"
1997	Bella Mafia	Fredrico Luciano	Television film
1998	Profiler	Raymond Boudreaux	Episode: "The Sum of Her Parts"
1999	Martial Law	Larry Gambozza	Episode: "Big Trouble"
2000	Chicago Hope	Harry Cram	Episode: "Cold Hearts"
2000	NYPD Blue	Bruce Rhodes	Episode: "Welcome to New York"
2000	Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back	Meat Loaf	Television film
2000	Angel	Menlo	Episode: "The Shroud of Rahmon"
2001	CSI	Roger Peet	Episode: "Justice Is Served"
2001	Charmed	Shadow / Warlock	Episode: "Pre-Witched"
2001	Dead Last	Victor Korsky	Episode: "The Problem with Corruption"
2001	WANTED COMIX	Drew Lujan	Episode: "Frank and Beans"
2001	Wolf Lake	Bruce Cates	Episode: "Excitable Boy"
2002	Philly	Billy Temple	Episode: "Brotherly Love"
2002	The X-Files	Robert M. Fassl	Episode: "Underneath"
2002	Six Feet Under	Pete	Episode: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
2002	Push, Nevada	Shadrach	5 episodes
2003	NYPD Blue	Terry Parkhurst	Episode: "22 Skidoo"
2004	Cold Case	Victor Lake	Episode: "Maternal Instincts"
2005	CSI: Miami	Jesse Kramer	Episode: "Whacked"
2004–06	Deadwood	Dan Dority	36 episodes; also wrote one episode
2006	Standoff	Doug Frohmer	Episode: "Man of Steele"
2007	Numbers	Abner Stone	Episode: "Nine Wives"
2007	Psych	Dwayne Tancana	Episode: "Bounty Hunters!"
2007	The Minister of Divine	'Buzz'	Unsold pilot
2008	The Mentalist	Rulon Farnes	Episode: "Redwood"
2009	Hawthorne	Mr. Deegan	Episode: "Trust Me"
2009	CSI	'Slick'	Episode: "Appendicitement"
2010	Justified	Cal Wallace	Episode: "Blowback"
2010	Miami Medical	Jesse	Episode: "Medicine Man"
2011	American Horror Story: Murder House	Phil Critter	Episode: "Smoldering Children"
2011	Burn Notice	Zechariah	Episode: "Besieged"
2011	Breakout Kings	Cliff Krauss	Episode: "Paid in Full"
2012	Luck	Mulligan	2 episodes
2012	Blue Eyed Butcher	Thomas Dean	Television film
2012	Perception	Frank Prentice	Episode: "Faces"
2012	Major Crimes	Jim Martino	Episode: "Before and After"
2013	The Sixth Gun	General Oliander Hume	Unsold pilot
2013	Bates Motel	Keith Summers	Episode: "First You Dream, Then You Die"
2013	Rectify	The Stranger	Episode: "Drip, Drip"
2013	Rogue	Charlie	5 episodes
2013	Longmire	R.J. Watts	Episode: "The Road to Hell"
2014	Ground Floor	'Digger' Tomkins	Episode: "Dynamic Duo"
2014	Grey's Anatomy	Herb Cramer	Episode: "Throwing It All Away"
2014	Chicago Fire	Dave Bloom	3 episodes
2015	American Crime	Tom Carlin	10 episodes
2015	True Detective	Detective Teague Dixon	5 episodes
2015	Documentary Now!	Mitch Dragando	Episode: "Gentle and Soft: The Story of the Blue Jean Committee, Part 1"
2015	Wicked City	Captain Dan Wilkinson	4 episodes
2016	Archer	Head Biker (voice)	Episode: "The Handoff"
2016–17	Preacher	Hugo Root	11 episodes
2017	Training Day	Chief Wade	Episode: "Wages of Sin"
2017	I'm Dying Up Here	Teddy	7 episodes
2017–18	Superstition	The Dredge	3 episodes
2019	Deadwood: The Movie	Dan Dority	Television film
2019	Reprisal	Witt	7 episodes
2020	Hoops	(voice)	Episode: "The Scout"
2020	The Mandalorian	Taanti	Episode: "Chapter 9: The Marshal"
2022	The Book of Boba Fett		2 episodes
2022	Hacks	Michael	2 episodes
2022	Five Days at Memorial	Ewing Cook	7 episodes
2023	Paul T. Goldman	Royce Rocco	4 episodes
2023	Hello Tomorrow!	Big Fred	6 episodes
2023	The Ghost and Molly McGee	Lord Doom (voice)	2 episodes
2024	Yellowstone	Deputy Spears	Episode: “All You Need is Desire”

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	The Last of Us	Bill	Voice and motion capture

External links

• W. Earl Brown at IMDb
• W. Earl Brown at AllMovie