Pruitt Taylor Vince

Versatile, Emmy-winning character actor Pruitt Taylor Vince drew critical praise for his ability to find the emotional core of figures both malevolent and kind in such projects as "Nobody's Fool" (1994), "Heavy" (1995), "Deadwood" (HBO 2004-06) and "Bird Box" (Netflix, 2018). Born July 5, 1960 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Vince attended Louisiana State University before making his screen debut in indie director Jim Jarmusch's comedy "Down By Law" (1986). Audiences didn't see his performance - his scenes were cut from the film prior to release - but by the following year, Vince was working steadily in minor character parts, including turns in Barbet Schroder's "Barfly" (1987) and Alan Parker's "Angel Heart" (1987). Parker would cast him in two more features, the much-praised "Mississippi Burning" (1988) and the lesser-known "Come See the Paradise" (1990), between assignments for David Lynch ("Wild at Heart," 1990), Adrian Lyne ("Jacob's Ladder," 1990) and Oliver Stone, who cast him as assassination witness Lee Bowers in "JFK" (1991) and as a deputy warden in "Natural Born Killers" (1994). Blessed with the rare combination of an imposing presence and an open, almost guileless face, Vince was adept at playing monstrous villains - he played an accomplice to a child kidnapper in the harrowing TV-movie "I Know My Name is Steven" (NBC, 1989) and a deluded killer on a 1996 episode of "The X-Files" (Fox, 1993-2002, 2016-2019) - as well as more sympathetic, often childlike figures, like the rough-hewn Rub Squeers in Robert Benton's "Nobody's Fool" (1994). Vince's most acclaimed screen turn came the following year as an overweight, lovelorn young man in James Mangold's "Heavy" (1995). The critical appraise afforded to his sensitive turn led to more high-profile projects, though his roles continued to hew along the lines of uncomplicated men - his hardworking bartender in Ted Demme's "Beautiful Girls" (1996) - and heels, like the defiant serial killer Clifford Banks in the second season of "Murder One" (ABC, 1995-1997). Vince won a 1997 Emmy for the latter performance, and soon settled into steady character work in features for the likes of Giuseppe Tornatore ("The Legend of 1900," 1998), Lawrence Kasdan ("Mumford," 1999), Neil LaBute ("Nurse Betty," 2000) and a reunion with Mangold as a killer with multiple personalities in "Identity" (2003). He also remained a regular presence on television through recurring roles on "Deadwood" (HBO, 2004-2006) as a man whose girth protected him from multiple gunshot wounds, as a hamfisted investigator on "The Mentalist" (CBS, 2008-2015), and as the ill-fated Otis on "The Walking Dead" (AMC, 2010- ). The 2010s found Vince working on multiple projects per year: these included studio efforts like "Beautiful Creatures" (2013), independent films like the supernatural thriller "The Devil's Candy" (2015) and recurring roles on "True Blood" (HBO, 2008-2014) as a devious psychiatrist, on "Heroes Reborn" (NBC, 2015-16) as a mystery man with powerful mental abilities, on "Stranger Things" (Netflix, 2016- ) as a hospital orderly spared from death by Millie Bobby Brown's powerful Jane/Eleven, and on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as Grill, boss of the futuristic bunker The Lighthouse. In 2018, he played Rick, whose promise of safety prompted the harrowing journey by Sandra Bullock's Malorie in the blockbuster Netflix film "Bird Box."