Gil Bellows
Gil Bellows | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bellows in 2012 | |
| Born | June 28, 1967 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 2 |
Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadian actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for the roles of Tommy Williams in the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption, Billy Thomas in the Fox television series Ally McBeal (1997–2002), and CIA agent Matt Callan in the CBS television series The Agency (2001–2003). In 2016–2017, he was a regular cast member in the USA Network series Eyewitness.
As a producer, he won a Primetime Emmy for the 2010 HBO movie Temple Grandin.
He made his directorial debut in 2013 with Three Days in Havana, in which he starred opposite his then wife Rya Kihlstedt. The film was released in Canada after premiering at the Vancouver International Film Festival.[2][3]
Early life
[edit]Bellows was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and attended Magee Secondary School with fellow future actor Carrie-Anne Moss. After graduation, he pursued a career in acting, studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, California.
Career
[edit]Bellows moved to New York after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Six months later, after many rejections, he was considering returning to Vancouver, British Columbia, when things picked up. In 1990, he earned notice for his performance in a one-act play by Alan Bowne, A Snake in the Vein, with The New York Times writing: "Mr. Bellows is physically magnetic as the boy who believes he is tougher than he is and whose sense of bravado is so pathetically susceptible to manipulation."[4][5]
After a long cross-country search, casting director Deborah Aquino chose Bellows, then 27, to play the role of Tommy alongside Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). "We must have seen every young man in that age range in Chicago, New York and L.A. -- name actors and no-name actors."[5] When he was cast, Bellows was working as a doorman at The Royalton Hotel in Manhattan.[5] Frank Darabont, who directed The Shawshank Redemption, based on his own script adapted from Stephen King's original story, told The New York Times that: "Gil brought this quality of ingenuousness to Tommy that I find quite believable. Even though Tommy's kind of a hardened kid, there's a naïveté to him, and Gil's got a sweetness that comes through."[5]
That same year, he played the lead role Watty Watt, a holdup artist on the run in Love and a .45 with then up-and-coming Renée Zellweger. He also appeared as Billy Thomas, the title character's former flame and new co-worker, who she's still attracted to, in the television series Ally McBeal opposite Calista Flockhart. In her review in The New York Times, Caryn James wrote: "A central plot is the simmering heat that still exists between her and her old flame, Billy (Gil Bellows). That exists despite the presence of Billy's lawyer-wife, Georgia, played by Courtney Thorne-Smith of Melrose Place.[6]
Bellows announced that he would be leaving the show in season 3, but fans were surprised when Billy dies suddenly while making an impassioned speech in the courtroom. In the series finale, he returns from the dead to reassure Ally that life works out.[7][8]
He portrayed CIA agent Matt Callan in the CBS primetime television series The Agency.[6] It was one of three new series, including Alias, and 24, to highlight the CIA. All three premiered following the September 11 attacks Alias and 24 continued for more seasons, but CBS cancelled The Agency after the second season.[5]
He co-starred opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in the 1995 romantic comedy Miami Rhapsody. In his review of the film, Roger Ebert wrote: “Miami Rhapsody has been dismissed in some quarters as an imitation Woody Allen movie, but since the imitation and the movie are both so entertaining, I don't see what the problem is."[9]
Bellows also appeared in the psychological thriller Chasing Sleep as Detective Derm, opposite star Jeff Daniels. He appeared in The Weather Man as a perverted rehabilitation counsellor. He was in the films Black Day Blue Night, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, as Will, and Un amour de sorcière, a French film, as Michael Firth (1997). He has appeared on the Hallmark Channel original film Final Days of Planet Earth and the Canadian television series Terminal City.
In 2007, he completed filming for Kill Kill Faster Faster, which is a contemporary film noir inspired by the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Joel Rose.
Bellows also played a State Department Officer in 24: Redemption, a television film prequel to the seventh season of 24.[10]
In 2008, he starred in the Canadian Super Channel science-fiction adventure thriller film Infected.
Bellows has also appeared as Maxwell Lord on Smallville in the Season 9 episodes "Charade" and "Hostage".[11][12]
In 2010, Bellows had a recurring role in FlashForward as Timothy, a window-washer who becomes a born-again Christian and evangelist after a near-death experience.[13] Bellows also co-starred in the movie Unthinkable that same year.
He co-starred with Steve Austin and Eric Roberts in the 2010 action film Hunt to Kill, and in 2011 co-starred with Macha Grenon and Julia Stone in The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom. He starred in the 2012 feature film Fury. In some second-season episodes (2012) of Boss he appeared as a casino investor.
In 2014, Bellows starred with Tricia Helfer in the Syfy miniseries Ascension, a retro space opera / murder mystery about the 600-person crew of the USS Ascension, an Orion-class nuclear pulse propulsion spaceship, on its secret 100-year journey to Proxima Centauri, having been launched in 1963 by President Kennedy. Bellows played Harris Enzmann, the son of the founder of the Ascension project, who oversees its progress from a secret facility on Earth.
On October 16, 2016, Bellows debuted as a cast regular in USA Network's new, 10-episode, straight-to-series police drama, Eyewitness. He plays Gabe Caldwell, a veterinarian and the husband of Sheriff Helen Torrance (series lead Julianne Nicholson). The series, although set in mainly in the Hudson River Valley, was actually filmed in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada.
From 2015 to 2018, he had a recurring role as Lawrence Lacroix, on Patriot, the Amazon Prime Video series which he also executive produced.
In 2019, Bellows guest-starred as the unnamed maternity doctor in season 3, episode 9, of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale.
Personal life
[edit]Bellows was married to American actress Rya Kihlstedt, whom he met in the early 1990’s. The couple have two adult children. The couple separated in 2021.
Filmography
[edit]
Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | The First Season | Ronne | |
| 1994 | Love and a .45 | Watty Watts | |
| The Shawshank Redemption | Tommy Williams | ||
| 1995 | Miami Rhapsody | Matt | |
| Black Day Blue Night | Hitchhiker Dodge | ||
| 1996 | The Substance of Fire | Val Chenard | |
| 1997 | Snow White: A Tale of Terror | Will | |
| Witch Way Love | Michael | ||
| White Lies | Punk Guy | ||
| Dinner at Fred's | Richard | ||
| 1998 | The Assistant | Frank Alpine | |
| Judas Kiss | Lizard Browning | ||
| 1999 | Say You'll Be Mine | Mason | |
| 2000 | Beautiful Joe | Elton | |
| Chasing Sleep | Detective Derm | ||
| 2003 | Fast Food High | Dale White | |
| Blind Horizon | Dr. Theodore Conway | ||
| 2004 | EMR | Paramedic | |
| How's My Driving | Jimmy | Short film | |
| Childstar | Isaac | ||
| Pursued | Ben Keats | ||
| 2005 | Keep Your Distance | David Dailey | |
| The Weather Man | Don | ||
| 2008 | The Promotion | Mitch | |
| Kill Kill Faster Faster | Joe | ||
| Black Crescent Moon | Sam | ||
| Passchendaele | Royster | ||
| Toronto Stories | Henry | ||
| 2010 | Happenchance | Stan | Short film |
| Unthinkable | Agent Vincent | ||
| A Night for Dying Tigers | Jack | ||
| Hunt to Kill | Banks | ||
| Neighbors | Vern | Short film | |
| 2011 | The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom | Phil | |
| Girl Walks into a Bar | Emmit | ||
| The Maiden Danced to Death | Fred | ||
| 2012 | Fury | Bartender Bill | |
| House at the End of the Street | Weaver | ||
| 2013 | Mad Ship | Archie Cameron | |
| Louis Cyr | Richard Kyle Fox | ||
| Parkland | David Powers | ||
| 3 Days in Havana | Jack Petty | ||
| 2014 | Extraterrestrial | Sheriff Murphy | |
| Leading Lady | Daniel Taylor | ||
| The Calling | Detective Ray Green | ||
| Kill the Messenger | DEA Agent Miller | ||
| 2015 | Girl on the Edge | Jake Green | |
| Weepah Way for Now | John | ||
| Life on the Line | Pok' Chop | ||
| Business Ethics | Zachary Cranston | Short film | |
| 2016 | Dead Draw | Harrison | |
| She Has a Name | Alex | ||
| 2017 | Blood Honey | Marvin Heath | |
| ADDicted | Professor Jeff Mueller | ||
| 2019 | Run This Town | Detective Lowey | |
| Nation's Fire | Josip Aleksander | ||
| Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark | Chief Turner | ||
| Business Ethics | Edwin Murk | ||
| Drowning | Frank | ||
| 2020 | Two Deaths of Henry Baker | Henry Baker / Sam Bird | |
| 2021 | Awake | Dr. Katz |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Law & Order | Howard Metzler | Episode: "The Violence of Summer" |
| 1992 | Flying Blind | Gerard | Episode: "Single White Eurotrash" |
| 1993 | Going to Extremes | Ben | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Silver Strand | Brian Del Piso | TV movie |
| 1996 | Radiant City | Bert Kramer | TV movie |
| 1997–2002 | Ally McBeal | Billy Thomas | 68 episodes |
| 1998 | The Practice | Episode: "Axe Murderer" | |
| 1999 | Ally | 13 episodes | |
| 2000 | The Courage to Love | Dr. Gerard Gaultier | TV movie |
| 2001 | Night Visions | Keith Miller | Episode: "Dead Air/Renovation" |
| Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature | Miles | TV movie | |
| 2001–2002 | The Agency | Matt Callan | 23 episodes |
| 2002 | Whitewash: The Clarence Bradley Story | Mike De Guerin | TV movie |
| Second String | Dan Heller | TV movie | |
| 2003 | 1st to Die | Chris Raleigh | TV movie |
| The Twilight Zone | Maj. Rob Malone | Episode: "Homecoming" | |
| 2004 | Karen Sisco | Special Agent Donny Pepper | Episode: "Dog Day Sisco" |
| Zeyda and the Hitman | Jeff Klein | TV movie | |
| Cooking Lessons | Professor Mocha | TV movie | |
| A Bear Named Winnie | Colonel Barret | TV movie | |
| 2005 | Terminal City | Ari Sampson | 10 episodes |
| 2006 | Final Days of Planet Earth | Lloyd Walker | TV movie |
| 2008 | The Cleaner | Mickey Efros | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Infected | Ben Mosher | TV movie | |
| 24: Redemption | Frank Tramell | TV movie | |
| 2010 | Smallville | Maxwell Lord | 2 episodes |
| FlashForward | Timothy | 3 episodes | |
| Goblin | Neil Perkins | TV movie | |
| Criminal Minds | Jeff Joyce | Episode: "JJ" | |
| 2010–2012 | True Justice | Nikoli Putin | 4 episodes |
| 2011 | Sanctuary | Caleb | 2 episodes |
| Trading Christmas | Ray Johnson | TV movie | |
| 2012 | Boss | Vacarro | 2 episodes |
| Vegas | George Grady | 3 episodes | |
| 2013 | Delete | Lt. General Michael Overson | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Lee Berman | Episode: "Kitty" |
| Falling Skies | Nick Phillips | Episode: "Mind Wars" | |
| Bones | Mason Barnes | Episode: "The Money Maker on the Merry-Go-Round" | |
| Ascension | Harris Enzmann | 3 episodes | |
| 2015–2018 | Patriot | Lawrence Lacroix | 14 episodes |
| 2016 | 11.22.63 | FBI Agent James B. Hosty | 2 episodes |
| Eyewitness | Gabe Caldwell | 10 episodes | |
| 2017 | Between Us | Matt | TV short |
| 2018 | The Detectives | Det. Peter Baker | Episode: "Nine Shots" |
| 2019 | The Handmaid's Tale | Doctor | Episode: "Heroic" |
| Suits | Dan Foley | Episode: "Windmills" | |
| Jett | Evans | 9 episodes | |
| 2020 | Cherish the Day | Therapist | Episode: "Synopsis" |
| The Twilight Zone | Dick Warren | Episode: "You Might Also Like" | |
| Love in the Time of Corona | Paul | 4 episodes | |
| 2021 | American Gods | Bill Sanders | 3 episodes |
| 2022 | Women of the Movement | Gerald Chatham | 4 episodes |
| 2023–2024 | Chucky | Warren Pryce | 6 episodes |
| 2024 | Alert: Missing Persons Unit | Inspector Hollis Braun | 6 episodes |
References
[edit]- ^ "'Shawshank Redemption' Star Gil Bellows' Wife Files for Divorce After 26 Years of Marriage". August 2, 2022.
- ^ Hofferber, Naomi (September 23, 2019). "The Cast of 'The Shawshank Redemption,' Then and Now". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
- ^ Reporter, Bruce DeMara Culture (March 27, 2014). "3 Days In Havana a trip to tedium: review". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (November 11, 1990). "Review/Theater; A Baroque Vision of Evil in One-Act Play Series". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Bernstein, Paula S. (October 2, 1994). "UP AND COMING: Gil Bellows; Hey, Brando, Remember That Hunk at the Door?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
- ^ a b James, Caryn (September 8, 1997). "A Young Lawyer and Her Fantasies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
- ^ "Ten Beloved Characters, Ten Ignoble Deaths". Vulture. February 28, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
- ^ Salamon, Julie (May 22, 2002). "TELEVISION REVIEW; 'Ally McBeal' Ends, Not With a Bang but a Whimper". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Miami Rhapsody movie review & film summary (1995) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
- ^ Nellie Andreeva (May 23, 2008). "'24' prequel adds cast - Eric Lively, Tony Todd, Gil Bellows join the fray". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 26, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- ^ #8
- ^ "Smallville: Maxwell Lord is Cast". IGN. February 22, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
- ^ Hale, Mike (March 19, 2010). "'FlashForward' Watch: Simon Says". The New York Times.
External links
[edit]- Gil Bellows at IMDb
