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Actor

1956-09-20 · Park Ridge, Illinois, USA · Male

69 series in the catalog

Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series Midnight Caller (1988–1991).

Further prominent television roles include Sheriff Lucas Buck in American Gothic (1995–1996), Vice President Bob Russell in The West Wing (2003–2006), Kurt McVeigh in both The Good Wife (2010–2016) and The Good Fight (2017–2022), Kent Davison in Veep (2013–2019), and Special Agent Alden Parker in NCIS (2021–present). A cast member of many animated productions, Cole's voice roles include Harvey Birdman in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2000–2007, 2018), Principal Shepherd in Family Guy (2000–present), Dr. James Possible in Kim Possible (2002–2007), Mayor Fred Jones Sr. in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010–2013) and Sergeant Bosco in Bob's Burgers (2012–present).

His most notable film roles are Mike Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and Bill Lumbergh in Office Space (1999). Other film appearances include In the Line of Fire (1993), A Simple Plan (1998), One Hour Photo (2002), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and Pineapple Express (2008).

Early life

Gary Michael Cole was born on September 20, 1956, in Park Ridge, Illinois, and raised in nearby Rolling Meadows. His father, Robert, was a municipal finance director, and his mother, Margaret or "Peggy", was a school administrative assistant. Cole has an older sister, Nancy.

While attending Rolling Meadows High School, Cole made his acting debut as Snoopy in a high school production of Clark Gesner's Peanuts musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Cole attended Illinois State University, where he studied theater as a classmate with fellow future actors Laurie Metcalf and John Malkovich.

Career

Cole began his professional career in 1983 as a stage actor in Chicago, where he joined the ensemble of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. He has also appeared in several off-Broadway productions in New York City. Some of Cole's early roles included playing accused Army triple-murderer Capt Jeffrey MacDonald in the mini-series Fatal Vision (1984), and an assistant football coach in the film Lucas (1986). Between 1988 and 1991, Cole became popular on TV for playing the part of Jack "Nighthawk" Killian in the series Midnight Caller. One of his most notable roles in 1991 was as Lt. Col. George A. Custer in the much acclaimed television film Son of the Morning Star.

Cole played Secret Service Agent Bill Watts in the film In the Line of Fire (1993). He then played The Brady Bunch patriarch Mike Brady in the film The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), the sequel A Very Brady Sequel (1996), and the television film The Brady Bunch in the White House (2002). Cole starred in the film Office Space (1999), in which he portrayed the micromanaging office supervisor Bill Lumbergh. When asked about the oft-quoted character, Cole said: Everyone in Office Space thought that this movie had died. So that's how I knew the movie was actually some kind of success because people were coming up doing some lines from the movie... It never gets old because it reminds you that something you did had some impact. You could work your whole career and have nothing like that last that long.

Cole has done voice work on several animated series (Family Guy; Kim Possible; Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated; Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law; Archer) and had a recurring role on the drama The West Wing as Vice President Bob Russell. He also starred as Captain Matthew Gideon on the short-lived Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade, and had notable guest appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Arrested Development. He also played Joe Maxwell on DCOM Cadet Kelly and appeared as real-life astronaut Edgar Mitchell in HBO's recreation of Project Apollo, From the Earth to the Moon.

Cole starred as Lieutenant Conrad Rose on the TNT series Wanted, he is also the voice of the title character on the Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and starred as Sheriff Lucas Buck on the one season 1995 show, American Gothic. Cole also played Bill Owens, Sy Parrish's (Robin Williams) boss, in the film One Hour Photo (2002). He also appeared in the films Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), The Ring Two (2005), Talladega Nights (2006), American Pastime (2007), and Forever Strong (2008).

Cole played Katherine Mayfair's ex-husband Wayne on Desperate Housewives and also played the dangerous drug lord Ted Jones in Pineapple Express (2008) with Seth Rogen and James Franco. He also appeared in an episode from the third season of the USA Network series Psych as S.W.A.T. commander Cameron Luntz.

In 2008, Cole appeared on Chuck as Sarah's con-artist father (in "Chuck Versus the DeLorean"), a role which he reprised in 2011 (in "Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner"). He also appeared in the fifth season of HBO's Entourage playing Ari Gold's old pal Andrew Klein for a three-episode story arc prior to joining the regular cast in the sixth season.

He played ballistics expert Kurt McVeigh on The Good Wife and on The Good Fight. On both shows, he played opposite Christine Baranski, who portrayed lawyer Diane Lockhart.

Cole had a guest-appearance on the fourth season of the HBO series True Blood, playing Sookie Stackhouse's grandfather.

In 2011, Cole joined Fox's comedy pilot Tagged, but the series was not picked up. That same year, he played Henry O'Hare in the Easter comedy film Hop.

In 2013, Cole began a recurring role on Suits as Cameron Dennis, the former mentor of Harvey Specter, one of the show's main characters. Also in 2013, Cole began a major recurring role as Kent Davison on the HBO comedy series Veep, joining the main cast at the start of the show's second season. In 2014, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work in season three. Additionally, Cole was nominated with his fellow cast members for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for seasons 2, 3, 4, and 5 before ultimately winning the award in 2017 for season 6.

From June to July 2026, Cole returned to the stage in Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Mia Chung's Catch As Catch Can, where he played the dual roles of Roberta Lavecchia/Robbie Lavecchia.

Cole currently portrays Supervisory Special Agent Alden Parker on NCIS, and provides the voices of Sergeant Boscoe on Bob's Burgers and Principal Shepherd on Family Guy. He appears in triplicate as 10 Minutes, 10 Days, and 10 Years in the Future Spokesguy in Kabbage's 2019 commercial campaign.

Personal life

Cole married actress Teddi Siddall on March 8, 1992. They have one daughter, who is autistic. On June 19, 2017, Siddall filed for divorce; she died the following year. On July 7, 2021, Cole married interior designer Michelle Knapp.

Gary Cole at the TCM Movie Database (archived)

Gary Cole at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

The Onion A.V. Club Random Roles article Archived August 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine with Gary Cole