Steven Culp
Encyclopedia
Steven Bradford Culp is an American
film and television actor
, best known for his roles as Rex Van de Kamp in the television series Desperate Housewives
and CIA Agent Clayton Webb in JAG
.
to a naval officer father. During his childhood, his parents divorced and his mother, Ohio
-born Mary Ann Joseph, re-married John Raymond Grabinsky. Culp attended First Colonial High School
in Virginia
. He graduated from the College of William and Mary
in 1978 with a major in English literature and also studied at the University of Exeter
in the United Kingdom. He earned an MFA
from Brandeis University
in 1981.
(1993). He plays a reporter looking into the Jason murders. Culp is known for his recurring roles as CIA
Agent Clayton Webb on JAG (1997–2004) and Major Hayes on Star Trek: Enterprise
(2003–2004). He had the unusual misfortune to have both of those characters killed off in the same week, in the shows' season finales (though Webb turned up very much alive in the subsequent season premiere of JAG). During the year 2004, Steven became the first actor to appear as a recurring character in four television series simultaneously: The West Wing, Star Trek: Enterprise, JAG and ER
.
Culp has played Robert F. Kennedy
twice; in the film Thirteen Days
(2000) and previously in the TV movie Norma Jean & Marilyn
(1996). He also played Commander Martin Madden in Star Trek Nemesis (2002), a character written to replace William Riker
as Enterprise
first officer. However, due to the film running too long, Culp's scenes (along with other scenes) were cut from the final film, so Madden can now only be seen in the Nemesis DVD deleted scenes. In the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise
, Culp played the recurring character Major Hayes, leader of the M.A.C.O.s. He was in five episodes; "The Xindi", "The Shipment", "Harbinger", "Hatchery" and "Countdown", where Hayes was shot saving a fellow crewmember.
Other performances include playing the leading role of the photographer Richard Stewart in the English as a Second Language educational video series Family Album, U.S.A.
He also had a role as antagonist
Peter Drummond in the campy television movie
How to Make a Monster
, in which nerdy computer game programmer
s accidentally give life to a deadly AI
. Members of the software company take turns attempting to beat the game in order save their own lives. He played Rex Van de Kamp, husband of perfectionist Bree Van de Kamp
(Marcia Cross
), on the TV show Desperate Housewives
for one season. Once again, his character was killed off at the end of the season. He does, however, make re-appearances during flashback sequences, and he replaces Mary Alice Young
as the narrator of the series for the 16th episode of the third season, "My Husband, the Pig
". He also played Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives
Jeff Haffley
on the TV show The West Wing. Culp also starred in a few episodes of 24
during the second season, as Secret Service agent Ted Simmons.
Culp won the Celebrity Poker Showdown
7th Season Championship game. He was seen on the ABC
show Traveler
as Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers and on NCIS
as Navy Commander William Skinner. He also appeared in the Stargate Atlantis
episode "Miller's Crossing", and on Medium
, in the episode "Do You Hear What I Hear", as well as on the pilot episode of The Mentalist
. He is set to star as Thomas Foran in the upcoming film The Chicago 8
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and television actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best known for his roles as Rex Van de Kamp in the television series Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
and CIA Agent Clayton Webb in JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...
.
Early life
Culp was born in La Jolla, San Diego, CaliforniaLa Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla is an affluent, hilly seaside resort community, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California within the northern city limits of San Diego. La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009; the average price of a standardized...
to a naval officer father. During his childhood, his parents divorced and his mother, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
-born Mary Ann Joseph, re-married John Raymond Grabinsky. Culp attended First Colonial High School
First Colonial High School
First Colonial High School is a high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. First Colonial opened in 1966 by splitting students out of the former Virginia Beach High School. Virginia Beach High then became Virginia Beach Middle School. James C. Mounie was the first principal of the new high school...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. He graduated from the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in 1978 with a major in English literature and also studied at the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
in the United Kingdom. He earned an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
in 1981.
Career
Culp can be seen in one of his earliest roles as Robert Campbell in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final FridayJason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday is a 1993 slasher film, the ninth—and, as the title suggests, intended final—installment in the Friday the 13th film series and the first sequel to be distributed by New Line Cinema....
(1993). He plays a reporter looking into the Jason murders. Culp is known for his recurring roles as CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
Agent Clayton Webb on JAG (1997–2004) and Major Hayes on Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
(2003–2004). He had the unusual misfortune to have both of those characters killed off in the same week, in the shows' season finales (though Webb turned up very much alive in the subsequent season premiere of JAG). During the year 2004, Steven became the first actor to appear as a recurring character in four television series simultaneously: The West Wing, Star Trek: Enterprise, JAG and ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
.
Culp has played Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
twice; in the film Thirteen Days
Thirteen Days (film)
Thirteen Days is a 2000 docudrama directed by Roger Donaldson about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, seen from the perspective of the US political leadership. Kevin Costner stars, with Bruce Greenwood featured as John F. Kennedy....
(2000) and previously in the TV movie Norma Jean & Marilyn
Norma Jean & Marilyn
Norma Jean & Marilyn is a 1996 made-for-TV biographical film produced by Home Box Office and premiered on May 18, 1996. The film featured Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Dougherty and Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe...
(1996). He also played Commander Martin Madden in Star Trek Nemesis (2002), a character written to replace William Riker
William Riker
William Thomas Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe primarily appearing as a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
as Enterprise
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
The USS Enterprise is a Sovereign-class starship in the Star Trek franchise. It serves as the primary setting of the films Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
first officer. However, due to the film running too long, Culp's scenes (along with other scenes) were cut from the final film, so Madden can now only be seen in the Nemesis DVD deleted scenes. In the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
, Culp played the recurring character Major Hayes, leader of the M.A.C.O.s. He was in five episodes; "The Xindi", "The Shipment", "Harbinger", "Hatchery" and "Countdown", where Hayes was shot saving a fellow crewmember.
Other performances include playing the leading role of the photographer Richard Stewart in the English as a Second Language educational video series Family Album, U.S.A.
Family Album, U.S.A.
Family Album, U.S.A. is a 1991 book and later a television course teaching English on an example of American everyday life. Released by Maxwell Macmillan International Publishing Group. Written by George Lefferts. Directed by Jo Anne Sedwick and Merrill M. Mazuer...
He also had a role as antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
Peter Drummond in the campy television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
How to Make a Monster
How to Make a Monster (2001 film)
How To Make A Monster is a 2001 film starring Clea DuVall, Steven Culp, Jason Marsden and Tyler Mane. It is the third release in the Creature Features series of film remakes produced by Stan Winston. Julie Strain made a cameo appearance in the film as herself. How To Make A Monster debuted on...
, in which nerdy computer game programmer
Game programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...
s accidentally give life to a deadly AI
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. Members of the software company take turns attempting to beat the game in order save their own lives. He played Rex Van de Kamp, husband of perfectionist Bree Van de Kamp
Bree Van De Kamp
Bree Van de Kamp is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, played by Marcia Cross. Actress Marcia Cross was nominated from 2005 to 2007 for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy...
(Marcia Cross
Marcia Cross
Marcia Anne Cross is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and as Dr...
), on the TV show Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
for one season. Once again, his character was killed off at the end of the season. He does, however, make re-appearances during flashback sequences, and he replaces Mary Alice Young
Mary Alice Young
Mary Alice Young is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. The character is played by actress Brenda Strong and narrates the series from beyond the grave; the character's suicide in the pilot episode served as the catalyst of the series...
as the narrator of the series for the 16th episode of the third season, "My Husband, the Pig
My Husband, the Pig
“My Husband, the Pig” is the 63rd episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It was also the sixteenth episode of the show’s third season. It was written by Brian A. Alexander and directed by Larry Shaw...
". He also played Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Jeff Haffley
Jeff Haffley
Jeffrey Haffley, played by Steven Culp, is a recurring fictional character on the American television show The West Wing. A staunch Republican, Jeff Haffley replaces Glen Allen Walken as Speaker of the House early in the fifth season...
on the TV show The West Wing. Culp also starred in a few episodes of 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
during the second season, as Secret Service agent Ted Simmons.
Culp won the Celebrity Poker Showdown
Celebrity Poker Showdown
Celebrity Poker Showdown was a celebrity game show on the cable network Bravo. It was a limited-run series in which celebrities played poker, and ran eight tournaments during its five-season run....
7th Season Championship game. He was seen on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
show Traveler
Traveler (TV series)
Traveler is a short-lived American television series that ran from May 10, 2007 until July 18, 2007 on ABC in the United States. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television....
as Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers and on NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
as Navy Commander William Skinner. He also appeared in the Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...
episode "Miller's Crossing", and on Medium
Medium (TV series)
Medium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...
, in the episode "Do You Hear What I Hear", as well as on the pilot episode of The Mentalist
The Mentalist
The Mentalist is an American police procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS. The show was created by Bruno Heller, who is also the show's executive producer...
. He is set to star as Thomas Foran in the upcoming film The Chicago 8
The Chicago 8
The Chicago 8 is a 2010 independent drama film starring Philip Baker Hall, Gary Cole, Steven Culp and Mayim Bialik. The film is based on on actual court transcripts from the Chicago Seven trial. The Chicago 8 is written and directed by Pinchas Perry. Pinchas Perry, Al Bravo, Shirly Brener, Kate...
.