William Fichtner
Encyclopedia
William Edward Fichtner is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on Invasion
Invasion (TV series)
Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...

, as Alexander Mahone
Alexander Mahone
Alexander "Alex" Mahone is a fictional character portrayed by William Fichtner in the American television series Prison Break. The series revolves around two brothers: one who has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and his younger sibling, a genius who devises an elaborate plan...

 on Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...

, as William Sharp in Armageddon, and as Ken Rosenberg in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...

.

Early life

Fichtner was born at Mitchel Air Force Base
Mitchel Air Force Base
Decommissioned in 1961, Mitchel Field became a multi-use complex currently home to the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Nassau Coliseum, Mitchel Athletic Complex, Nassau Community College and Hofstra University.-Origins:...

 in East Meadow
East Meadow, New York
East Meadow is a hamlet in Nassau County , New York, United States. East Meadow is an unincorporated area in the Town of Hempstead....

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and was raised in Cheektowaga, New York, the son of Patricia A. (née Steitz) and William E. Fichtner. He is of German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...

 descent.

Fichtner graduated from Glace Bay High School
Glace Bay High School
Glace Bay High School is a high school in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. The school was built in 1989 and is located on Reserve Street.-Origins:...

 (Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
Glace Bay is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton....

) in 1974. After graduating from Farmingdale State College in 1976 with an associate degree in criminal justice, he attended SUNY Brockport and earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

 in 1978. Fichtner decided to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...

 in New York. Fichtner credits his Farmingdale State College admissions counselor, Don Harvey, with his decision to study acting. Harvey, who became a lifelong friend, took Fichtner to his first Broadway show
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

. On 18 May 2008, Fichtner was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Farmingdale State College.

Career

Fichtner began his acting career as Josh Snyder in As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

in 1987. Fichtner's film credits include Contact
Contact (film)
Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both Sagan and wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film adaptation of Contact....

, Heat, Armageddon, Go, Equilibrium
Equilibrium (film)
Equilibrium is a 2002 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Christian Bale as John Preston, a warrior-priest and enforcement officer in a future dystopia where both feelings and artistic expression are outlawed and citizens take daily injections of drugs...

, Black Hawk Down, The Perfect Storm
The Perfect Storm (film)
The Perfect Storm is a 2000 dramatic disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail that got caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,...

, The Longest Yard
The Longest Yard (2005 film)
The Longest Yard is a 2005 American sports comedy film remake of the 1974 film of the same name. Adam Sandler plays the protagonist, Paul Crewe, a disgraced former professional football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL, who is coerced to form a team from the prison inmates to play...

, Crash
Crash (2004 film)
Crash is a 2004 American drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Paul Haggis. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles, California. A self-described "passion piece" for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real life incident in which his Porsche was carjacked outside a video...

, Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet (film)
Ultraviolet is a 2006 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer and produced by Screen Gems. It stars Milla Jovovich as Violet Song and Cameron Bright as Six. It was released in North America on March 3, 2006...

, and The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...

. Mainly a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

, one of Fichtner's few leading roles is in Passion of Mind
Passion of Mind
Passion of Mind is a 2000 American psychological drama film starring Demi Moore. It was the first English-language film from Belgian director Alain Berliner, best known for the arthouse success Ma Vie en Rose.-Plot:...

, also starring Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...

 and Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...

. For his role in Crash he won a Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance Award and a "Best Acting Ensemble" Award from Broadcast Film Critics Choice.

Credited as Bill Fichtner, he lent his voice to the character Ken Rosenberg in the popular video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...

. Between 2005 and 2006, Fichtner also starred in the science fiction drama series Invasion
Invasion (TV series)
Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...

as Sheriff Tom Underlay. After Invasion was cancelled, Fichtner was chosen to play Agent Alexander Mahone
Alexander Mahone
Alexander "Alex" Mahone is a fictional character portrayed by William Fichtner in the American television series Prison Break. The series revolves around two brothers: one who has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and his younger sibling, a genius who devises an elaborate plan...

 in the second, third and fourth seasons (2006–2009) of Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...

. Later that year, he also presented an award at the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 award show. He also appears in The West Wing episode, "The Supremes
The Supremes (The West Wing)
"The Supremes" is episode 105 of The West Wing and the 17th of the fifth season. The episode centers on the appointment of a new Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.-Plot:Owen Brady, the conservative anchor of the Supreme Court, has died...

" as Christopher Mulready, a brilliant conservative judge nominated to the Supreme Court. Fichtner also had a role as the Gotham National Bank manager, alongside Robert Xu in the feature film The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...

, and as Jurgen in Equilibrium
Equilibrium (film)
Equilibrium is a 2002 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Christian Bale as John Preston, a warrior-priest and enforcement officer in a future dystopia where both feelings and artistic expression are outlawed and citizens take daily injections of drugs...

; both action movies feature Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....

.

In June 2009, Fichtner signed on to guest star on Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

playing TV producer Phil Yagoda, who is trying to remake his hit 1990s teen series.

His most recent film was 2011's Drive Angry
Drive Angry
Drive Angry is a 2011 American action film starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Patrick Lussier. It was released on February 25, 2011.- Plot :...

.

He also voices Sandman in the 2011 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, with Raven Software having assisted in development...

.

Film and TV appearances

Year Title Role Notes
1987–1994 As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

Josh Snyder TV Series
1989 Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...

Howard Ganza TV Series: 1 Episode
1992 Malcolm X
Malcolm X (film)
Malcolm X is a 1992 biographical motion picture about the Muslim-American figure Malcolm X . It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington as the titular character. It co-stars Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo...

Police in the Harlem Station
1994 Quiz Show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...

Stage Manager
1994–1995 Grace Under Fire Ryan TV Series: 8 Episodes
1995 Virtuosity
Virtuosity
Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...

Wallace
Reckless
Reckless (1995 film)
Reckless is a 1995 American dark comedy film directed by Norman René. The screenplay by Craig Lucas is based on his 1983 play of the same title.-Plot:...

Rachel's Father
Strange Days
Strange Days (film)
Strange Days is a 1995 cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and produced and co-written by James Cameron and Jay Cocks, starring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott and Vincent D'Onofrio. Despite positive reviews, the film was a...

Dwayne Engelman
Heat Roger Van Zant
High Lonesome
High Lonesome (film)
High Lonesome is a 1950 Western movie written and directed by Alan Le May. The film stars John Drew Barrymore and features Chill Wills and Jack Elam.-Cast:John Drew Barrymore ... Cooncat...

Sheriff
Underneath
Underneath (film)
The Underneath is a 1995 American film directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Peter Gallagher and Alison Elliott. The film is based on the novel Criss Cross by Don Tracy, and is a remake of the original 1949 film adaptation...

Tommy Dundee
1996 Albino Alligator
Albino Alligator
Albino Alligator is a 1997 film directed by Kevin Spacey in his directorial debut. It stars Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise and William Fichtner as three small-time criminals who take hostages when they are cornered by the police...

Law
1997 Contact
Contact (film)
Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both Sagan and wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film adaptation of Contact....

Kent
Switchback
Switchback (film)
Switchback is a 1997 thriller starring Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, Jared Leto, Ted Levine, William Fichtner and R. Lee Ermey, set in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Colorado, and Amarillo, Texas, USA. It was directed by Jeb Stuart.-Plot:...

Chief Jack McGinnis
1998 Armageddon Colonel William Sharp
1999 Go
Go (1999 film)
Go is a 1999 comedy thriller film written by John August and directed by Doug Liman, with three intertwining plots that happen to involve one drug deal. The film stars William Fichtner, Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Sarah Polley and Scott Wolf and features Taye Diggs, Breckin Meyer, Timothy Olyphant,...

Burke
Jerry
2000 David "Sully" Sullivan
Drowning Mona
Drowning Mona
Drowning Mona is a 2000 comedy-mystery film starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly, a spiteful, loud-mouthed, cruel and highly unpopular woman, who drove her son's car off a cliff and drowned in a...

Phil Dearly
Passion of Mind
Passion of Mind
Passion of Mind is a 2000 American psychological drama film starring Demi Moore. It was the first English-language film from Belgian director Alain Berliner, best known for the arthouse success Ma Vie en Rose.-Plot:...

Aaron
Endsville Prince Victor
2001 Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

Danny's Father
Black Hawk Down Sfc. Jeff Sanderson
What's the Worst That Could Happen?
What's the Worst That Could Happen?
What's the Worst That Could Happen? is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Sam Weisman and starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito. Loosely based on the book of the same name by Donald Westlake, the film's supporting cast includes John Leguizamo, Bernie Mac, Larry Miller, Nora Dunn, GQ, and...

Detective Alex Tardio
2002 MDs
MDs (TV series)
MDs was a TV show that aired on ABC in 2002. It starred William Fichtner as Dr. Bruce Kellerman and John Hannah as Dr. Robert Dalgety. The series only lasted one season, and though 10 episodes were filmed, only 8 were ever aired. The series was never released on DVD and it is very hard to find.-...

Bruce Kellerman TV Series: 10 Episodes
Julie Walking Home
Julie Walking Home
Julie Walking Home is a 2002 drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland. It stars Miranda Otto and William Fichtner. It won an award at the 2003 Method Fest.-Plot:...

Henry
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

Ken Rosenberg  – Voiceover (credited as Bill Fichtner)
Equilibrium
Equilibrium (film)
Equilibrium is a 2002 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Christian Bale as John Preston, a warrior-priest and enforcement officer in a future dystopia where both feelings and artistic expression are outlawed and citizens take daily injections of drugs...

Jürgen
2004 Crash
Crash (2004 film)
Crash is a 2004 American drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Paul Haggis. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles, California. A self-described "passion piece" for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real life incident in which his Porsche was carjacked outside a video...

Flanagan
Justice Christopher Mulready TV Series: 1 Episode – "The Supremes
The Supremes (The West Wing)
"The Supremes" is episode 105 of The West Wing and the 17th of the fifth season. The episode centers on the appointment of a new Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.-Plot:Owen Brady, the conservative anchor of the Supreme Court, has died...

"
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...

Ken Rosenberg  – Voiceover (credited as Bill Fichtner)
2005–2006 Invasion
Invasion (TV series)
Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...

Tom Underlay TV Series: 22 Episodes
2005 Otis
Nine Lives
Nine Lives (2005 film)
Nine Lives is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Rodrigo García. The screenplay, an example of hyperlink cinema, relates nine short, loosely intertwined tales with nine different women at their cores. Their themes include parent-child relationships, fractured love, adultery,...

Andrew
Dr. Bill Stifle
Empire Falls Jimmy Minty
Captain Knauer
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005 film)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 2005 American romantic comedy action film directed by Doug Liman and written by Simon Kinberg. The original music score was composed by John Powell...

Dr. Wexler, marriage counselor Voice – uncredited
2006 Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet (film)
Ultraviolet is a 2006 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer and produced by Screen Gems. It stars Milla Jovovich as Violet Song and Cameron Bright as Six. It was released in North America on March 3, 2006...

Garth
2006–2009 Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...

Alexander Mahone
Alexander Mahone
Alexander "Alex" Mahone is a fictional character portrayed by William Fichtner in the American television series Prison Break. The series revolves around two brothers: one who has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and his younger sibling, a genius who devises an elaborate plan...

 
TV Series: 59 Episodes
2007 Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The movie was released on March 29, 2007 by DreamWorks and MTV Films...

Darren MacElroy
First Snow Ed
2008 Bank Manager
Turok Logan Video game – Voiceover
2009–2011 Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

Phil Yagoda TV Series: 8 Episodes
2010 Forehead Tittaes Boss Short Skit
Date Night
Date Night
Date Night is a 2010 action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey. It was released in the United States on April 9, 2010...

D.A. Frank Crenshaw
2011 The Big Bang
The Big Bang (2011 film)
The Big Bang is a 2011 American thriller written by Erik Jendresen and directed by Tony Krantz. The film stars Antonio Banderas and Sienna Guillory.- Plot :...

Detective Poley
Drive Angry
Drive Angry
Drive Angry is a 2011 American action film starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Patrick Lussier. It was released on February 25, 2011.- Plot :...

The Accountant
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, with Raven Software having assisted in development...

Sandman Video game - Voiceover
2012 "Wrong
Wrong
A wrong or being wrong is a concept in law, ethics, epistemology, and science. In a colloquial sense, wrongness usually refers to a state of incorrectness, inaccuracy, error, or miscalculation in any number of contexts...

"
2013 Elysium
Elysium (film)
Elysium is an upcoming 2013 American science fiction film written and directed by Neill Blomkamp. The film stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Wagner Moura. Elysium is scheduled to be released on , 2013.-Premise:...

filming

External links

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