Dan Ziskie

Dan Ziskie (August 13, 1944 – July 21, 2025) was an American actor. He portrayed the character Frank Niggar on a popular sketch on Chappelle's Show. He was on Treme, where he played a politically connected banker in Post-Katrina New Orleans. He had a recurring role as the Vice President of the United States on the first season of House of Cards.^[1] He had a guest spot on Person of Interest and The Blacklist, portraying senators on both shows. On the season finale of 24's fifth season Ziskie played the United States Attorney General who, after hearing an audio recording of the president admitting that he took part in the assassination of a former president, orders his removal from office.

In October 2017, Ziskie released a collection of photographs of the New York City area taken from 2013 to 2016 in his first book, entitled Cloud Chamber.^[2]

Ziskie died on July 21, 2025, at the age of 80.^[3]

Filmography

Film

Dan Ziskie film credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Man with One Red Shoe	Young American
1985	Twisted	Phillip Collins
1985	O.C. and Stiggs	Rusty Calloway
1987	Adventures in Babysitting	Mr. Anderson
1989	Troop Beverly Hills	Arthur Barnfell
1990	Vital Signs	Dr. Kelly
1992	Zebrahead	Mr. Cimino
1997	The Jackal	CIA Representative #2
2000	Isn't She Great	Guy's Doctor
2000	Prince of Central Park	City Planner
2000	Thirteen Days	General Walter "Cam" Sweeney
2002	Bad Company	Officer Dempsey
2003	Undermind	Sean Waye
2004	Satan's Little Helper	Vernon
2004	Kinsey	NYC Reporter #2
2005	War of the Worlds	Informative Guy
2006	Last Holiday	Dr. Thompson
2006	Eight Below	Navy Commander
2006	The Tokyo Trial		Chinese film[4]
2008	Synecdoche, New York	Leg Tremor Doctor
2008	New York, I Love You	Party's Guest	Uncredited
2009	The Rebound	Ken Gordon
2010	Step Up 3D	NYU Dean
2015	Concussion	Paul Tagliabue
2016	Mercy	George

Television

Dan Ziskie television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	The Equalizer	Detective	Episode: "Beyond Control"
1987	Highway to Heaven	Mel Turner	1 episode
1989	Kojak: Fatal Flaw	Allardice	TV movie
1990	Quantum Leap	Sergeant Riley	1 episode
1995–2006	Law & Order	(various)	6 episodes
1999	The Practice	Mr. Hedberg	1 episode
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Frank Foster	Episode: "Runaway"
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Walter Troy	Episode: "Tuxedo Hill"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Curtis	Episode: "Serendipity"
2003	The West Wing	O'Donnell	1 episode
2005	Louie	Sheriff	Episode: "Travel Day/South"
2006	24	Attorney General	1 episode
2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	John Lucas	Episode: "Seeds"
2012	Person of Interest	Senator Gene Atkins	1 episode
2013	The Good Wife	Steve Koesterich	1 episode
2013–17	House of Cards	Jim Matthews	6 episodes
2016	Blindspot	Peter Warren	1 episode
2017	Blue Bloods	Joseph Polito	1 episode
2018	Madam Secretary	Dr. Daniel Reese	1 episode
2019	Bull	Walter Franklin	Episode: "Security Fraud"