William Forsythe (actor)

This article is about the actor. For the choreographer, see William Forsythe (dancer).

William Forsythe (born June 7, 1955)^[1] is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of tough-guy, criminal characters, and has starred in films such as American Me (1992), Raising Arizona (1987), Dick Tracy (1990), Gotti (1996), The Rock (1996), and The Devil's Rejects (2005). He has also played recurring characters in television series such as Boardwalk Empire (2010) and Justified (2010).

William Forsythe
Forsythe in 2007
Born	(1955-06-07) June 7, 1955 (age 69) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Teresa Stevens ​ (m. 2024)​
Children	3

Forsythe was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the indie film The Waterdance.

Early life

William Forsythe was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and grew up in its Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood.^[2][3] He is of partial Italian descent.^[4]

Career

Forsythe started out in minor film roles and guest appearances in high-rated TV shows including CHiPs (1977), Hill Street Blues (1981) and T. J. Hooker (1982). He appeared in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), co-starred with John Goodman in Raising Arizona (1987) and as a renegade soldier in Extreme Prejudice.

Forsythe also portrayed comic book villain "Flattop" in Dick Tracy (1990), co-starred with Steven Seagal in Out for Justice (1991) and appeared with former National Football League player Brian Bosworth in the biker action film Stone Cold (1991). He portrayed Al Capone in the short-lived '90s revival of the classic '60s TV crime show The Untouchables (1993), and also starred in The Waterdance (1992) and the film noir Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). Forsythe portrayed real-life mobster "Sammy The Bull" Gravano in Gotti (1996) and supported another ex-NFL player's foray into film acting when L.A. Raider Howie Long debuted in Firestorm (1998).

Forsythe portrayed serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Dear Mr. Gacy, a film adaptation of The Last Victim, the memoirs of Jason Moss, a college student who corresponded with Gacy during his last year on death row. The film was released in 2010.^[5]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Coach	Audience Member
	Long Shot	Billy
1981	King of the Mountain	Big Tom
	Smokey Bites the Dust	Kenny
	The Miracle of Kathy Miller	Mark	TV movie
1983	The Man Who Wasn't There	Pug Face Crusher
1984	Once Upon a Time in America	Phil 'Cockeye' Stein
	Cloak & Dagger	Morris
1985	Command 5	Hawk	TV movie
	The Lightship	Gene
	Savage Dawn	Pigiron
1987	Raising Arizona	Evelle
	Extreme Prejudice	Sergeant Buck Atwater
	Weeds	Burt The Booster
1988	Baja Oklahoma	Tommy Earl Browner	TV movie
	Patty Hearst	Teko
1989	Dead Bang	Arthur Kressler
	Torrents of Spring	Prince Ippolito Polozov
	Sons	Mikey
1990	Dick Tracy	Flattop
1991	Career Opportunities	Custodian
	Out for Justice	Richie Madano
	Stone Cold	'Ice' Hensley
1992	The Waterdance	Bloss
	American Me	J.D.
	The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag	Billy Beaudeen
	Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story	Terry Harper	TV movie
1993	Relentless 3	Walter Hilderman	Video
	A Kiss to Die For	Detective Mike Stoller	TV movie
1994	Direct Hit	Hatch	Video
1995	Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead	Franchise
	Beyond Desire	Ray Patterson
	Virtuosity	William Cochran
	Palookaville	Sid Dunleavy
	The Immortals	Tim James
	Thriller Zone	Marcus Deerfield	Video
1996	The Substitute	Holland
	For Which He Stands	Johnny Rochetti
	Stories from the Edge		TV movie
	The Rock	FBI Agent Ernest Paxton
	Gotti	Sammy Gravano	TV movie
	Rule of Three	Mitch
1997	First Time Felon	Sorley	TV movie
	Big City Blues	Hudson
1998	Firestorm	Randall Alexander Shaye
	The Pass	Charles Duprey
	Ambushed	Mike Organski
	Soundman	Frank Rosenfeld
	Hell's Kitchen	Lou
	Dollar for the Dead	Dooley	TV movie
1999	Row Your Boat	Gil Meadows
	The Last Marshal	DeClerc
	Four Days	Milt
	Blue Streak	Detective Hardcastle
	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	Detective Chuck Fowler
	18 Shades of Dust	Tommy Cucci
	Paradise Lost	Mike Stark
2000	Luck of the Draw	Max Fenton
	Civility	Andrew LeBretian
	G-Men from Hell	Dean Crept
2001	Camouflage	Alton Owens
	Blue Hill Avenue	Detective Torrance
	Sharkman	Tom Reed
	Outlaw	Ted Castle
2002	Coastlines	Fred Vance
	Hard Cash	Bo Young
	City by the Sea	Spyder
2003	The Technical Writer	Joe
	The Librarians	Simon
2004	The Last Letter	Mr. Griffith
2005	Larva	Jacob Long	TV movie
	The L.A. Riot Spectacular	George Holliday
	Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy	Tom Reed	TV movie
	The Devil's Rejects	Sheriff John Quincy Wydell
2006	Freedomland	Detective Boyle
	Jam	Ted
	Prone to Violence	Narration	TV movie
2007	88 Minutes	FBI Agent Frank Parks
	Southern Gothic	Pitt
	Hack!	Willy
	Halloween	Ronnie White
	Final Approach	Silas Jansen	TV movie
2008	Stiletto	Alex
	iMurders	Professor Uberoth	[6]
2009	The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone	Massimo
	Happy in the Valley	Stewart
2010	Dear Mr. Gacy	John Gacy
	The Rig	Jim Fleming
	To Hell with You	Smith	Short
2011	L.A., I Hate You	Uncle Rip
	Born to Ride	Jack Steele
	Slip & Fall	Jerry
	Inkubus	Ret. Detective Gil Diamante
	Loosies	Captain Tom Edwards
	Jesse	Vince the Godfather
2012	Infected	Dr. Ed Dennehey
2013	Road to Juarez	Doug Hermann
	The Ghost Club: Spirits Never Die	Stanley
2014	Tom Holland's Twisted Tales	Mr. Smith
	Hidden in the Woods	Uncle Costello
2015	Echoes of War	Randolph McCluskey
	Laugh Killer Laugh	Frank Stone
	The Networker	Charles Mangano
2016	The Midnight Man	Fairbanks
	The Bronx Bull	Jake LaMotta
	The Hollow	John 'Big John' Dawson
	The Unlikely's	Jet Black
2017	Check Point	The Sheriff
2019	Cold Pursuit	Brock 'Wingman' Coxman
	Vault	Buddy Providence
	Awake	Roger Bower
	Run with the Hunted	Augustus
2020	Roe v. Wade	Potter Stewart
	I Am Fear	Marco
	A Perfect Plan	Grayson
2021	Ida Red	Lawrence Twilley
	God's Not Dead: We the People	Robert Benson
2023	Open	Captain Edgar J. Steadman
2024	9 Windows	Detective Tim Boyle

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	CHiPs	Thrasher	Episode: "Battle of the Bands"
	Tales of the Gold Monkey	Kurt	Episode: "Tales of the Gold Monkey: Part 1 & 2"
1983	Hill Street Blues	Richard Brady	Episode: "Moon Over Uranus: Part 1 & 2"
	T.J. Hooker	Wounded Assailant	Episode: "A Child Is Missing"
	Fame	Snake	Episode: "Break Dance"
1985	The Long Hot Summer	Isaac	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
1990	Blind Faith	Ferlin L'Heureux	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
1992	Cruel Doubt	Police Chief John Crone	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
1993–94	The Untouchables	Al Capone	Main Cast
1998	Cybill	Bruce	Episode: "Dream Date"
1999	Dead Man's Gun	Harlan Riddle	Episode: "A Just Reward"
2001	Mysterious Ways	Luther Skoals	Episode: "Condemned"
2001–02	UC: Undercover	Sonny Walker	Main Cast
2002–03	John Doe	Digger	Main Cast
2005	Wild Card	Stuart Dresden	Episode: "Zoe's Phony Matrimony"
2007	Masters of Horror	Buster	Episode: "We All Scream for Ice Cream"
	Las Vegas	Uncle Luke	Recurring Cast: Season 5
2007–09	Entourage	Eddie Kapowski	Guest Cast: Season 4 & 6
2010	CSI: Miami	Captain Chris Sutter	Episode: "L.A."
2011–12	Boardwalk Empire	Munya "Manny" Horvitz	Recurring Cast: Season 2-3
	The Mentalist	Steve Rigsby	Guest Cast: Season 3 & 5
2012–13	Mob Doctor	Constantine Alexander	Main Cast
2013	Twisted Tales	Mr. Smith	Episode: "To Hell with You"
2014	Justified	Michael	Episode: "Whistle Past the Graveyard"
2015–17	Hawaii Five-0	Private Investigator Harry Brown	Guest Cast: Season 5 & 7
2016	Marvel's Daredevil	Dutton	Episode: "Seven Minutes in Heaven"
	The Making of the Mob: Chicago	Himself	Recurring Guest
2017	Chicago Justice	David Zachariah	Episode: "Double Helix"
	Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders	Oleg Antakov	Episode: "The Ripper of Riga"
2018	The Man in the High Castle	J. Edgar Hoover	Recurring Cast: Season 3-4
2019	Magnum P.I.	Private Investigator Harry Brown	Crossover Cast: Season 2[7]
2020	Primitive	Caro Kann	Episode: "Blind Sighted"
2021	Gravesend	Santini Traffato	Recurring Cast: Season 2

References

1. "Birthdays". The Modesto Bee. The Associated Press. June 7, 2021. p. 2A. Actor William Forsythe is 66.
2. "William Forsythe". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
3. Dew, John. "Multiple Personality", Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1989. Accessed April 5, 2022. "Forsythe, who grew up in the tough Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, landed his first professional job after high school in the chorus of The Merry Widow at the Harvard Club in New York."
4. "William Forsythe on punk rock, al Capone, and the worst script ever written". The A.V. Club. August 20, 2013.
5. "Dear Mr. Gacy Teaser, Clip, and Q&A with William Forsythe". June 26, 2012.
6. iMURDERS (DVD Review)
7. Webb Mitovich, Matt (September 10, 2019). "Hawaii Five-0/Magnum P.I. Crossover Status: 'We've Narrowed Down a Story". TVLine. Retrieved September 10, 2019.

External links

• William Forsythe at IMDb