Ray Wise
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Ray Wise
Biography
Longtime character actor Ray Wise is beloved by genre fans for his over-the-top roles in Swamp Thing, RoboCop, Twin Peaks (both the series and the feature), and Jeepers Creepers 2, yet one look at the actor's diverse filmography reveals that it's Wise's diverse body of small-screen work that has been his bread and butter throughout the years.As an adolescent, Wise became keenly aware of his love for acting, and displayed his ambition by appearing in as many plays as possible throughout high school. A college theater major who spent most of his summer breaks in summer stock, Wise was well and ready to enter the professional world after receiving his degree in 1970. As with many other aspiring actors, Wise was drawn to the bright lights of Broadway and New York City, landing a job on the soap opera Love of Life after being in town for only two weeks. During the six years that he was acting on Love of Life, Wise would moonlight with stage roles both on and off-Broadway in addition to dabbling in repertory theater. When Love of Life was canceled in 1976, it was time to expand into features with supporting roles in Swamp Thing and Cat People (both 1982). Throughout the 1980s, Wise appeared on some of the most popular series on television, including Dallas, Trapper John, M.D., Knots Landing, and Moonlighting -- occasionally returning for a recurring role. While his part in Paul Verhoeven's over-the-top sci-fi action flick RoboCop offered the busy actor a chance to truly explore his inner villain, it was another menacing role that would propel Wise's career in the 1990s.
Cast as grieving father Leland Palmer in the surreal David Lynch series Twin Peaks, Wise captivated television viewers with his emotionally charged performance -- Palmer was a challenging character, and few actors could have brought him to life quite as effectively as Wise. In 1992, Wise reprised the role of Leland Palmer for the polarizing feature Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, with subsequent performances in Bob Roberts and Powder, as well as on television in Star Trek: Voyager and Beverly Hills 90210, proving his highest-profile works of the decade. While by the year 2000 it appeared as if Wise had settled into a comfortable small-screen groove thanks to his numerous television credits, roles as a frightened father in the underappreciated, Twilight Zone-flavored frightener Dead End and a monster-fighting farmer in Jeepers Creepers 2 (which re-teamed him with Powder director Victor Salva) both gave genre fans cause to celebrate.
In 2005, Wise took an affecting turn as communist witch-hunt victim Don Hollenbeck in director George Clooney's Oscar-nominated drama Good Night, and Good Luck, and the following year he had a recurring role as Vice President Hal Gardner in the hit Fox series 24. With additional small-screen roles in The Closer, CSI, Law & Order: SVU, and the supernatural series Reaper (on which he played the Devil himself) serving well to balance out feature work in Peaceful Warrior, Pandemic, and One Missed Call, it appeared that Wise remained as comfortable as ever fluctuating between work in film and television. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Filmography:
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Ray Wise
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Twin Peaks: Episode 01 Buy this Movie |
Twin Peaks: Episode 02 Buy this Movie |
Twin Peaks: Episode 03 Buy this Movie |
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Twin Peaks: Episode 04 Buy this Movie |
Twin Peaks: Episode 05 Buy this Movie |
Twin Peaks: Episode 06 Buy this Movie |
Twin Peaks: Episode 07 Buy this Movie |
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Star Trek: The Next Generation: Who Watches The Watchers? Buy this Movie |
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Beauty and the Beast: Once Upon a Time in the City of New York Buy this Movie |
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Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Ray Wise
| Ray Wise | |
|---|---|
 Ray Wise on "Reaper" |
|
| Born | August 20, 1947 Akron, Ohio, USA |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | Kass McClaskey |
| Awards | B-Movie Award for Best Actor 2006 Cyxork 7 |
Raymond Nicolas "Ray" Wise (born August 20, 1947), an American actor.[1] Some of his best-known roles include Leland Palmer in Twin Peaks, henchman Leon C. Nash in RoboCop, and the Devil in the CW television series Reaper.
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Personal
Wise was born in Akron, Ohio, and attended Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.[1] He is of Romanian descent on his mother's side.[2] He grew up in a religious family, during his childhood he went to a Romanian Baptist church in Akron, OH, and later he moved to a Methodist church.[3]
Wise has two children with wife Kass McClaskey: a son, Gannon (born 1985), and a daughter, Kyna aka DJ Kyna (born 1987). Wise resides in Glendale, California.[4]
Career
Television
Best known for his role as the murdered Laura Palmer's father Leland in Twin Peaks. In the late sixties and seventies, Wise played attorney Jamie Rollins on the soap opera, Love of Life. He played the character of Dr. Alec Holland in the 1982 film Swamp Thing, directed by Wes Craven and based upon the comic book series of the same name. Dr. Holland is the man who becomes the titular character after his lab is destroyed and he is left for dead. The actual Swamp Thing character was played by Dick Durock. In 1985, Wise played Sol Gann, father to Natty Gann in The Journey of Natty Gann, directed by Jeremy Paul Kagan. In 1987, wise played Tom Gunther, Catherine Chandler's boyfriend, in the pilot episode of "Beauty and the Beast" TV series. In addition to Twin Peaks, Wise has played several roles in science fiction. He played the harried dad in the horror film Dead End. He made an appearance as Liko in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Who Watches the Watchers", and later played Arturis in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Hope and Fear".
He appeared in the Season 7 episode 'The Flame' of Diagnosis: Murder.
He was also featured in three episodes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as Grill Vogel, the presenter of a fictive instructional video series called "Business Hugs."
In 1995, Wise was reunited with Twin Peaks cast mate Sherilyn Fenn in the NBC telemovie Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story. Wise played 1950s CBS News anchor Don Hollenbeck in the 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck. He also starred as the Devil on the TV series Reaper. In recent years, Wise has appeared on a number of political-themed television series and films. He briefly appeared on The West Wing as California governor Gabriel "Gabe" Tillman, and played Vice President Hal Gardner on the Emmy-winning Fox series 24 in 2006. In August 2006, Wise made a guest appearance in the TV series Bones (Fox) as the primary suspect of the first episode of the second season ("The Titan on the Tracks"), and in the pilot episode of Burn Notice. On the February 6 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Wise guest starred as the head of a company testing pesticides on little children. Wise has also guest starred in two episodes of The Closer, as lawyer Tom Blanchard. He starred in Charmed as the upper level demon Ludlow, who runs a school for the Source Of All Evil in the episode "Lost and Bound." He also had a small role in one episode of the sixth season of Dawson's Creek, playing Roger Stepateck. Wise also starred in the SyFy original movie "Infestation" premièred in August 2009. He was also a guest star in Psych and played the lead as Avery in a psychological thriller, Iodine movie in 2009. In 2010, in a special episode of Psych titled "Dual Spires", he joined his fellow Twin Peaks alumni Dana Ashbrook, Robyn Lively, Lenny Von Dohlen, Sheryl Lee, Catherine E. Coulson, and Sherilyn Fenn in a spoof of Twin Peaks.
Wise appeared in Mad Men Episode 50 (Season 4 Episode 11), "Chinese Wall". He plays Cosgrove's future father-in-law Ed Baxter, the CEO of Corning, in the restaurant scene when Cosgrove learns that Sterling Cooper is losing Lucky Strike as a client. Ray Wise made another appearance as Ed Baxter in Mad Men Episode 57 (Season 4, Episode 7,) "At the Codfish Ball."
In 2010, Wise guest-starred on the TV series Dollhouse as Howard, a higher-up in the Dollhouse organization.[5] He stars in Kyle Rankins post-apocalyptic horror thriller film Nuclear Family.[6] Wise will star in the lead of the upcoming Mike Mendez thriller film Ov3rk!ll.[7]
Wise appeared in Season 4 of Chuck, and the hit FX television show "Wilfred" as a popular TV personality. He also was cast in the part of Robin Scherbatsky's father on How I Met Your Mother in December 2010 (after Eric Braeden declined to make a cameo appearance). Ray made a cameo appearance as a modeling agent in episode four of season 2 of Workaholics.
Wise currently appears in the Hulu original series Battleground.
Film
Wise played the role of entrepreneur/millionaire Dalton Voss in the movie The Chase. He played the role of Bart's father Harrison in the movie The Battle of Shaker Heights. He also played the role of Taggart in the horror film Jeepers Creepers 2.
In the year 2011, Wise played the role of United States Secretary of State in X-Men: First Class.[8]
He appeared in Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie as Dr. Doone Strut, the leader of the Shrim Healing Center.
Voice work
As a voice actor, Wise played Perry White in the movie Superman: Doomsday.
He is also known for portraying Michael Dugan, President of the United States in the computer real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and its expansion Yuri's Revenge.
References
- ^ a b Ray Wise Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ^ R.J. Carter. "Interview: Ray Wise: The Devil You Know". The Trades. http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=10973. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
- ^ Tim Holland (October 9, 2007). "Reaper's Ray Wise Channels the Devil Next Door". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/news/reaper-ray-wise-40732.aspx. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
- ^ Ray Wise at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on May 6, 2008
- ^ Adam Bryant (16 September 2009). "Ray Wise Joins Dollhouse". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ray-Wise-Dollhouse-1009780.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ "Ray Wise Set to Destroy Kyle Rankin's Nuclear Family". http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/36337/ray-wise-set-destroy-kyle-rankins-nuclear-family.
- ^ "Mike Mendez Goes 'Ov3rk!ll' With Bloody Sales Trailer!". http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20917.
- ^ "Ray Wise - IMDB". Internet Movie Database. Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0936403/. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
Further reading
- Voisin, Scott, "Character Kings: Hollywood's Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting." BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN 978-1-59393-342-5.
External links
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