Steven Culp

Steven Bradford Culp (born December 3, 1955) is an American actor.

Biography

Early life

Culp was born in La Jolla, California to a naval officer father. During his childhood, his parents divorced and his mother, Ohio-born Mary Ann "Anjo" Joseph,^[1] re-married to 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^[2] and also studied at the University of Exeter in England.

Career

Steven can be seen in one of his earliest roles as Robert Campbell in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (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 5 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 programmers 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 Hodge, played by 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 3rd 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.

Steven won the Celebrity Poker Showdown 7th Season Championship game. Steven was seen on the ABC show Traveler as Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers and on NCIS as Navy Commander William Skinner. He also guest-starred in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Miller's Crossing" and Medium in the episode "Do You Hear What I Hear".

Once again he was killed, this time in the pilot episode of the The Mentalist.

Personal life

On the morning of January 1, 2006, his half sister, Kathryn Harvey, along with her husband and two children, were murdered in Richmond, Virginia.^[3] The accused killer, Ricky Javon Gray, has been convicted and was sentenced to receive the death penalty.^[4]

Culp is not related to actor Robert Culp.

References

External links

• Steven Culp at the Internet Movie Database
• Steven Culp at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Steven Culp at TV.com
• Get Desperate! - Steven Culp People Guide entry & news listings
• Steven Culp on TV Picture Site