Steven Culp

Steven Bradford Culp (born December 3, 1955) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as Rex Van de Kamp on ABC's Desperate Housewives, Clayton Webb on JAG, and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Jeff Haffley on NBC's The West Wing

The Last Ship The President of the USA

Early life

Culp was born in La Jolla, California. Both his father and stepfather were in the United States Navy.^[1] He attended First Colonial High School in Virginia where he was voted most talented student.

He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1978 with a major in English literature and also studied at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. He earned an M.F.A. from Brandeis University in 1981.^[2]

Career

One of Culp's earliest roles was in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) as Robert Campbell, a reporter looking into the Jason murders. He also played the father of the titular character in James and the Giant Peach. 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). His characters in both series were killed in the same week in the shows' season finales, although Webb‘s character in JAG reappeared in the series’ subsequent season premiere. In 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 portrayed Robert F. Kennedy twice, in the TV movie Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) and the film Thirteen Days (2000). In 1995, Culp briefly starred on The Young and the Restless as Brian Hamilton. He played Commander Martin Madden in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), a character written to replace William Riker as first officer of the Enterprise. However, due to the film‘s length, Culp's scenes were included in several cut from the final film. His scenes as Madden can 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 five 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 television movie How to Make a Monster, in which computer game programmers accidentally give life to a deadly AI and members of a software company attempt to beat the game to save their lives. Culp played Rex Van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives for one season. His character was killed at the end of the season, although Culp reprised his role several times in flashback sequences and as narrator. He appeared in the television series The West Wing as Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Jeff Haffley. Culp starred in a few episodes of the second season of 24 as Secret Service agent Ted Simmons.

Culp won the Celebrity Poker Showdown Seventh Season Championship game. He was seen on the ABC series Traveler as Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers and on NCIS as Navy Commander William Skinner. He also appeared in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Miller's Crossing", and on Medium, in the episode "Do You Hear What I Hear", as well as on the pilot episode of The Mentalist. He starred as Thomas Foran in the upcoming film The Chicago 8. In 2012, Culp guest starred on episodes of ABC's Body of Proof, TNT's Perception and played Dr. Parker on Grey's Anatomy. He also had a recurring role on NBC's Revolution as Edward Truman, high commander of the Patriots.^[3]

Personal life

He is married to Barbara Ayers, and they have two children together. He had two half-sisters, Shelly Grabinsky and Kathryn Harvey. On January 1, 2006, Kathryn was murdered in Richmond, Virginia, along with her husband, Bryan, and their two daughters, Stella and Ruby (ages 9 and 4, respectively). In February 2006, two men were convicted of the Harvey family murder and several other murders, as well as other crimes in the Richmond area. One of those men, Ricky Gray, was executed at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia, by lethal injection on January 18, 2017.^[4] The other man, Ray Dandridge (Gray's nephew), pled guilty to his role in the murders and is serving three life sentences without possibility of parole.^[5]

Filmography

References

External links

• Steven Culp on IMDb
• Steven Culp at AllMovie