Mark Rolston
{{short description|American actor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mark Rolston
| image = Mark Rolston Comic Con 2023 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Rolston in 2023
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|12|07}}
| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
| alma_mater = Richmond American University London
Drama Centre London
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|voice actor}}
| years_active = 1976–present
| spouse =
| children =
| parents = Evelyn Beverly
Thomas George Rolston
| website =
| known for =
}}
Mark Rolston (born December 7, 1956) is an American actor and voice actor. He made his film debut as PFC. Drake in Aliens (1986), and is known for his supporting roles in films like Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Rush Hour (1998), The Departed (2006), and the Saw film series (2008-09). On television, he played Gordie Liman on The Shield (2003), Edward Shippen IV on Turn: Washington's Spies (2015-16), the voice of Lex Luthor on Young Justice (2010-22), and Lt. Don Thorne on Bosch (2018-21) and Bosch: Legacy (2022-25).
Early life and education
Rolston was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1956, raised by a single father.{{Cite web |last=geekchicelite |date=2019-03-26 |title=Interview: Mark Rolston |url=https://www.geekchicelite.com/interview-mark-rolston/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=The GCE |language=en-US}} He began studying acting and ballet as a child at the Washington Theatre Club in Washington, D.C.. He graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, where he was classmates with actor Daniel Stern. He studied acting at the Richmond American University London and Drama Centre London in England. Anton Rodgers was a mentor.{{Cite web |title=Interview with Mark Rolston |url=https://aftermoviediner.com/feed/interviews/mark-rolston |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=The After Movie Diner |language=en-US}}
Career
{{BLP unsourced section|date=October 2015}}
Rolston's early career was in the theatre in the United Kingdom. He made his stage debut at the age of 19, in the West End play Are Now Or Have You Ever Been in 1976, about the House Un-American Activities Committee. He then starred in Miss Julie at the Edinburgh International Festival, Sam Shepard's Action at the London Festival Fringe, and Bus Stop at The Mill at Sonning. He played the title role in a US national touring production of Richard II for the National Shakespeare Company.
In 1984, he was cast in a minor role in the Al Pacino film Revolution. His role was cut from the final film, but he leveraged it into his audition for Aliens, and was cast as PFC Drake, his film debut.
Rolston played Hans in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Herb in Prancer (1989), Stef in RoboCop 2 (1990), Bogs Diamond in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), J. Scar in Eraser (1996), Chief Dennis Wilson in Daylight (1996), Wayne Bryce in Hard Rain (1998), and Special Agent Warren Russ in Rush Hour (1998).
Rolston acted in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award winning 2006 film The Departed and the television horror film Backwoods. Many of Rolston's screen roles are villains due to his well-known icy stare. He also co-starred in 2008's Saw V and 2009's Saw VI. In 1994, he portrayed convicted killer "Karl Mueller" in the Babylon 5 episode "The Quality of Mercy", as well as "Richard Odin", leader of a vegetarian cult in an episode of The X-Files titled "Red Museum". In 2004, Rolston would guest star in two episodes of the critically acclaimed 24. He appeared in a minor role in The CW series Supernatural during the fourth season as the demon Alastair. He also appeared as Sheriff Hall in the Criminal Minds episode, "Blood Hungry".
Rolston has also voiced several Marvel and DC characters, voicing Firefly in The New Batman Adventures and Justice League (he was originally considered to voice the supervillain in Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, although the character was deemed unsuitable for the series and ultimately dropped). He voiced Lex Luthor in the animated series Young Justice, Deathstroke in Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight, as well as Norman Osborn in the Spider-Man Insomniac Games.
Personal life
Rolston was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Evelyn Beverly (née Sturm) and Thomas George Rolston, who was a computer programmer.[http://www.filmreference.com/film/69/Mark-Rolston.html Mark Rolston biography], filmreference.com; accessed February 27, 2017.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 1985
| |Deleted role |
| 1986
| Aliens | Private Mark Drake | |
| rowspan="2"| 1987
| Russian Decoder | |
| Weeds
| Dave | |
| rowspan="4" | 1989
| Teresa | |
| Survival Quest
| Jake | |
| Lethal Weapon 2
| Hans | |
| Prancer
| Herb Drier | |
| rowspan="2"| 1990
| Impulse | Man in Bar | |
| RoboCop 2
| Stef | |
| 1993
| Detective Reese | |
| rowspan="2"| 1994
| Lieutenant Harry Brown | |
| The Shawshank Redemption
| Bogs Diamond | |
| rowspan="2"| 1995
| Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back | Donnie Hansen | |
| The Set-Up
| Ray Harris | |
| rowspan="2"| 1996
| Eraser | J. Scar | |
| Daylight
| Chief Dennis Wilson | |
| rowspan="4"| 1998
| I Woke Up Early the Day I Died | Hot Dog Vendor | |
| Hard Rain
| Wayne Bryce | |
| Letters from a Killer
| O'Dell | |
| Rush Hour
| Agent Warren Russ | |
| 1999
| A Table for One | Tom Bernard | |
| rowspan="3"| 2002
| Cathedral | Robert | |
| Scorcher
| Special Agent Kellaway | |
| Highway
| Burt Miranda | |
| rowspan="2"| 2005
| Frank Anderson | |
| Miracle at Sage Creek
| Captain Johnson | |
| 2006
| Timothy Delahunt | |
| 2007
| Frank | |
| rowspan="2"| 2008
| Asylum | The Doctor | |
| Saw V
| FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson | |
| rowspan="2"| 2009
| Agent Wilson | |
| Saw VI
| FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson | |
| rowspan="1"| 2012
| That Guy...Who Was In That Thing | Himself | Documentary |
| 2016
| Dr. Layton | |
| 2019
| Midway | Admiral Ernest J. King | |
| 2022
| Himself | Documentary |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 1982
| X-Bomber | John Lee | Voice, UK dub |
| 1984
| The First Olympics: Athens 1896 | Princeton Student | Miniseries |
| 1985
| Bodine | Episode: "Displaced Person" |
| 1986
| Officer Braddock | Episode: "Magnum Farce" |
| rowspan="2" | 1987
| Wiseguy | Renaldo Sykes | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Tour of Duty
| PV2 Innes | Episode: "Burn Baby, Burn" |
| 1989
| Matlock | Keith Morrisey | Episode: "The Blues Singer" |
| rowspan="4" | 1990
| Richard | Episode: "Hard Time" |
| Tales from the Crypt
| Dr. Zachary Cling | Episode: "Lower Berth" |
| Father Dowling Mysteries
| Mark | Episode: "The Undercover Nun Mystery" |
| Jake and the Fatman
| Jerry Malik | Episode: "Night and Day" |
| 1991
| Kevin Reilly | Episode: "Baby for Sale" |
| 1992–95
| Sgt. Terence Boyle, Finn Dawley, Liam Gillen | 4 episodes |
| 1993
| Raven | Peter Lyons | Episode: "Poisoned Harvest" |
| rowspan="3" | 1994
| Star Trek: The Next Generation | Lt. Walter Pierce | Episode: "Eye of the Beholder" |
| Babylon 5
| Karl Mueller | Episode: "The Quality of Mercy" |
| Diagnosis: Murder
| Vinnie Bartell | Episode: "You Can Call Me Johnson" |
| 1994, 2000
| Richard Odin, Bud LaPierre | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="4" | 1995
| ER | Officer Thomas | Episode: "The Birthday Party" |
| Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
| Gregor | Episode: "Lucky Leon" |
| Courthouse
| Philip Carter | Episode: "Mitigating Circumstances" |
| Strange Luck
| Bagman, Merch | Episode: "Blind Man's Bluff" |
| rowspan="6" | 1996
| Sisters | Col. Hastings | Episode: "Leap Before You Look" |
| Profit
| Ivan Karpov | Episode: "Sykes" |
| JAG
| Lieutenant Commander Mark Lowery | Episode: "Recovery" |
| The Lazarus Man
| The Rescue | Episode: "The Rescue" |
| Moloney
| Joe Ballantine | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Walker, Texas Ranger
| Jake Prentice | Episode: "A Silent Cry" |
| 1997
| Bill Doolin |
| rowspan="2" | 1997–98
| Detective Lou Conroy | 3 episodes |
| Zorro
| Additional Voices | 26 episodes |
| rowspan="5" | 1998
| Louis Jackson | Episode: "Crossfire" |
| Men in Black: The Series
| Additional Voices | Episode: "The Elle of My Dreams Syndrome" |
| From the Earth to the Moon
| Gus Grissom | Miniseries |
| The Crow: Stairway to Heaven
| MaseReyes | Episode: "Souled Out" |
| The New Batman Adventures |
| 1998–99
| Profiler | Donald Lucas | 7 episodes |
| rowspan="3" | 1999
| Bounty Hunter | Episode: "Leviathan" |
| Aftershock: Earthquake in New York
| Bruce Summerlin | Miniseries |
| Godzilla: The Series
| Captain Moore | Voice, episode: "End of the Line" |
| 2000
| Carl |
| rowspan="7" | 2001
| Angel | Boone | Episode: "Blood Money" |
| Max Steel
| Additional Voices | 2 episodes |
| Dark Angel
| Herman Colberg | Episode: "Haven" |
| Dead Last
| Sheriff Wayne | Episode: "Teen Spirit" |
| Alias
| Seth Lambert | Episode: "Parity" |
| Touched by an Angel
| Delroy Gibbons | Episode: "Famous Last Words" |
| NYPD Blue
| Leon Broadus, Carl Bowen | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="2" | 2002
| Mr. Cassidy | Episode: "Come Blow Your Whistle" |
| Curb Your Enthusiasm
| Contractor | Episode: "The Corpse-Sniffing Dog" |
| rowspan="3" | 2003
| Gordie Liman | 5 episodes |
| The Dead Zone
| Hysterical Parishioner #3 | Episode: "Zion" |
| Justice League
| Garfield Lynns / Firefly |
| 2003–04
| Kuroda Lor-ehn, Captain Magh | 2 episodes |
| 2004
| 24 | Bruce Foxton | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="2" | 2005
| CSI: NY | Inspector Bill Markoni | Episode: "The Dove Commission" |
| Criminal Minds
| Sheriff Hall | Episode: "Blood Hungry" |
| 2006–07
| FBI Agent Glen Cole | 3 episodes |
| rowspan="3" | 2007
| Shark | Cade Berlinger | Episode: "The Wrath of Khan" |
| Reaper
| Arthur Ferrey | Episode: "Charged" |
| Cold Case
| Ari Gordon | 4 episodes |
| 2007–09
| Father Jack | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| Alastair | 2 episodes |
| The Mentalist
| Det. Dale Blakely | Episode: "The Thin Red Line" |
| rowspan="3" | 2009
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Sheriff | Episode: "One to Go" |
| NCIS: Los Angeles
| Marine Sergeant Jerrold "Pallet" Mulhearn | Episode: "Keepin' It Real" |
| Lie to Me
| Ed Kominsky | Episode: "Secret Santa" |
| 2010–11
| Johnny Greene | 2 episodes |
| 2010–13, 2019
| Lex Luthor, Jonathan Kent, Highfather, Hro Talak, Antinoos, Sumaan Harjavti |
| rowspan="5" | 2012
| Detective Charlie Meeks | Episode: "Shades of Blue" |
| Breakout Kings
| Chief Inspector Craig Renner | Episode: "An Unjust Death" |
| Touch
| Ed | Episode: "Tessellations" |
| Franklin & Bash
| Hon. Clarence Rydberg | Episode: "Last Dance" |
| NCIS
| George Westcott | 2 episodes |
| 2015
| Castle | Kurt Van Zant | Episode: "Dead from New York" |
| 2015–16
| Judge Edward Shippen | 7 episodes |
| rowspan="3" | 2016
| Scorpion | Agent Cooke | 2 episodes |
| Rosewood
| Harvey | Episode: "Badges & Bombshells" |
| Roots
| Jewett | Miniseries |
| rowspan="3" | 2017
| Rebel | IA Investigator #1 | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Voltron: Legendary Defender
| Kolivan, General Herreh | Voice, 8 episodes |
| Snowfall
| Max | 1 episode |
| 2018
| David Alper | Episode: "Credible Threat" |
| 2018–21
| Bosch | Lt. Thorne | 9 episodes |
| 2022
| Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi | Senator Dagonet |
| 2023
| Ahsoka | Captain Hayle | Episode: "Part One: Master and Apprentice" |
=Video games=
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0001679|Mark Rolston}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolston, Mark}}
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male video game actors
Category:American male voice actors
Category:Male actors from Baltimore
Category:20th-century American male actors