Steven Culp

{{short description|American film and television actor (born 1955)|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Steven Culp

| image =

| caption = Steven Culp as Rex Van de Kamp in Desperate Housewives

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1955|12|03}}

| birth_name = Steven Bradford Culp

| birth_place = La Jolla, San Diego, California, U.S.

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1982–present

| spouse = Barbara Ayers

| children = 2

| alma_mater = College of William and Mary (B.A.)
Brandeis University (M.F.A.)

}}

Steven Bradford Culp (born December 3, 1955) is an American actor. Culp appeared in films Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), The Emperor's Club (2002), and most notably in the 2000 political thriller Thirteen Days playing Robert F. Kennedy.

On television, Culp had recurring roles as Clayton Webb in the CBS procedural JAG (1997–2004), and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Jeff Haffley in the NBC political drama The West Wing (2003–2005). He also appeared as Rex Van de Kamp in the ABC comedy-drama series, Desperate Housewives.

He also appeared in How to Get Away with Murder as defense attorney Victor Leshner.

Early life and education

Culp was born in La Jolla, California, the son of Mary Ann Joseph (born in Coshocton, Ohio), and Joseph Franklin Culp (born in Dallas). Both his father and stepfather were in the United States Navy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/90/Steven-Culp.html|title=Steven Culp Biography|website=filmreference.com|access-date=2017-12-27}} He attended First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/steven-culp/bio/175520|title=Steven Culp | TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com}} He earned an M.F.A. from Brandeis University in 1981.{{Cite news|url=http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=103401|title=Brandeis graduate stars in hit show Desperate Housewives|last=Nathan|first=David|date=December 31, 2004|access-date=2010-09-29}}

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. In 1995, Culp briefly starred on The Young and the Restless as Brian Hamilton. 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 Culp’s character in JAG reappeared in the series’ subsequent season premiere. In 2003, Culp appeared in a few episodes of the second season of 24 as Secret Service agent Ted Simmons. He had a recurring role in the NBC series The West Wing as Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Jeff Haffley from 2003 to 2005.

Culp portrayed Robert F. Kennedy twice, in the HBO movie Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) and the film Thirteen Days (2000).{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/7-actors-who-have-played-robert-f-kennedy-film-tv-1109981|title=7 Actors Who Have Played Robert F. Kennedy in Film and on TV|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=5 June 2018 }} 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, commander of the Military Assault Command Operations detachment aboard Enterprise. He was in five episodes; "The Xindi", "The Shipment", "Harbinger", "Hatchery" and "Countdown", where Hayes was shot saving a fellow crew member. 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.

From 2004 to 2005, Culp played Rex Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives for one season.{{Cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2005/05/30/i-bet-it-was-going-to-be-me-actor-killed-off-housewives-knew/|title='I BET IT WAS GOING TO BE ME' – ACTOR KILLED OFF 'HOUSEWIVES' KNEW|first=Michael|last=Starr|date=May 30, 2005}} His character was killed at the end of the season, although Culp reprised his role several times in flashback sequences and as narrator in one season 3 episode. In 2007, he was a regular cast member in the ABC short-lived series Traveler as Special Agent in Charge Fred Chambers. The following years, Culp guest-starred on number of shows, including NCIS, The Closer, Criminal Minds, Body of Proof, How to Get Away with Murder, Dynasty, American Horror Story: 1984 and 9-1-1. He starred as Thomas Foran in the 2010 film The Chicago 8. Culp had a recurring roles as Dr. Darren Parker on Grey's Anatomy in 2012, and from 2013 to 2014 in the NBC series Revolution as Edward Truman.[http://www.myfanbase.de/revolution/interviews/?pid=18065 "Interview with Steven Culp"]. myFanbase. Retrieved 2014-01-17. From 2015 to 2018, he had a recurring role in the Amazon prime crime drama Bosch.

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.

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable sortable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1989

|Gross Anatomy

|Jerry Fanning Forrester

|

1991

|Dead Again

|Party Guest #1

|

1992

|Diego Rivera: I Paint What I See

|Nelson Rockefeller

|

1993

|Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

|Robert Campbell

|

1993

|Fearless

|Emergency Doctor

|

1996

|James and the Giant Peach

|James's father

|

2000

|Nurse Betty

|Friend

|

2000

|Thirteen Days

|Robert F. Kennedy

|

2002

|Star Trek: Nemesis

|Commander Martin Madden

|Deleted Scene

2002

|The Emperor's Club

|Older Martin Blythe

|

2004

|Spartan

|Gaines

|

2005

|The Sisters

| Harry Glass

|

2005

|Deck the Halls

| Dr. Olsen

|

2007

|Firehouse Dog

|Zachary Hayden

|

2008

|From Within

|Pastor Joe

|

2008

|Leaving Barstow

|Mr. Johns

|

2011

|The Chicago 8

|Thomas Foran

|

2014

|Captain America: The Winter Soldier

|Congressman Wenham

|

2017

|The Last Word

|Sam Serman

|

2018

|Collusions

|Agent Robinson

|

=Television=

class="wikitable sortable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1982

|Another World

|Tom Nelson

|

1983–1984

|One Life to Live

|Daniel Wolek

|

1988

|Lincoln

|John Hay

|Miniseries; 2 episodes

1988

|The Cosby Show

|Father-to-Be

|

1989

|ABC Afterschool Special

|

|Episode: "Taking a Stand"

1989

|A Man Called Hawk

|Carter

|

1989

|Duet

|Martin

|

1989

|Murphy Brown

|Brad Stockton

|

1989

|Newhart

|Brett

|

1989

|Hooperman

|

|

1990

|L.A. Law

|

|

1990

|Father Dowling Mysteries

|Bill Taylor

|

1991

|Family Album, U.S.A.

|Richard Stewart

|

1992

|Quicksand: No Escape

|Bartender

|TV movie

1992

|Dream On

|Dan

|

1993

|Reasonable Doubts

|Peter Maxwell

|2 episodes

1993

|A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion

|Jeff Dulaney

|TV movie

1994

|Diagnosis: Murder

|Company Man

|

1995

|Touched by an Angel

|Dr. Rence Patterson

|

1995

|Sisters

|Graham Pressman

|

1995

|Donor Unknown

|Joel

|TV movie

1995

|The Young and the Restless

|Brian Hamilton

|2 episodes

1996

|Baywatch Nights

|Garth Youngblood

|

1996

|Beverly Hills, 90210

|Mr. Dreesen

|

1996

|Norma Jean & Marilyn

|Robert F. Kennedy

|

1997

|Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

|Peter Doyle

|

1997

|Pacific Palisades

|Judge

|

1997

|Mike Hammer, Private Eye

|Father James

|

1997–2004

|JAG

|Clayton Webb

|Recurring role; 41 episodes

1998

|Pensacola: Wings of Gold

|Thomas Belafontaine

|

1998

|Profiler

|

|

1998

|Chicago Hope

|Mr. Turner

|

1998

|Any Day Now

|Randall Clemens

|

1999

|Brimstone

|Frankie

|

1999

|V.I.P.

|Financial Officer

|

2000

|Ally McBeal

|Attorney Dixon

|

2000

|Family Law

|Mr. Petry

|

2000

|Providence

|Dr. Jordan Roberts

|

2000

|Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For

|William Batsby

|

2001

|How to Make a Monster

|Drummond

|

2001

|Boston Public

|Mel Breen

|

2001

|Philly

|Detective John O'Brien

|

2002

|Crossing Jordan

|Detective Rick Frazier

|

2002

|Push, Nevada

|Well-Dressed Man

|

2003

|24

|Ted Simmons

|

2003

|Mister Sterling

|Senator Ron Garland

|

2002–2003

|The Practice

|Atty. Emmanuel Kupcheck / Hospital Atty. Alldredge

|

2003

|The Lyon's Den

|Brad Manning

|

2003–2005

|The West Wing

|Speaker of the House Jeff Haffley

|Recurring role; 9 episodes

1999–2004

|ER

|Dave Spencer / Dr. Charles Cameron

|

2004

|CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

|Lieutenant Mendez

|

2003–2004

|Star Trek: Enterprise

|Major Hayes

|Recurring role; 5 episodes

2007

|The Closer

|Lucas Cordry

|Season 3: Til Death Do Us Part, Parts I and II

2007

|Stargate Atlantis

|Henry Wallace

|Episode: "Miller's Crossing"

2007

|Boston Legal

|A.D.A. Norman Wilson

|Season 4: Oral Contracts

2007

|NCIS

|Commander William Skinner

|Season 5: Chimera

2008

|Medium

|Darren Swenson

|

2008

|Criminal Minds

|Lawyer Lester Serling

|Season 3: Tabula Rasa

2008

|The Mentalist

|Morgan Tolliver

|

2008

|Eli Stone

|Jim Cooper

|2 episodes

2009

|Impact

|President Edward Taylor

|

2010

|Ghost Whisperer

|Dave Walker/Glen Blessing

|Season 5: "Blessings in Disguise"

2010

|Burn Notice

|Christian Aikins

|Season 4: "Where There's Smoke"

2011

|The Chicago Code

|Dennis Mahoney

|

2011

|Law & Order: Los Angeles

|Ben Corrigan

|

2012

|Body of Proof

|Eric Greyson

|

2004–2012

|Desperate Housewives

|Rex Van de Kamp

|Series regular (season 1), guest star (seasons 2–3, 5, 7–8)
SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an

Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005–2006)

2012

|Perception

|John F. Kennedy

|1 episode

2012

|Grey's Anatomy

|Dr. Darren Parker

|4 episodes

2012

|Longmire

|Johnson Mace

|

2012

|Drop Dead Diva

|Bruce Forman

|1 episode

2013

|Revolution

|Edward Truman

|

2013

|King & Maxwell

|Michael Wallace

|1 episode

2015

|Scream Queens

|Clark Ulrich

|

2015

|Bosch

|D.A. Richard 'Rick' O'Shea

|19 episodes

2015

|Arrow

| Senator Joseph Cray

|

2015

|Zoo

|Clayton Burke

|3 episodes

2016

|How to Get Away with Murder

|Victor Leshner

|Season 2, Episode 1

2016

|Code Black

|Desmond Leighton

|5 episodes

2016

|Lopez

|Bryce Vandevent

|1 episode

2017

|The Orville

| Willks

|1 episode

2018

|Dynasty

| Tim Myers

|

2018

|Waco

| Jeff Jamar

|2 episodes

2018

|The Last Ship

|President Joshua Reiss

|6 episodes

2019

| American Horror Story: 1984

| John Thompson

| Episode: "Mr. Jingles"

2020

|9-1-1

|Henry Wallace

|

2020

|Dirty John

|Baxter

|

2022 - 2023

|The Resident

|Gov. Mark Betz

|4 episodes

2024

|FBI: International

|Martin Russo

|

2024

|Tracker

|Scott Palmer

|1 episode

References

{{Reflist}}