Brian Thompson

For other uses, see Brian Thompson (disambiguation).

Brian Thompson
File:Brian Thompson American Actor 2015 White Shirt.jpg Thompson in 2008
Born	(1959-08-28) August 28, 1959 Ellensburg, Washington, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse(s)	Isabelle Mastorakis (m. ?–1998) (2 children) Shari Braun (m. 1998)
Children	Daphne Thompson Jordan Thompson
Website	[1]

Brian Thompson (born August 28, 1959) is an American character actor. Thompson has played parts ranging from the Zen Buddhist Birkenstock-wearing sheriff of Key West, to the raging psycho cult leader in the film Cobra, the universe-conquering super villain in Mortal Kombat II, and numerous science fiction, fantasy, and comedy films, including the part of Buffalo Bob where he "put Joe Dirt in the hole" in Joe Dirt.

He began his career with a bit part in The Terminator, a 1984 blockbuster film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then, Thompson has worked primarily in the action adventure and science fiction genres. His first named role was in Werewolf, a series that ran during Fox's inaugural broadcasting year of 1987–1988. Thompson has played several characters in the Star Trek franchise, the Alien Bounty Hunter on X-Files, and Eddie Fiori on Kindred: The Embraced. In 2014, he produced, wrote and starred in the B movie, The Extendables.

Early life

Thompson was born in Ellensburg, Washington, and raised in Longview. He attended Central Washington University, where he studied business management, played football, and appeared in many school productions. He then moved to California and received a Masters of Fine Arts from University of California-Irvine. He initially trained and pursued a career in musical theater, performing at Riverside Civil Light Opera's production of "The King and I", Long Beach Civic Light Opera's "Bittersweet", and several other musicals. In 1982, he was a resident actor at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

Thompson's athletic build and unique facial structure were key in the initial roles he was offered. He has stated that it has occasionally been a double-edged sword when it comes to auditioning for roles, but it has provided him with consistent work. Thompson said, "If you're very physical in stature, you're gonna get hired for action movies. The star's always going to be chasing someone so they need an equal adversary. I'm never going to play a nebbish geek."

Career

Thompson was cast in The Terminator while still in school. He and Bill Paxton had minor roles as punk thugs.

He followed that up with "bad guy" roles on Otherworld, Street Hawk, and Knight Rider before landing the role in the Sylvester Stallone 1986 vehicle, Cobra. Although the film was critically panned, it was a commercial success. The New York Times wrote of Thompson's portrayal, "the archvillain, a character that is a cross between a James Bond fantasy villain such as Jaws and a raging psychopath, delivers a scorching monologue – a feat of linguistic sophistication that Cobra would have a hard time matching."

He appeared in the film Rage and Honor (1992) as Conrad Drago. In 1993, Thompson landed a role in the large ensemble series Key West which was filmed on location in the Florida Keys. The series lasted for 13 episodes. In a departure from his previous work, he played a "new-age sheriff", which Thompson stated was his favorite role of his career. The character uttered the introductory line, "I'm Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Jefferson. I'm a direct descendant of Wyatt Earp and the Lone Ranger. My personal heroes are Ted Nugent, Buddha and Davy Crockett. I am the last real lawman and the first peace officer of the 21st century."

The following year, Thompson began his tenure on X-Files and followed that with roles in the science fiction-fantasy series Seven Days, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Charmed. Between these, Thompson made dozens of appearances in other shows and films, often in similar roles. In 1996, he appeared in Dragonheart as the lead henchman of David Thewlis' villainous king. The fantasy film, starring Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery, was a moderate success.

Thompson then returned to the big screen as lead antagonist Shao Kahn in the film adaptation of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. The film was both a critical and commercial failure, with a 3% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The New York Times called it "colossal compendium of logic-defying martial arts, noisy, hyperactive special effects and rudimentary acting." In 2014, Thompson released The Extendables, a film he produced, written and starred in. A parody of movies like The Expendables, Thompson stated that it contained true-to-life instances from his own career. It was released via iTunes.

Star Trek

In 1989, Thompson landed his first Star Trek role in Star Trek: The Next Generation. His size worked against him at first, because the producers were originally looking to cast someone who could fit in a certain costume. He was able to convince them to give him a try: "That was the first of five auditions that I've had for Star Trek and they've hired me every time." Thompson played a Klingon in the episode A Matter of Honor. In 1993 and 1996, he appeared in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as different characters. In 1994, he appeared in the film Star Trek: Generations.

In 2005, Thompson was cast as Admiral Valdore in three episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. Thompson has since participated, to some extent, in Star Trek fandom, giving narrative DVD extras and appearing at conventions.

Personal life

Thompson is a windsurfing and kitesurfing enthusiast and studies hapkido. He has two children.

Selected filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	The Terminator	Street Punk	Bit character
1986	Cobra	Night Slasher	Key villain
1986	Three Amigos	Thug	A lackey of The German
1988	Fright Night II	Bozworth	Bug-eating lackey
1988	Alien Nation	Trent Porter
1988	Miracle Mile	Helicopter Pilot
1990	Lionheart	Russell
1990	Nightwish	Dean
1990	Moon 44	Jake O'Neal
1991	Life Stinks	Mean Victor
1992	Doctor Mordrid	Kabal	Key villain, an evil wizard
1993	The Naked Truth	Bruno
1994	Star Trek Generations	Klingon Helm	Klingon helmsman
1996	Dragonheart	Brok	Task executor
1997	Mortal Kombat: Annihilation	Shao Kahn	Main antagonist
2000	Jason and the Argonauts	Hercules	Television miniseries
2001	Joe Dirt	Buffalo Bob	Parodies the Buffalo Bill role from The Silence of the Lambs
2001	Epoch	Captain Tower
2001	The Order	Cyrus Jacob	Key villain
2007	Fist of the Warrior	Max
2007	Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane	Kevin
2011	The Arcadian	Agmundr
2014	The Extendables	Vardell Duseldorfer	With Mark Dacascos, Kevin Sorbo, Martin Kove, Patrick Warburton, Gary Graham and Marisa Ramirez

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Favorite Son	Rolf Petersen	3 episodes
1988	Werewolf	Nicholas Remy	6 episodes
1989	Star Trek	Various Klingons	Appeared as different named or unnamed Klingons in four Star Trek series
1990	Alien Nation	Peter Rabbit	Episode: "Rebirth"
1993	Key West	Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Johnson	13 episodes
1994	The X-Files	Alien Bounty Hunter	Episodes: "Colony", "End Game", 7 more episodes
1996	Kindred: The Embraced	Eddie Fiori	6 episodes as the leader of the Brujah clan of vampires
1997	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Luke	Episodes: "Welcome to the Hellmouth", "The Harvest"
1998	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	The Judge	Episodes: "Surprise", "Innocence"
2000	Charmed	Horseman of War	Episode: "Apocalypse, Not" (season 2, Episode 21)
2002	Birds of Prey	The Crawler	Episode: "Split"
2003	Charmed	Titan Cronos	Episode: "Oh My Goddess (Part 1 & 2)" (season 5, Episodes 22 & 23)
2004	NCIS	Master Chief Vince Nutter	Episode: "The Truth is Out There"
2005	Star Trek: Enterprise	Romulan Admiral Valdore	3 episodes
2009	Chuck	Cliff Arculin / Cliff Siljak	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Suburbs"
2012	Californication	Mr. Scary	Episode: "At the Movies" (Directed by Helen Hunt)
2012	Spirit of a Denture	Captain Jasper Crow	With Kevin Spacey

External links

• Official website
• Brian Thompson at the Internet Movie Database