Clancy Brown

His father, Clarence J. "Bud" Brown Jr. (1927–2022), was a newspaper publisher who helped manage the Brown Publishing Company, the family-owned newspaper business started by Clancy's grandfather, Congressman Clarence J. Brown.

Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor.

Clancy Brown was born on January 5, 1959, in Urbana, Ohio, and had an older sister, Beth, who died in 1964.

Their mother, Joyce Helen (née Eldridge), was a conductor, composer and concert pianist.

From 1965 to 1983, Bud Brown also served as a congressman, in the same seat as his own father, and later as Chairman of the Board of Brown Publishing.

Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles.

His film roles include Viking Lofgren in Bad Boys (1983), Rawhide in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), The Kurgan in Highlander (1986), Sheriff Gus Gilbert in Pet Sematary Two (1992), Capt. Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Sgt. Charles Zim in Starship Troopers (1997), Stanley Thomas in Promising Young Woman (2020), and The Harbinger in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).

In Brown's first mainstream movie, he was cast as Viking Lofgren alongside Sean Penn in the 1983 crime drama Bad Boys.

Brown is known for his role as the Kurgan in the 1986 film Highlander, his role as Captain Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, Rawhide in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Frankenstein's monster in The Bride (1985), Army mercenary Larry McRose in Extreme Prejudice, the role of a band manager in Thunder Alley (1985), vicious killer Steve in Shoot to Kill (1988), the police officer in Michael Jackson's short movie Speed Demon (1988), Dead Man Walking, Sheriff Gus Gilbert in Pet Sematary Two, Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers (a role he would reprise in the animated series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles), and Captain William Hadley in The Guardian.

He also played a role in Flubber as one of the evil henchmen that get harmed by uncontrollably bouncing sports equipment.

In 1989, he appeared in the action thriller Blue Steel.

Brown has played prison officers in three films dealing with miscarriages of justice: the tyrannical Captain Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, the sympathetic Lt. Williams in The Hurricane, and Lt. McMannis in Last Light.

Brown has been married to Jeanne Johnson since 1993.

They have a son and a daughter.

Brown is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Brown was a series regular on the science fiction series Earth 2 from 1994 to 1995, playing the role of John Danziger.

Brown was notable as the sinister preacher Brother Justin Crowe in the HBO series Carnivàle.

Though the series only ran for two seasons, Carnivàle has attained a cult popularity and his performance was applauded by critics for showcasing a new side to his acting talents.

He also starred in the Showtime production In the Company of Spies and the HBO film Cast a Deadly Spell.

As conservative United States Attorney General Jock Jeffcoat, he was one of the primary antagonists in seasons three and four of the Showtime series Billions.

He has also made many guest appearances on various television series including ER, the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Desert Crossing" as Zobral, Lost as Kelvin Joe Inman, and former baseball player (and investment scam mark) Rudy Blue on The Riches.

Brown also has a career as a voice actor, best known as the voice of Lex Luthor in the DC Animated Universe (1996–2006) and Eugene Krabs on SpongeBob SquarePants (1999–present).

Other characters he has voiced include Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in the Crash Bandicoot franchise (1997–2003), Savage Opress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2011–2013), Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and Hank Anderson in Detroit: Become Human (2018), for which he also provided motion capture.

Brown also appeared as the frontiersman Simon Kenton, the key to America's westward expansion, in the 2000 Kentucky Educational Television production "A Walk with Simon Kenton".

Kenton resembled Brown in stature and is buried in Brown's hometown.

Brown most recently appeared as Hart Sterling, founding partner of fictional law firm Sterling, Huddle, Oppenheim & Craft in ABC's The Deep End.

He also guest starred on the Leverage series episode "The Gone Fishin Job" and on The Dukes of Hazzard sixth-season episode "Too Many Roscos".

Currently, he appears on The CW's TV production of The Flash in the recurring guest-star role of General Wade Eiling.

In 2001, he played a magical character credited as 'The granter of wishes' in the Hallmark version of Snow White.

On television, he has played Brother Justin Crowe on the HBO series Carnivàle (2003–2005), Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat on the Showtime series Billions (2018–2019, 2023), and Kurt Caldwell on the Showtime series Dexter: New Blood (2021–2022).

In 2007, he played the Viking leader opposite Karl Urban in Pathfinder.

He starred in several independent films in 2008: The Burrowers, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, and released in the United States on DVD in April 2009, and The Twenty.

He appeared in Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film The Informant! opposite Matt Damon in which he played an attorney.

The family continued to operate the business until 2010.

Brown graduated from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and Northwestern University.

At St. Albans, Brown performed the role of Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth in The Crucible.

He also portrayed Alan Smith in Samuel Bayer's 2010 remake of the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street.

In 2011, he appeared in Cowboys & Aliens (directed by Jon Favreau) with Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde.

He was cast as the voice of The Goon in the animated feature film.

He also starred as Albert Marconi in the film adaptation of the David Wong novel John Dies at the End, directed by Don Coscarelli.