Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures and
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
programs. Early in 2007, he was cast as the role of an estranged father to one of the
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
players, Tim Riggins (played by
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Taylor Kitsch-Early life and modeling career:Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He has two older brothers and two younger half sisters. Originally set to become a professional hockey player, he played for the Langley Hornets in the Canadian BCHL before a bad knee injury ended his career...
), in the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
drama series
Friday Night LightsFriday Night Lights is an American television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding the Dillon Panthers, a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to...
.
Cullen was born in Houston,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, the son of Lucien Hugh Cullen, an oil industry executive, and Catherine Cullen.
Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures and
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
programs. Early in 2007, he was cast as the role of an estranged father to one of the
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
players, Tim Riggins (played by
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Taylor Kitsch-Early life and modeling career:Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He has two older brothers and two younger half sisters. Originally set to become a professional hockey player, he played for the Langley Hornets in the Canadian BCHL before a bad knee injury ended his career...
), in the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
drama series
Friday Night LightsFriday Night Lights is an American television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding the Dillon Panthers, a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to...
.
Cullen was born in Houston,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, the son of Lucien Hugh Cullen, an oil industry executive, and Catherine Cullen. He graduated from Madison High School in Houston in 1974. Cullen graduated from the University of Houston, giving great credit to his highly acclaimed acting mentor and University of Houston professor, Cecil Pickett, who also mentored such Houston born actors as Dennis Quaid, Randy Quaid, & Brent Spiner among others. Cullen and Dennis Quaid's close friendship to this day dates back to the 1970's and it is Cullen who introduced Dennis Quaid to his current wife, Kimberly Buffington at a dinner in Austin, Texas.
Brett worked at Astroworld in the summer of 1975 in live show entertainment as a gunfighter.
Cullen played Dan Fixx in the 1980s CBS drama
Falcon CrestFalcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990...
for two seasons (1986-1988) and Marshal Sam Cain in the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
westernThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
series
The Young RidersThe Young Riders is a western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
for one season (1989-1990). In 1980, he appeared as the second Gideon Chisholm in the last nine episodes of the CBS western
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The ChisholmsThe Chisholms is a CBS western miniseries starring Robert Preston, which aired thirteen episodes from March 29, 1979, to April 19, 1979, and from January 19, 1980, to March 15, 1980. The 1979 episodes showed the family moving from Virginia to Wyoming...
. In the four earlier episodes, the Gideon Chisholm role was played by
Brian KerwinBrian Kerwin is an American actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kerwin won the Theatre World Award in 1988 for the off-Broadway play Emily. His Broadway theatre credits include the 1997 revival of The Little Foxes and the Elaine May comedy After the Night and the Music in 2005...
. Cullen was the lead actor as Ned Logan in the short-lived
LegacyLegacy is an American western drama series starring Brett Cullen which aired on UPN for eighteen episodes from 1998-1999. The series is set on a Kentucky horse farm soon after the American Civil War. Cullen's character of Ned Logan is the 42-year-old widowed patriarch of the family...
, which lasted for just one season (1998-1999). On the series
The West Wing Cullen played
Ray SullivanRay Sullivan was a fictional Republican governor of West Virginia, played by Brett Cullen. He was a recurring character on the American television show The West Wing. He was the Republican Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2006 election, and the running mate of Arnold...
, a fictional governor of
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
and the
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
nominee for
Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term...
.
His guest appearances on TV include:
The Incredible Hulk,
M*A*S*HM*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH . The series is a medical drama/black comedy that was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS...
,
V,
MatlockMatlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986, to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The format of the show was similar to...
,
Star Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television program that premiered in 1993 and ran for seven seasons, ending in 1999. Rooted in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek universe, it was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, at the request of Brandon Tartikoff, and produced by Paramount...
,
Ally McBealAlly McBeal is an American television series which ran on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
,
Walker, Texas RangerWalker, Texas Ranger is an American television police drama/Action, created by Lesie Grief and Paul Haggis. It aired on CBS with three pilot episodes followed by eight full seasons, from April 21, 1993 to May 19, 2001, was broadcast in over 100 countries, and has since spawned at least one...
,
Once and AgainOnce and Again is an American television series that aired on ABC from September 21, 1999 to April 15, 2002. It depicts the family of a single mother and her romance with a single father...
,
Without a TraceWithout a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series is set in New York City and is about a fictitious full-time FBI missing persons unit.-Premise:...
,
Cold CaseCold Case is an American police procedural television series which premiered on September 28, 2003 on CBS. The series revolves around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division in Pennsylvania that specializes in investigating cold cases. The series currently airs in syndication on TNT...
,
The Mountain (TV series)The Mountain was a American television series that was broadcast on the WB Television Network for one season, from 2004–2005. The show received very low ratings and was canceled after only thirteen episodes. The theme song, "I Miss You" is sung by blink-182.-Plot:The plot centers on a ski resort...
,
MonkMonk is an American crime drama, created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular Adrian Monk. It is primarily a mystery series, although the show also features broadly comic touches. The show debuted on July 12, 2002, on the USA Network...
,
CSI: MiamiCSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
,
Desperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
,
Pepper DennisPepper Dennis is a comedy-drama television series that aired on The WB from April to July 4 2006. Due to poor ratings, it was quickly announced on May 17, 2006 that Pepper Dennis would not be one of the WB shows transferred to The CW Television Network.Pepper Dennis was the final show to premiere...
,
LostLost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles, United States, crashes somewhere in the South Pacific...
,
Ghost WhispererGhost Whisperer is an American television series, which premiered on CBS on September 23, 2005.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with the dead...
,
Private Practice,
Ugly BettyUgly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series created by Silvio Horta, which premiered on The American Broadcasting Company on September 28, 2006. The series revolves around Betty Suarez, an unglamorous and good-natured girl, and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City...
, and
Friday Night LightsFriday Night Lights is an American television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding the Dillon Panthers, a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to...
.
He has played two real-life
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s,
Bill PogueWilliam Reid Pogue is a retired American astronaut.-Personal data:Pogue was born in Okemah, Oklahoma, and is the son of Mr and Mrs Alex W. Pogue who lived in Sand Springs, Oklahoma; he is of Choctaw descent. He is married with three children...
in
Apollo 13Apollo 13 is a 1995 film that dramatized the ill-fated lunar mission of the same name in 1970. The movie was adapted by William Broyles, Jr. and Al Reinert from the book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, and was directed by Ron Howard...
(Brett is the CapCom at the time of the explosion; at that shift Pogue was the CapCom in real life) and
David ScottDavid Randolph Scott , a former NASA astronaut and engineer, was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963. As commander of the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth human lunar landing, he was the seventh person to walk on the Moon and the first person to drive on the Moon...
in the HBO mini-series
From the Earth to the Moon.
His most recent appearance was in the role of Barton Blaze in the movie
Ghost RiderGhost Rider is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who morphs into the demon vigilante Ghost Rider....
. Other movie credits include
Wyatt EarpWyatt Earp is a 1994 semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Joanna Going,...
(with
Kevin CostnerKevin Michael Costner is an American actor, musician, producer, and director. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Oscars and a Golden Globe Award. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
),
The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (with
Kenny RogersKenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers is an American country music singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur...
and
Bruce BoxleitnerBruce William Boxleitner is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He attended Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and the Goodman Theater School of Drama of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.-Television:He is best known for his leading roles in the...
),
Something to Talk AboutSomething to Talk About is a 1995 film directed by Lasse Hallström, from a screenplay written by Callie Khouri. It stars Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid as an estranged couple, Kyra Sedgwick as Roberts's sister and Robert Duvall and Gena Rowlands as their parents. The title of the film stems from...
(with
Julia RobertsJulia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became well known during the early 1990s after starring in the romantic comedy Pretty Woman opposite Richard Gere, which grossed $463 million worldwide...
and
Dennis QuaidDennis William Quaid is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films.-Early life:...
),
The ReplacementsThe Replacements is a 2000 American film directed by Howard Deutch. It stars Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton and Orlando Jones, and very loosely based on the 1987 National Football League players' strike.- Plot :...
(with
Gene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and currently a novelist.Hackman has made 80 films. He came to fame in 1967 when his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde earned him his first Oscar nomination...
),
On Golden Pond (with
Henry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting....
),
Nancy Drew, and
Gridiron GangThe film has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Assoication of America for Some Startling Scenes of Violence, Mature Thematic Material, and Language....
. He also played Bob Cleary in the 1983 mini-series
The Thorn BirdsThe Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, an Australian author.In 1983 it was adapted as a television mini-series that, during its television run March 27-30, became the United States' second highest rating mini-series of all time behind Roots; both series were produced...
.
External links