Mark Sheppard Biography
Mark Andreas Sheppard is an English actor and musician. Sheppard is known for playing the demon/King of Hell Crowley on Supernatural and for his recurring roles as lawyer Romo Lampkin on the Battlestar Galactica reboot, Interpol investigator James Sterling on Leverage, and small-time crime lord Badger on Joss Whedon's Firefly.
Early life
Mark Andreas Sheppard was born in London, England, the son of actor W. Morgan Sheppard and Regina Lisa (née Scherer) Sheppard. He is of Irish and German descent.
Career
Music
Sheppard became a drummer as a teenager, buying his first drum kit in 1976, and spent many years recording and touring with artists including Robyn Hitch*, the Television Personalities, the Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks, and the Irish group Light a Big Fire. In 1985, Sheppard played drums on Light a Big Fire's second album, and was with them as the opening act for some stops on U2's 1987 The Joshua Tree Tour.
He had stepped away from music when his abuse of drugs and alcohol took over his life, and stayed away after he regained sobriety and his acting career began to flourish. In the 2010s, while appearing in Supernatural, he would attend fan conventions with his cast mates; co-star Rob Benedict, whose band played at the conventions, convinced Sheppard to sit in on a song in front of 3,000 attendees, and Sheppard was back. By 2017 he had rejoined Robyn Hitch*'s band on tour.
Television
Sheppard's television work includes the following: the "Fire" episode of The X-Files, a year on the Jerry Bruckheimer action series Soldier of Fortune, guest-starring and recurring roles on The Practice, The Invisible Man, Special Unit 2, JAG, Star Trek: Voyager, The Chronicle, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: NY, Monk, and Las Vegas, among others. He played a demon named Arnon on an episode *led"Witches in Tights" on the TV series Charmed. He played Badger, a semi-comical *ney-style crime boss in the short-lived Joss Whedon show Firefly and later cast again in another Whedon show, Dollhouse as Paul Ballard's dismissive FBI superior. He appeared as a villain in season five of the Fox show 24 and as Patricia Arquette's reincarnated Jack the Ripper-style serial killer nemesis on Medium. He appeared as Romo Lampkin in seasons three and four of Battlestar Galactica, and had a recurring role as Manservant Neville in ABC Family's short-lived The Middleman. He has been seen as Anthony Anthros on Bionic Woman, as Sterling the nemesis character on Leverage, and as the King of Hell Crowley on Supernatural.
He appeared in the pilot episode of White Collar as a villainous master forger and as the Director of the Ring criminal organisation in Chuck. He appeared in the SyFy series Warehouse 13 as Regent Benedict Valda. He appears in the 2011 Doctor Who episodes "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon" playing the character Canton Everett Delaware III. In October 2013, Sheppard returned to White Collar, reprising his 2009 role as master forger Curtis Hagen.
Film
His film credits include the Jim Sheridan film In the Name of the Father, starring opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson as Guildford Four member Patrick Armstrong; the romantic comedy Lover's Knot; the Russian historical drama Out of the Cold; the thriller Unstoppable; and with Heather Graham and Jeremy Sisto in the dark independent, Broken. He also starred in Megalodon and New Alcatraz.
Mark Sheppard directed his father, actor W. Morgan Sheppard. in the film Room 101, and co-starred with him in the psychological thriller Nether World, which the younger Sheppard also co-produced. The elder Sheppard played the older version of his son's character in the aforementioned Doctor Who and NCIS episodes.
Video games
He voiced the role of protagonist Michael Ford in The Conduit, whose mentor, John Adams, was voiced by W. Morgan Sheppard.
Double casting
Sheppard was cast with his father (who died in 2019) as the same character on three occasions, each playing the character at different ages:
- Canton Everett Delaware III in the Doctor Who episode "The Impossible Astronaut";
- War criminal Marcin Jerek a.k.a. "Mr. Pain" in the NCIS episode "Broken Bird"; and
- Captain Nemo in the 2010 film Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, which Mark also directed.
In the Macgyver reboot episode, "Cigar Cutter", which first aired 14 April 2017, he plays an **in who *umes the iden*y of murder victim "Dr. Zito", a role his father played in the original series, except "Dr. Zito" was the name of the killer.
Voice
Since 2011, Mark Sheppard has been "The Voice" of BBC America promos and announcements.
Personal life
On 9 November 2015, Sheppard married Australian heiress Sarah Louise Fudge. In March 2016, their daughter, Isabella Rose, was born, and the couple held a wedding ceremony in November of that year in Malibu, California.
On 1 December 2023, Sheppard suffered a total of six heart attacks at his home in Los Angeles. He needed to be resuscitated by first responders. Doctors discovered a complete blockage in his left anterior descending artery.
Filmography
Film roles
Television roles
Video game roles
References
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark Sheppard.- Mark Sheppard at IMDb:
- Mark Sheppard discography at Discogs
- Mark Sheppard on Instagram
