Actors from Wisconsin

1. David Ackert

David Ackert has been an entrepreneur and business development mentor to service firms for nearly two decades. He is the president of the Ackert Advisory, which delivers business development consulting and technology solutions to lawyers and other service professionals worldwide. He is also the ...

2. Marc Alaimo

Actor | Total Recall

American character actor Marc Alaimo (born Michael Joseph Alaimo) began acting on the stage in the early 1960s. Even in his early days he had a propensity for playing shady characters or sinister villains, including the treacherous Iago of Shakespeare's Othello and the brutish Bill Sykes of Oliver!...

3. Don Ameche

Actor | Cocoon

Don Ameche was a versatile and popular American film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film ...

4. Andrea Anders

Actress | Spirited

1993 graduate of DeForest Area High School, in DeForest, Wisconsin. Attended the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, earning a bachelor degree of fine arts in 1997. From there, attended Rutgers University in New Jersey, earning a master of fine arts in 2001. After leaving Rutgers, headed to ...

5. Joseph Anthony

Writer | Lady of Secrets

Joseph Anthony was born on April 9, 1897 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Lady of Secrets (1936), A Doctor's Diary (1937) and One-Way Ticket (1935). He was married to Rozsi Varady. He died on January 18, 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

6. Linda Balgord

Actress | Passion

Linda Balgord was born on February 18, 1960 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress, known for Passion (1996), Today (1952) and Broadway.com #LiveatFive (2015). She was married to Andrew Fenton. She died on March 5, 2024 in Florida, USA.

7. Bonnie Bartlett

Actress | St. Elsewhere

Bonnie Bartlett grew up in Moline, Illinois. Her father E.E. was a failed Shakespearean actor who became an insurance salesman. Her mother Carrie was a homemaker. At an early age, Bonnie became determined to fulfill her father's failed acting career. She went to Northwestern University to study ...

8. Barbara Bedford

Actress | The Last of the Mohicans

Barbara Bedford was born on July 19, 1903 in Eastman, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1920), Sunshine of Paradise Alley (1926) and The Spoilers (1923). She was married to Terry Spencer, Alan Roscoe and Irvin Willat. She died on October 25, 1981 in ...

9. Lamont Bentley

Actor | NYPD Blue

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lamont Bentley moved to Los Angeles with his mother, an aspiring singer. His aptitude for comedy became apparent as he constantly made people laugh at his mother's auditions. It was then that he was encouraged to begin his own entertainment career. He began with ...

10. Brad Beyer

Actor | 42

Brad Beyer was born on September 20, 1973 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor, known for 42 (2013), Ford v Ferrari (2019) and The General's Daughter (1999). He has been married to Cora Ray since September 20, 2010. They have one child.

11. Stanley Blystone

Actor | Modern Times

Stanley Blystone was born on August 1, 1894 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Modern Times (1936), Eyes of Texas (1948) and Code of the Mounted (1935). He was married to Alma Tell and Claire Siebrecht. He died on July 16, 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA.

12. Mark Borchardt

Actor | Coven

Mark Borchardt was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He started making films at the age of fourteen with a super-8 camera that he bought from a garage sale for $40. After serving three years in the military he continued his cinematic endeavors at the local university. In the mid-nineties he ...

13. Annie B. Compton

Writer | Better Start Running

Annie B. Compton was born on September 18, 1983 in Wisconsin, USA. She is a writer and actress, known for Better Start Running (2018), Hes the Best (2015) and The Young and the Restless (1973).

14. Connie Clausen

Actress | Tales of Tomorrow

Connie Clausen was an actress, author and literary agent. She was born in Menasha, Wisconsin and in her teens she moved with her family to Sarasota, Florida, then winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. While walking down Sarasota's Main Street she was stopped by John...

15. Willem Dafoe

Actor | Spider-Man

Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large ...

16. James Daly

Actor | Planet of the Apes

Distinguished character player James Firman Daly first appeared on stage in his home town of Wisconsin Rapids in 1928. He was set on acting from an early age, and was strongly encouraged by his parents. His father was in the fuel business and his mother at one time a CIA employee. Upon leaving ...

17. Tyne Daly

Actress | Judging Amy

Tyne Daly was born on February 21, 1946 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Judging Amy (1999), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Cagney & Lacey (1981). She was previously married to Georg Stanford Brown.

18. Ashton Dearholt

Actor | Tarzan and the Green Goddess

Ashton Dearholt worked with Universal on a number of melodramas during the 1910s but usually worked outside the studio system, producing a series of "Pinto Pete" westerns during the 1920s in which he starred himself. He occasionally acted under the name Richard Holt.

Dearholt is best known to ...

19. Robert Easton

Actor | Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Robert Easton was born on November 23, 1930 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Working Girl (1988) and The Giant Spider Invasion (1975). He was married to June Bettine Grimstead. He died on December 16, 2011 in Toluca ...

20. Chris Farley

Actor | Tommy Boy

Christopher Crosby Farley was born on February 15, 1964, in Madison, Wisconsin, to Mary Anne (Crosby) and Thomas Farley, who owned an oil company. Among his siblings are actors Kevin P. Farley and John Farley. He was of Irish heritage. Farley studied theatre and communications on Marquette ...

21. John Farley

Actor | Little Nicky

John is the youngest brother of Chris Farley. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Mary Anne (Crosby) and Thomas John Farley, who owned Scotch Oil Co. His older brother, Kevin P. Farley, also acts. Tom, the eldest of the boys, works in Madison as the head of the Chris Farley Foundation. His...

22. Kevin P. Farley

Actor | The Waterboy

Kevin Farley (accomplished actor, writer, director) has truly established himself as a comedic presence both on the big screen and television.

Kevin was born in Madison, Wisconsin, to Mary Anne (Crosby) and Thomas Farley, who owned an oil company. Among his siblings are actors John Farley and the ...

23. Matthew Felker

Actor | Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Motion Comic

Matthew Felker is known for Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Motion Comic (2009).

24. John Fiedler

Actor | 12 Angry Men

Typical of busy character actors, Fiedler made his face (and voice) recognizable to millions. Many know the bald-pated Fiedler as therapy patient "Mr. Peterson" on The Bob Newhart Show (1972); others might first recognize him for the 1968 movie, The Odd Couple (1968), and spin-off TV show, The Odd ...

25. Charlie Finn

Actor | Super Troopers

Charlie Finn was born on September 18, 1975 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor, known for Super Troopers (2001), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) and Life on a Stick (2005).

26. Eduard Franz

Actor | The Thing from Another World

Born Eduard Franz Schmidt in Milwaukee, WI, this stern-faced character actor had originally planned to be a commercial artist, but a stint with a local theatrical troupe set him on the road to an acting career. In 1925 he moved to New York City and joined up with a Greenwich Village theatrical ...

27. Kevin Gage

Actor | Heat

Kevin Franklin Gaede, who later changed his name to Kevin Gage, was born and raised in northern Wisconsin. He was physically active, working on his grandparents' dairy farm and excelling in school sports, including basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and track. He also enjoyed fishing and other...

28. Eddie Garrett

Actor | Quincy M.E.

Eddie Garrett was born on November 19, 1927 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Quincy M.E. (1976), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and Batman (1966). He was married to Maggie Hartshorn. He died on May 13, 2010 in Palm Desert, California, USA.

29. Aimee Graham

Actress | Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth

Aimee Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and Jackie Brown (1997).

30. Heather Graham

Actress | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Heather Joan Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Joan (Bransfield), a schoolteacher and children's book author, and James Graham, an FBI agent. She and her sister, actress Aimee Graham, were raised by their strictly Catholic parents. They relocated often, as a result of their father's ...

31. Deidre Hall

Actress | Days of Our Lives

Deidre Hall has emerged as one of America's most beloved actresses, who delighted her fans in August 1991, when she returned to NBC-TV's number one daytime program, Days of Our Lives (1965). Hall created the role of "Dr. Marlena Evans" in 1976, a character whose popularity has created a furor and a...

32. Hisonni Mustafa

Producer | Grayson: Earth One

Hisonni Mustafa is a Guyanese American filmmaker from the most segregated city in America, Milwaukee, WI. Hisonni creates films that depict the protagonist's perilous journey toward being loved, becoming financially secure, and discovering their significance in this world.

Since 2013 Hisonni has ...

33. Jane Kaczmarek

Actress | Malcolm in the Middle

Jane grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her mother, Evelyn, was a school teacher. Her father, Edward, is a former Defense Department employee. She is the oldest of four children. Her brothers, Jim & Bill, are a teacher and an entrepreneur respectively. Her sister, Mary, works for an Internet company....

34. Kato Kaelin

Actor | BASEketball

Kato Kaelin was born on March 9, 1959 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for BASEketball (1998), Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003) and Winners (2014). He was previously married to Cynthia Coulter.

35. Jackie Kashian

Actress | Murphy Brown

Jackie Kashian is known for Murphy Brown (1988), Looking Forward: 2016 (2018) and Bam Bam and Celeste (2005). She has been married to Andy Ashcraft since October 8, 2006.

36. Imran Khan

Actor | Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na

Imran Khan, born Imran Pal, has worked as an actor in the Hindi film industry. He is also a social activist and filmmaker. Khan's father is a software engineer who studied at IIT Bombay, and his mother is a psychologist. His mother is the daughter of famous director-producer Nasir Hussain, sister ...

37. Nick Kiriazis

Actor | Superhero Movie

Nick Kiriazis was born on June 9, 1969 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Superhero Movie (2008), Tin Cup (1996) and Sunset Beach (1997).

38. Wesley Lau

Actor | The Twilight Zone

Wesley Lau was born on June 18, 1921 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), The Alamo (1960) and Mission: Impossible (1966). He was married to Marie Louise Metcalf and Shirin Devrim. He died on August 30, 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

39. Lillian Leighton

Actress | Parisian Love

Lillian Leighton was born on May 17, 1874 in Auroraville, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Parisian Love (1925), Secret Service (1919) and Castles for Two (1917). She died on March 19, 1956 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

40. Louise Lester

Actress | Calamity Anne's Dream

Louise Lester was born on August 8, 1867 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Calamity Anne's Dream (1913), Calamity Anne's Sacrifice (1913) and Calamity Anne, Detective (1913). She was married to Jack Richardson and Frank Beal. She died on November 18, 1952 in ...

41. John Litel

Actor | They Died with Their Boots On

John Litel's tough, no-nonsense demeanor on screen was not entirely due to his skill as an actor--when World War I broke out he enlisted in the French army, not wanting to wait until the US entered, and was twice decorated for bravery. Returning to the US after the war, he enrolled in the American ...

42. Michael Maize

Actor | Mr. Robot

Michael Maize was born on December 1, 1974 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Mr. Robot (2015), Happy! (2017) and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (2022).

43. Fredric March

Actor | Inherit the Wind

Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of ...

44. Gene Wilder

Actor | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

When he was 11, he wanted to be a comedian like Sid Caesar. Then, when he was 15 and saw Lee J. Cobb in 'Death of a Salesman,' he decided he would be a comedy actor and found that Mel Brooks was a great influence on his screen writing. He combined both talents with directing in The World's Greatest...

45. Tony Shalhoub

Actor | Monk

Anthony Marc Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joseph Shalhoub, who owned a grocery chain, emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at age ten, later marrying Shalhoub's mother, Helen (Seroogy), who herself was born in Wisconsin, to Lebanese parents. ...

46. Mark Ruffalo

Actor | Spotlight

Award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of humble means to father Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, a construction painter and Marie Rose (Hebert), a stylist and hairdresser; his father's ancestry is Italian and his mother is of half French-Canadian and half ...

47. Kathy Kinney

Actress | The Drew Carey Show

Despite her role as Mimi on The Drew Carey Show (1995), Kathy Kinney's first memorable television role is generally considered to be the regularly-appearing Ms. Goddard, the town librarian on Newhart (1982). Over the years, she has worked hard as a character actress making appearances on several ...

48. Richard Riehle

Actor | The Man from Earth

Richard Riehle was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, to Mary Margaret (Walsh), a nurse, and Herbert John Riehle, an assistant postmaster. He is of German and Irish descent. Richard attended the University of Notre Dame, where he became heavily involved with the University Theatre. Appearing in ...

49. Liberace

Soundtrack | Behind the Candelabra

Most remembered for his extravagant costumes and trademark candelabra placed on the lids of his flashy pianos, Liberace was loved by his audiences for his music talent and unique showmanship. He was born as Wladziu Valentino Liberace on May 16, 1919, into a musical family, in Wisconsin. His mother, ...

50. Kurtwood Smith

Actor | RoboCop

Kurtwood Smith was born on July 3, 1943 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for RoboCop (1987), Broken Arrow (1996) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). He has been married to Joan Pirkle since November 5, 1988. He was previously married to Cecilia Souza.

51. Bradley Whitford

Actor | Get Out

Bradley Whitford's credits in film, television and theater include work with some of the most noted writers, directors and playwrights in the arts, and constitute a career worthy of a Juilliard-trained actor -- which he is. But stardom is something else altogether, and it remained elusive, at least...

52. Spencer Tracy

Actor | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...

53. Pat O'Brien

Actor | Some Like It Hot

Although he came to be called "Hollywood's Irishman in Residence"--and, along with good friends James Cagney, Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh and a few others were called "The Irish Mafia"--and he often played Irish immigrants, Pat O'Brien was US-born and -bred. As a young boy the devoutly Roman ...

54. Daniel J. Travanti

Actor | Hill Street Blues

The highly regarded actor Daniel J. Travanti was born Danielo Giovanni Travanty in the southeastern part of Wisconsin on March 7, 1940, but raised for a time in Iowa before returning to his native state. The youngest son of an American Motors auto worker, he showed both athletic and academic ...

55. Dennis Morgan

Actor | My Wild Irish Rose

Dennis Morgan was born Stanley Morner in the small town of Prentice, Wisconsin. His first jobs in Hollywood were mostly bit parts, but he scored big after playing opposite Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle (1940). He starred in films like My Wild Irish Rose (1947), God Is My Co-Pilot (1945) and The Very...

56. Calahan Skogman

Actor | Shadow and Bone

Calahan Skogman is an actor and screenwriter hailing from Green Bay, Wisconsin. In early 2020, after a series of short films, extensive stage experience, and receiving his MFA in acting from the University of Southern California, he landed the role of Matthias Helvar in the highly anticipated ...