Mark Rolston

Mark Rolston
Rolston in 2023
Born	(1956-12-07) December 7, 1956 (age 68) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma mater	Richmond American University London Drama Centre London
Occupations	Actor voice actor
Years active	1976–present
Parent(s)	Evelyn Beverly Thomas George Rolston

Mark Rolston (born December 7, 1956) is an American actor and voice actor. He made his film debut as PFC. Drake in Aliens (1986), and is known for his supporting roles in films like Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Rush Hour (1998), The Departed (2006), and the Saw film series (2008-09). On television, he played Gordie Liman on The Shield (2003), Edward Shippen IV on Turn: Washington's Spies (2015-16), the voice of Lex Luthor on Young Justice (2010-22), and Lt. Don Thorne on Bosch (2018-21) and Bosch: Legacy (2022-25).

Early life and education

Rolston was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1956, raised by a single father. ^[1] He began studying acting and ballet as a child at the Washington Theatre Club in Washington, D.C.. ^[1] He graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, where he was classmates with actor Daniel Stern. He studied acting at the Richmond American University London and Drama Centre London in England. ^[1] Anton Rodgers was a mentor. ^[2]

Career

Rolston's early career was in the theatre in the United Kingdom. He made his stage debut at the age of 19, in the West End play Are Now Or Have You Ever Been in 1976, about the House Un-American Activities Committee. He then starred in Miss Julie at the Edinburgh International Festival, Sam Shepard's Action at the London Festival Fringe, and Bus Stop at The Mill at Sonning. He played the title role in a US national touring production of Richard II for the National Shakespeare Company.

In 1984, he was cast in a minor role in the Al Pacino film Revolution. ^[2] His role was cut from the final film, but he leveraged it into his audition for Aliens, and was cast as PFC Drake, his film debut. ^[2]

Rolston played Hans in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Herb in Prancer (1989), Stef in RoboCop 2 (1990), Bogs Diamond in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), J. Scar in Eraser (1996), Chief Dennis Wilson in Daylight (1996), Wayne Bryce in Hard Rain (1998), and Special Agent Warren Russ in Rush Hour (1998).

Rolston acted in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award winning 2006 film The Departed and the television horror film Backwoods . Many of Rolston's screen roles are villains due to his well-known icy stare. He also co-starred in 2008's Saw V and 2009's Saw VI . In 1994, he portrayed convicted killer "Karl Mueller" in the Babylon 5 episode "The Quality of Mercy", as well as "Richard Odin", leader of a vegetarian cult in an episode of The X-Files titled "Red Museum". In 2004, Rolston would guest star in two episodes of the critically acclaimed 24 . He appeared in a minor role in The CW series Supernatural during the fourth season as the demon Alastair. He also appeared as Sheriff Hall in the Criminal Minds episode, "Blood Hungry".

Rolston has also voiced several Marvel and DC characters, voicing Firefly in The New Batman Adventures and Justice League (he was originally considered to voice the supervillain in Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, although the character was deemed unsuitable for the series and ultimately dropped). He voiced Lex Luthor in the animated series Young Justice, Deathstroke in Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight, as well as Norman Osborn in the Spider-Man Insomniac Games.

Personal life

Rolston was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Evelyn Beverly (née Sturm) and Thomas George Rolston, who was a computer programmer. ^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Revolution		Deleted role
1986	Aliens	Private Mark Drake
1987	The Fourth Protocol	Russian Decoder
	Weeds	Dave
1989	A Sinful Life	Teresa
	Survival Quest	Jake
	Lethal Weapon 2	Hans
	Prancer	Herb Drier
1990	Impulse	Man in Bar
	RoboCop 2	Stef
1993	Body of Evidence	Detective Reese
1994	Scanner Cop	Lieutenant Harry Brown
	The Shawshank Redemption	Bogs Diamond
1995	Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back	Donnie Hansen
	The Set-Up	Ray Harris
1996	Eraser	J. Scar
	Daylight	Chief Dennis Wilson
1998	I Woke Up Early the Day I Died	Hot Dog Vendor
	Hard Rain	Wayne Bryce
	Letters from a Killer	O'Dell
	Rush Hour	Agent Warren Russ
1999	A Table for One	Tom Bernard
2002	Cathedral	Robert
	Scorcher	Special Agent Kellaway
	Highway	Burt Miranda
2005	Chasing Ghosts	Frank Anderson
	Miracle at Sage Creek	Captain Johnson
2006	The Departed	Timothy Delahunt
2007	Protecting the King	Frank
2008	Asylum	The Doctor
	Saw V	FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson
2009	Not Forgotten	Agent Wilson
	Saw VI	FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson
2012	That Guy...Who Was In That Thing	Himself	Documentary
2016	Tell Me How I Die	Dr. Layton
2019	Midway	Admiral Ernest J. King
2022	In Search of Tomorrow	Himself	Documentary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	X-Bomber	John Lee	Voice, UK dub
1984	The First Olympics: Athens 1896	Princeton Student	Miniseries
1985	American Playhouse	Bodine	Episode: "Displaced Person"
1986	Sledge Hammer!	Officer Braddock	Episode: "Magnum Farce"
1987	Wiseguy	Renaldo Sykes	Episode: "Pilot"
	Tour of Duty	PV2 Innes	Episode: "Burn Baby, Burn"
1989	Matlock	Keith Morrisey	Episode: "The Blues Singer"
1990	The Young Riders	Richard	Episode: "Hard Time"
	Tales from the Crypt	Dr. Zachary Cling	Episode: "Lower Berth"
	Father Dowling Mysteries	Mark	Episode: "The Undercover Nun Mystery"
	Jake and the Fatman	Jerry Malik	Episode: "Night and Day"
1991	In the Heat of the Night	Kevin Reilly	Episode: "Baby for Sale"
1992–95	Murder, She Wrote	Sgt. Terence Boyle, Finn Dawley, Liam Gillen	4 episodes
1993	Raven	Peter Lyons	Episode: "Poisoned Harvest"
1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Lt. Walter Pierce	Episode: "Eye of the Beholder"
	Babylon 5	Karl Mueller	Episode: "The Quality of Mercy"
	Diagnosis: Murder	Vinnie Bartell	Episode: "You Can Call Me Johnson"
1994, 2000	The X-Files	Richard Odin, Bud LaPierre	2 episodes
1995	ER	Officer Thomas	Episode: "The Birthday Party"
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Gregor	Episode: "Lucky Leon"
	Courthouse	Philip Carter	Episode: "Mitigating Circumstances"
	Strange Luck	Bagman, Merch	Episode: "Blind Man's Bluff"
1996	Sisters	Col. Hastings	Episode: "Leap Before You Look"
	Profit	Ivan Karpov	Episode: "Sykes"
	JAG	Lieutenant Commander Mark Lowery	Episode: "Recovery"
	The Lazarus Man	The Rescue	Episode: "The Rescue"
	Moloney	Joe Ballantine	Episode: "Pilot"
	Walker, Texas Ranger	Jake Prentice	Episode: "A Silent Cry"
1997	The Legend of Calamity Jane	Bill Doolin	Voice, 13 episodes [4]
1997–98	Brooklyn South	Detective Lou Conroy	3 episodes
	Zorro	Additional Voices	26 episodes
1998	Nash Bridges	Louis Jackson	Episode: "Crossfire"
	Men in Black: The Series	Additional Voices	Episode: "The Elle of My Dreams Syndrome"
	From the Earth to the Moon	Gus Grissom	Miniseries
	The Crow: Stairway to Heaven	MaseReyes	Episode: "Souled Out"
	The New Batman Adventures	Garfield Lynns / Firefly	Voice, 2 episodes [4]
1998–99	Profiler	Donald Lucas	7 episodes
1999	Harsh Realm	Bounty Hunter	Episode: "Leviathan"
	Aftershock: Earthquake in New York	Bruce Summerlin	Miniseries
	Godzilla: The Series	Captain Moore	Voice, episode: "End of the Line"
2000	Batman Beyond	Carl	Voice, episode: "The Eggbaby" [4]
2001	Angel	Boone	Episode: "Blood Money"
	Max Steel	Additional Voices	2 episodes
	Dark Angel	Herman Colberg	Episode: "Haven"
	Dead Last	Sheriff Wayne	Episode: "Teen Spirit"
	Alias	Seth Lambert	Episode: "Parity"
	Touched by an Angel	Delroy Gibbons	Episode: "Famous Last Words"
	NYPD Blue	Leon Broadus, Carl Bowen	2 episodes
2002	For the People	Mr. Cassidy	Episode: "Come Blow Your Whistle"
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Contractor	Episode: "The Corpse-Sniffing Dog"
2003	The Shield	Gordie Liman	5 episodes
	The Dead Zone	Hysterical Parishioner #3	Episode: "Zion"
	Justice League	Garfield Lynns / Firefly	Voice, episode: "Only a Dream" Pt. 1 [4]
2003–04	Star Trek: Enterprise	Kuroda Lor-ehn, Captain Magh	2 episodes
2004	24	Bruce Foxton	2 episodes
2005	CSI: NY	Inspector Bill Markoni	Episode: "The Dove Commission"
	Criminal Minds	Sheriff Hall	Episode: "Blood Hungry"
2006–07	CSI: Miami	FBI Agent Glen Cole	3 episodes
2007	Shark	Cade Berlinger	Episode: "The Wrath of Khan"
	Reaper	Arthur Ferrey	Episode: "Charged"
	Cold Case	Ari Gordon	4 episodes
2007–09	The Closer	Father Jack	2 episodes
2008	Supernatural	Alastair	2 episodes
	The Mentalist	Det. Dale Blakely	Episode: "The Thin Red Line"
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Sheriff	Episode: "One to Go"
	NCIS: Los Angeles	Marine Sergeant Jerrold "Pallet" Mulhearn	Episode: "Keepin' It Real"
	Lie to Me	Ed Kominsky	Episode: "Secret Santa"
2010–11	The Defenders	Johnny Greene	2 episodes
2010–13, 2019	Young Justice	Lex Luthor, Jonathan Kent, Highfather, Hro Talak, Antinoos, Sumaan Harjavti	Voice, 9 episodes [4]
2012	Body of Proof	Detective Charlie Meeks	Episode: "Shades of Blue"
	Breakout Kings	Chief Inspector Craig Renner	Episode: "An Unjust Death"
	Touch	Ed	Episode: "Tessellations"
	Franklin & Bash	Hon. Clarence Rydberg	Episode: "Last Dance"
	NCIS	George Westcott	2 episodes
2015	Castle	Kurt Van Zant	Episode: "Dead from New York"
2015–16	Turn: Washington's Spies	Judge Edward Shippen	7 episodes
2016	Scorpion	Agent Cooke	2 episodes
	Rosewood	Harvey	Episode: "Badges & Bombshells"
	Roots	Jewett	Miniseries
2017	Rebel	IA Investigator #1	Episode: "Pilot"
	Voltron: Legendary Defender	Kolivan, General Herreh	Voice, 8 episodes
	Snowfall	Max	1 episode
2018	SEAL Team	David Alper	Episode: "Credible Threat"
2018–21	Bosch	Lt. Thorne	9 episodes
2022	Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi	Senator Dagonet	Voice, episode: "Justice" [4]
2023	Ahsoka	Captain Hayle	Episode: "Part One: Master and Apprentice"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Blade Runner	Clovis
2000	Nox	Warlord Horrendous, others
2008	Turok	Captain Cole
2009	Dragon Age: Origins	Lord Darvianak Vollney, others
2012	Halo 4	Captain Andrew Del Rio	[4]
2013	Aliens: Colonial Marines	Private Mark Drake	[4]
	Injustice: Gods Among Us	Lex Luthor
	Batman: Arkham Origins	Deathstroke
	Young Justice: Legacy	Lex Luthor, Blockbuster	[4]
2014	Skylanders: Trap Team	Additional Voices
2015	Infinite Crisis	Starro
	Battlefield Hardline	Neil Roark	Also motion capture [4]
	Batman: Arkham Knight	Deathstroke
2016	Fallout 4: Nuka-World	Porter Gage
	Let It Die	Jackal Y	[5]
2018	Spider-Man	Norman Osborn	[4]
	Lego DC Super-Villains	Deathstroke	[4]
2020	Spider-Man: Miles Morales	Norman Osborn	[4]
2023	Spider-Man 2
2023	Star Trek: Resurgence	Portal 63
2024	Batman: Arkham Shadow	Jim Gordon	[6]

References

1. geekchicelite (2019-03-26). "Interview: Mark Rolston". The GCE. Retrieved 2025-04-08.
2. "Interview with Mark Rolston". The After Movie Diner. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
3. Mark Rolston biography, filmreference.com; accessed February 27, 2017.
4. "Mark Rolston (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved March 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
5. "CAST｜PlayStation®4用サバイバルアクションゲーム - Let It Die". letitdie.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved June 2, 2018.
6. Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 20, 2024). "First Look at Batman VR Game Arkham Shadow Gameplay, Voice Cast Revealed gamescom 2024". IGN . Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.

External links

• Mark Rolston at IMDb