Tom Braidwood

Last updated
Tom Braidwood
Born (1948-09-27) September 27, 1948 (age 74)
NationalityCanadian
Occupationactor
Years active1977–2010, 2016

Tom Braidwood (born September 27, 1948) is a Canadian actor and director known for the role of Melvin Frohike, one of the conspiracy theorists known as The Lone Gunmen on the American television series The X-Files . [1] [2] Braidwood also served as an assistant director on the show from seasons one through five; was a second unit director on Millennium , another series from Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files; and a producer of the second season of the Canadian TV series Da Vinci's Inquest , on which he also directed some episodes.

Braidwood's career started in 1977, working as a production assistant, location manager, assistant director, and occasional actor and writer for numerous productions in the Vancouver area. He has a small role in the 1985 film My American Cousin , and wrote an episode of the Canadian TV series Danger Bay (on which he was also an assistant director). He can also be glimpsed in a very small non-speaking bit part on 21 Jump Street, another show on which he served as an assistant director.

While serving as an assistant director on The X-Files in 1994, Braidwood was identified by a casting director on the show as being ideal for the small one-time role of a seedy, intense, but generally friendly conspiracy theorist. Braidwood's initially one-shot part as Frohike developed into a recurring character, seen in 39 episodes across all nine seasons of the original run of the show. In addition to The X-Files, Braidwood also co-starred as Frohike in the spin-off series The Lone Gunmen , which aired 13 episodes in 2001. In 2006, Braidwood appeared in two episodes of the series Whistler , and in 2009 appeared in the movies Messages Deleted and Alien Trespass .

Braidwood essentially retired from both acting and production work around 2010, but returned to reprise the role of Frohike in a single episode of The X-Files revival series in 2016.

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References

  1. Lincoln, Ross A. (2015-07-22). "The Lone Gunmen Back From The Dead For 'X-Files' Revival". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  2. "The Latest X-Files Teaser Arrives". Empire. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2020-04-07.