Tom Pelphrey

Tom Pelphrey
Tom Pelphrey
Born	Thomas J. Pelphrey; July 28, 1982 (age 40); Howell, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Rutgers University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2004–present

Thomas J. Pelphrey (born July 28, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Jonathan Randall and Mick Dante in the CBS television series Guiding Light and As the World Turns respectively, Kurt Bunker in the Cinemax television series Banshee, Ward Meachum in the Netflix original series Iron Fist, Ben Davis in the Netflix original series Ozark, and Perry Abbott in the Prime Video original series Outer Range as well as a supporting role in David Fincher's film Mank.

Early life and education

Born in Howell, New Jersey, Pelphrey graduated from Howell High School in 2000, and from Rutgers University (Mason Gross School of the Arts) in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.^[1]

Career

Guiding Light

Pelphrey's most notable role has been the role of Jonathan Randall, the son of Reva Shayne and her late former husband, Richard Winslow, on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. He joined the cast in September 2004 and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of anti-hero Jonathan.

He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Younger Actor" in 2005 and won the award the following year in April 2006. He received a third consecutive nomination in the same category in 2007 but lost to Bryton McClure. Pelphrey won his second Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Younger Actor" in 2008.

As the World Turns

Pelphrey signed a contract to play "Mick" on As the World Turns beginning in October 2009.^[2] His run ended in February 2010 when his character was sent to prison for his misdeeds. Pelphrey earned an Emmy pre-nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mick Dante.

Other television roles

On March 30, 2007, he appeared in an episode of Numb3rs, "Pandora's Box".^[3] On October 17, 2008, he appeared in an episode of "Ghost Whisperer", and the following season in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2015 Pelphrey landed the recurring role of Kurt Bunker, a former neo-nazi trying to reintegrate into society, on Cinemax's action drama Banshee. To prepare for this role he started lifting weights and did research by reading books on the neo-Nazi movement in America.^[4] In 2017, he appeared in Iron Fist as Ward Meachum and portrayed Ben Davis on the third season of the Netflix crime drama Ozark which was released on March 27, 2020.^[5] His portrayal in the latter received critical acclaim and the lack of an Emmy nomination was perceived as a snub by fans and critics.^[6] Nonetheless, Pelphrey received nominations for Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (shared with the cast). In the final season of Ozark (2022), Pelphrey reprised the role of Ben Davis as a guest appearance, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.^[7]

Recently in 2022, he has starred in the Amazon Prime Video series Outer Range as Perry Abbott and will star in the upcoming HBO Max miniseries Love and Death as Don Crowder.

Theater

From September 6, 2007, to September 30, 2007, Pelphrey performed in Kevin Mandel's A New Television Arrives Finally as the title character, at Theatre 54, in New York.^[8] Pelphrey starred in In God's Hat at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, in New York City, through August 7, 2010.^[9] In 2012, he appeared in the Broadway cast of the musical drama End of the Rainbow as Mickey Deans; in 2015, he returned to Broadway in a revival of Fool for Love, playing Martin.^[10]

Personal life

In 2022, Pelphrey began dating actress Kaley Cuoco. They made their first public appearance as a couple at a Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in May 2022.^[11] Pelphrey and Cuoco announced via Instagram in October 2022 that they were expecting their first child together, a daughter.^[12]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Birds of America	Hitchhiker
2010	The Elastic	Marty	Short film
2012	Junction	David	ReelHeart International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2012	Excuse Me for Living	Dan
2013	Turtle Island	Tim
2013	Tiger Lily Road	Ricky Harden
2014	A Cry from Within	Carl
2015	Anchors	Denny
	The Girl Is in Trouble	Eric
	Sam	Stephen
	#Lucky Number	Bret Reynolds
	Blink	Actor
2019	Crazy Alien	Captain Zach Andrews
2020	Mank	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
2022	American Murderer	Jason Derek Brown	Post-production
2022	She Said		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	The Burg	Douche Bag Dave	Episode: "Out"
2007	Numb3rs	Mike Daley	Episode: "Pandora's Box"
2008	Ghost Whisperer	Brian	Episode: "Ghost in the Machine"
2008	CSI: Miami	Mick Ragosa	Episode: "Wrecking Crew"
2004–2009	Guiding Light	Jonathan Randall	154 episodes; Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series (2006, 2008) Nominated – Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2007) Nominated – Gold Derby Award for Younger Actor – Daytime Drama (2006–2007) Nominated – Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Male Newcomer (2005)
2009–2016	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Various	2 episodes
2009–2010	As the World Turns	Mick Dante	29 episodes
2010	The Good Wife	Josh Mundy	Episode: "Doubt"
2011	Body of Proof	Dean Avery	Episode: "Talking Heads"
2012	Blue Bloods	Mike Galatis	Episode: "The Uniform"
2013	The Following	Brock	Episode: "Guilt"
2014	Black Box	Joseph Morgan	Episode: "Forget Me"
2015–2016	Banshee	Kurt Bunker	15 episodes
2017	Chicago P.D.	Thomas Cade	Episode: "Favor, Affection, Malice or Ill-Will"
2017–2018	Iron Fist	Ward Meachum	Main role; 21 episodes
2019	Blindspot	Cameron Gibbs	Episode: “Frequently Recurring Struggle for Existence”
2020–2022	Ozark	Ben Davis	Main role (season 3) Guest role (season 4) Nominated – Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2022	Outer Range	Perry Abbott	Main role
2022	Love and Death	Don Crowder	Upcoming miniseries
TBA	A Man in Full	Raymond Peepgrass	Upcoming miniseries

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Homefront	Connor J. Morgan	Voice role

References

^ Meet Tom Pelphrey: Kristen Hamill chats with the Mason Gross graduate, who now can be seen on The Guiding Light^{[permanent dead link]}, The Daily Targum, October 5, 2004
^ Potter, Courtney (September 1, 2009). "Tom Pelphrey to Join "As The World Turns"". SoapNet. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
^ "CBS Daytime | Guiding Light". CBS. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
^ "Interview with Tom Pelphrey on Banshee". myFanbase. March 26, 2015.
^ Petski, Denise (June 14, 2019). "'Ozark': Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Frances Dukes Among Four Cast; Two Promoted For Season 3 Of Netflix Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
^ Davies, Alex (July 31, 2020). "Ozark fans outraged as Tom Pelphrey snubbed by Emmys for Ben role: 'Robbed!'". Daily Express. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
^ Andreeva, Nellie; Hipes, Patrick (July 12, 2022). "Emmy Nominations: The Complete List". Deadline. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
^ Propst, Andy (September 10, 2007). "A New Television Arrives, Finally". Backstage.
^ Jaworowski, Ken (July 26, 2010). "Richard Taylor's Vision From the Gates of Jail". The New York Times.
^ "Tom Pelphrey at the Internet Broadway Database".
^ "Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey Make First Public Appearance as a Couple". Peoplemag. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
^ Slater, Georgia (October 12, 2022). "Pregnant Kaley Cuoco Shares New Baby Bump Photos After Revealing She's Expecting with Tom Pelphrey". People. Retrieved October 12, 2022.

External links

[1] Meet Tom Pelphrey: Kristen Hamill chats with the Mason Gross graduate, who now can be seen on The Guiding Light^{[permanent dead link]}, The Daily Targum, October 5, 2004

[2] Potter, Courtney (September 1, 2009). "Tom Pelphrey to Join "As The World Turns"". SoapNet. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.

[3] "CBS Daytime | Guiding Light". CBS. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2007.

[4] "Interview with Tom Pelphrey on Banshee". myFanbase. March 26, 2015.

[5] Petski, Denise (June 14, 2019). "'Ozark': Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Frances Dukes Among Four Cast; Two Promoted For Season 3 Of Netflix Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

[6] Davies, Alex (July 31, 2020). "Ozark fans outraged as Tom Pelphrey snubbed by Emmys for Ben role: 'Robbed!'". Daily Express. Retrieved April 3, 2022.

[7] Andreeva, Nellie; Hipes, Patrick (July 12, 2022). "Emmy Nominations: The Complete List". Deadline. Retrieved July 12, 2022.

[8] Propst, Andy (September 10, 2007). "A New Television Arrives, Finally". Backstage.

[9] Jaworowski, Ken (July 26, 2010). "Richard Taylor's Vision From the Gates of Jail". The New York Times.

[10] "Tom Pelphrey at the Internet Broadway Database".

[11] "Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey Make First Public Appearance as a Couple". Peoplemag. Retrieved October 7, 2022.

[12] Slater, Georgia (October 12, 2022). "Pregnant Kaley Cuoco Shares New Baby Bump Photos After Revealing She's Expecting with Tom Pelphrey". People. Retrieved October 12, 2022.

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v t e Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series
1980s	Brian Bloom (1985) Michael E. Knight (1986) Michael E. Knight (1987) Billy Warlock (1988) Justin Gocke (1989)
1990s	Andrew Kavovit (1990) Rick Hearst (1991) Kristoff St. John (1992) Monti Sharp (1993) Roger Howarth (1994) Jonathan Jackson (1995) Kevin Mambo (1996) Kevin Mambo (1997) Jonathan Jackson (1998) Jonathan Jackson (1999)
2000s	David Tom (2000) Justin Torkildsen (2001) Jacob Young (2002) Jordi Vilasuso (2003) Chad Brannon (2004) David Lago (2005) Tom Pelphrey (2006) Bryton McClure (2007) Tom Pelphrey (2008) Darin Brooks (2009)
2010s	Drew Tyler Bell (2010) Scott Clifton (2011) Chandler Massey (2012) Chandler Massey (2013) Chandler Massey (2014) Freddie Smith (2015) Bryan Craig (2016) Bryan Craig (2017) Rome Flynn (2018) Kyler Pettis (2019)