Gil Birmingham

Gil Birmingham
Gil Birmingham
Born	July 13, 1953 (age 70); San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Website	gilbirmingham.com

Gil Birmingham (born July 13, 1953)^{[citation needed]} is an American actor known for his role as Tribal Chairman Thomas Rainwater in the Paramount Network's television series Yellowstone. He is also known for his portrayal of Billy Black in The Twilight Saga film series and recurring television roles as George Hunter in Banshee and Virgil White in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Early life

Gilbert Birmingham was born in San Antonio, Texas. He identifies his father as being of Comanche descent.^[1] His family moved frequently during his childhood due to his father's career in the military. Birmingham learned to play the guitar at an early age and considers music to be his "first love."^[2] After obtaining a Bachelor of Science from the USC Price School of Public Policy,^[3] he worked as a petrochemical engineer, but later decided to become an actor.^[4]^[5]

Career

Music videos

In the early 1980s, a talent scout spotted Birmingham at a local gym, where he had been bodybuilding and entering bodybuilding contests, and recruited him for his first acting experience, a music video for Diana Ross's 1982 hit song "Muscles".^[6]

Theme parks

After that music video, Birmingham began to pursue acting as his primary career, studying with Larry Moss and Charles Conrad. He portrayed the character of Conan the Barbarian in Universal Studios Hollywood's theme park attraction The Adventures of Conan: A Sword and Sorcery Spectacular.^[4]

Television

Birmingham made his television debut on an episode of the series Riptide. By 2002, he had a recurring role as the character Oz in the medical drama Body & Soul, starring Peter Strauss. In 2005, he was cast as the older Dogstar in the Steven Spielberg six-part miniseries Into the West. In 2018, he began portraying Chief Thomas Rainwater of the fictional Broken Rock Indian Reservation in Paramount Network's Yellowstone.

He has appeared in a number of other television series, including Animal Kingdom, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, 10 Items or Less, Nip/Tuck, Castle, The Mentalist, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Siren. He has also had roles in several television films, such as Gentle Ben (with Dean Cain) and Gentle Ben 2,^[7] Dreamkeeper, The Lone Ranger, and Love's Long Journey (with Erin Cottrell and Irene Bedard).

In 2022, Birmingham was cast as Detective Bill Taba, a Paiute man and non-Latter-day Saint, in the mini-series Under the Banner of Heaven.

Films

In 2001, Birmingham appeared in his first feature film, The Doe Boy, in which he portrayed Manny Deadmarsh.

In 2008, he was cast as the character Billy Black in The Twilight Saga film series. He performed in all five of the films.^[8]^[9]

The Twilight series led to other major film roles, including that of Sheriff Johnny Cortez in Love Ranch (with Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren), and Cal Bishnik in Shouting Secrets (with The Twilight Saga: New Moon castmate Chaske Spencer). In September 2011, Birmingham appeared in the film Crooked Arrows, cast in the role of Ben Logan.^[10]

Birmingham voiced Wounded Bird in the animated film Rango and has provided voice work for the television series The Wild Thornberrys (in which he voiced an Inuit elder) and the film Night at the Museum.^{[citation needed]}

He played the partnering Texas Ranger to Jeff Bridges' character in the 2016 bank robbery film Hell or High Water.

In the Chickasaw Nation production of Te Ata, Birmingham plays Thomas Benjamin 'T.B.' Thompson, Mary Frances 'Te Ata' (Thompson) Fisher's father.^[11]^[12] Birmingham attended the film's premiere in Moore, Oklahoma, on September 13, 2016.^[13]

He was featured in The Space Between Us as Shaman Neka, which was released on February 3, 2017. He was featured as the father of a girl who dies on an Arapaho reservation in the 2017 film Wind River.

In February 2021, Birmingham was cast as Charlie Bass in the Netflix thriller series Pieces of Her, adapted from the Karin Slaughter novel of the same name.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	House II: The Second Story	Featured Warrior
1996	Le Jaguar	Bodyguard of Kumare
2001	The Doe Boy	Manny Deadmarsh
2002	Skins	Sonny Yellow Lodge
2005	End of the Spear	Moipa	Uncredited
2007	Cosmic Radio	Tribal Council Leader
2008	Turok: Son of Stone	Nashoba (voice)
	No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker	Eaglesmith
	Twilight	Billy Black
2009	The Twilight Saga: New Moon
2010	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
2010	Love Ranch	Sheriff Johnny Cortez
2011	Rango	Wounded Bird (voice)
	Shouting Secrets	Cal Bishnik
	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1	Billy Black
	California Indian	Charles "Chi" Thomas
2012	Crooked Arrows	Ben Logan
2012	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2	Billy Black	Credited only
2013	The Lone Ranger	Red Knee
2014	The Boxcar Children	Lonan Browning	Voice role
2016	Hell or High Water	Alberto Parker
2017	Wind River	Martin Hanson
	The Space Between Us	Shaman Neka
	Transformers: The Last Knight	Chief Sherman
2018	The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island	Lonan Browning	Voice role
2018	Saint Judy	Michael Bowman
2023	The Marsh King's Daughter	Clark
TBA	Wind River: The Next Chapter	Martin Hanson	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Riptide	Cop	Episode: "Chapel of Glass"
1987	Falcon Crest	Deputy	Episode: "Desperation"
1997	The Legend of Calamity Jane	Additional voices	13 episodes
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Peru Man	Episode: "Inca Mummy Girl"
	Night Man	Vargas	Episode: "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"
	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Brave #1	Episode: "Safe Passage"
1999	The Wild Thornberrys	Jim's Dad (voice)	Episode: "Tamper Proof Seal"
2001	Family Law	Bernard	Episode: "Americans"
2001	V.I.P.	Roland	Episode: "Uncle from V.A.L."
2002	Gentle Ben	Pete	Television film
2002	Body & Soul	Oz	8 episodes
2003	Gentle Ben 2	Pete	Television film
	The Lone Ranger	One Horn	Unsold television film
	Dreamkeeper	Sam	Television film
2005	Medical Investigation	Walter Shephard	Episode: "Tribe"
	Into the West	Older Dogstar	Television miniseries, 4 episodes
	Love's Long Journey	Sharp Claw	Television film
2006	Charmed	Indian Chief	Episode: "Payback's a Witch"
2006	Veronica Mars	Leonard Lobo	2 episodes
2009	Nip/Tuck	Shaman	Episode: "Budi Sabri"
2009	10 Items or Less	John Greene	Episode: "Dances with Groceries"
2010	Castle	Cacaw Te	Episode: "Wrapped Up in Death"
2010	The Mentalist	Markham Willis	Episode: "Aingavite Baa"
2012	The Lying Game	Ben Whitehorse	3 episodes
	Wilfred	Red Wolf	Episode: "Questions"
	Vegas	Don Simmons	2 episodes
2014	Banshee	George Hunter	5 episodes
2014	House of Cards	Daniel Lanagin	4 episodes
2015–2017	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	Virgil	7 episodes
2016	Dr. Del	Crow	Television film
2017	Animal Kingdom	Pearce	Series regular (seasons 3-4)
2018–2020	Siren	Sheriff Dale Bishop	14 episodes
2018–present	Yellowstone	Thomas Rainwater	Main role
2019	NCIS: Los Angeles	Navy Captain Steven Douglas	3 episodes
2021	Pieces of Her	Charlie Bass	6 episodes
2022	Under the Banner of Heaven	Bill Taba	Main role, 6 episodes (miniseries)
2024	X-Men '97	Forge / Daniel Lone Eagle	3 episodes^[15]
2024	Tracker	Gus McMillion	Episode: "Into the Wild"

Video games

Year	Title	Role
1999	Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun	Ghostalker (voice)

Awards

2001: The Doe Boy (in which Birmingham starred as Manny Deadmarsh) wins the Sundance International Filmmaker's Award^{[citation needed]}
2002: First Americans in the Arts (FAITA) award for an Outstanding Performance in a Recurring Role as Oz in Body & Soul^{[citation needed]}
2005: American Indian LA Film and Television Award for Outstanding Supporting Role as Sam in Dreamkeeper^[16]

References

^ Leydon, Joe (August 14, 2018). "Gil Birmingham". Cowboys & Indians. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
^ "Billy Black actor talks of role on eve of visiting LaPush". Peninsuladailynews.com. July 16, 2010. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ "Gil Birmingham adds 'Hell or High Water' to long resume". fresnobee.
^ ^a ^b Pond, Roscoe (April 2, 2003). "Through the Kindness of Strangers; Actor Gil Birmingham Arrives". Indian Country Today. 22 (42): D1.
^ Gire, Dann (June 24, 2010). "Daily Herald | A little bit of job advice, courtesy of two 'Twilight' stars". Prev.dailyherald.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ Kimberly Sherman (June 10, 2009). "An exclusive chat with Billy Black actor Gil Birmingham - Twilight Moonlighter". Blogs.hellomagazine.com. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ "Gil Birmingham Biography". Filmreference.com. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ Ditzian, Eric (July 8, 2010). "'Breaking Dawn' Part Two Release Date Not Set For Summer 2012 - MTV Movie News". MTV. Archived from the original on January 6, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ Kilpatrick, Christine (April 1, 2011). "Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart Married in Breaking Dawn". People.com. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ Rosenberg, Steven A. (August 11, 2011). "Local players add extra authenticity to movie about lacrosse - Boston.com". Articles.boston.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
^ "Gil Birmingham". Te Ata. The Chickasaw Nation. October 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
^ "Te Ata Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. October 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
^ "Te Ata". Facebook. September 13, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
^ Petski, Denise (February 5, 2021). "'Pieces Of Her': Gil Birmingham, Terry O'Quinn & Calum Worthy Join Netflix Series As Recurring". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
^ Romano, Nick (February 15, 2024). "'X-Men '97' exclusive look reveals legacy costumes, Theo James casting". EW.com. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
^ "Bio".