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Gil Bellows

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Gil Bellows
Bellows at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born (1967-06-28) June 28, 1967 (age 57)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
OccupationActor
Years active1988–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1994; div. 2023)​
Children2

Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadian actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for the roles of Tommy Williams in the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption, Billy Thomas in the Fox television series Ally McBeal (1997–2002), and CIA agent Matt Callan in the CBS television series The Agency (2001–2003). In 2016–2017, he was a regular cast member in the USA Network series Eyewitness.

As a producer, Bellows has several notable accomplishments, including Mick Jackson’s HBO biographical drama Temple Grandin (2010), which earned him both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. He produced, starred in, co-wrote, and co-directed the film 3 Days in Havana (2013), and also produced the Amazon Prime Video series Patriot (2015–2017), where he received story credits as well.

Early life

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Bellows was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and attended Magee Secondary School with fellow future actor Carrie-Anne Moss. After graduation, he pursued a career in acting, studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, California.

Career

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1990-1994: rise to prominence

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Bellows moved to New York after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Six months later, after many rejections, he was considering returning to Vancouver, British Columbia, when things picked up. In 1990, he earned notice for his performance in a one-act play by Alan Bowne, A Snake in the Vein, with The New York Times writing: "Mr. Bellows is physically magnetic as the boy who believes he is tougher than he is and whose sense of bravado is so pathetically susceptible to manipulation."[1][2]

In 1994, Bellows played the pivotal role of Tommy in Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.[3] After a long cross-country search, casting director Deborah Aquino chose Bellows, then 27, to play the role of Tommy, after Brad Pitt who had been initially cast couldn't commit due to scheduling conflict. Aquino explained"We must have seen every young man in that age range in Chicago, New York and L.A. -- name actors and no-name actors."[2] When he was cast, Bellows was working as a doorman at The Royalton Hotel in Manhattan.[2] Frank Darabont, who directed The Shawshank Redemption, based on his own script adapted from Stephen King's original story, told The New York Times that: "Gil brought this quality of ingenuousness to Tommy that I find quite believable. Even though Tommy's kind of a hardened kid, there's a naïveté to him, and Gil's got a sweetness that comes through."[2] Freeman was surprised that Bellows was fairly new actor, and said he "relaxed right into it." Bellows saidd "I really wanted to play Tommy, and I was really hoping the audition wouldn't come down to a name criterion, or l wouldn't have had a hope."[4] The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including "Best Picture".[5] It is often considered as one of greatest films of all times.[6]

That same year, he played the lead role Watty Watt, a holdup artist on the run in the indie crime drama Love and a .45 with Renée Zellweger. Of his character, Bellows said "I loved him from the moment I read the first page of the script, in spite of his profession, he is really a noble character. "I think he does know the difference between good and bad, right and wrong. By and large his justifications are those I would embrace in my own life - other than armed robbery."[7] While the film received mixed to positive reviews, the were all unanimous on the quality of Bellows's acting.[8][9][10] Neil Davidson in his article published in the Red Deer Advocate explained he liked the film and that Watty is "played to perfection by Bellows."[7]

1995 - 2010: subsequent success

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He co-starred opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in the 1995 romantic comedy Miami Rhapsody. In his review of the film, Roger Ebert wrote: “Miami Rhapsody has been dismissed in some quarters as an imitation Woody Allen movie, but since the imitation and the movie are both so entertaining, I don't see what the problem is."[11]

In 1997, as Billy Thomas, the title character's former flame and new co-worker, who she's still attracted to, in the television series Ally McBeal opposite Calista Flockhart. In her review in The New York Times, Caryn James wrote: "A central plot is the simmering heat that still exists between her and her old flame, Billy (Gil Bellows). That exists despite the presence of Billy's lawyer-wife, Georgia, played by Courtney Thorne-Smith of Melrose Place.[12]

Bellows announced that he would be leaving the show in season 3, but fans were surprised when Billy dies suddenly while making an impassioned speech in the courtroom. In the series finale, he returns from the dead to reassure Ally that life works out.[13][14]

He portrayed CIA agent Matt Callan in the CBS primetime television series The Agency.[12] It was one of three new series, including Alias, and 24, to highlight the CIA. All three premiered following the September 11 attacks Alias and 24 continued for more seasons, but CBS cancelled The Agency after the second season.[2]

Bellows also appeared in the psychological thriller Chasing Sleep as Detective Derm, opposite star Jeff Daniels. He appeared in The Weather Man as a perverted rehabilitation counsellor. He was in the films Black Day Blue Night, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, as Will, and Un amour de sorcière, a French film, as Michael Firth (1997). He has appeared on the Hallmark Channel original film Final Days of Planet Earth and the Canadian television series Terminal City.

In 2007, he completed filming for Kill Kill Faster Faster, which is a contemporary film noir inspired by the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Joel Rose.

Bellows also played a State Department Officer in 24: Redemption, a television film prequel to the seventh season of 24.[15]

In 2008, he starred in the Canadian Super Channel science-fiction adventure thriller film Infected.

Bellows has also appeared as Maxwell Lord on Smallville in the Season 9 episodes "Charade" and "Hostage".[16][17]

In 2010, Bellows had a recurring role in FlashForward as Timothy, a window-washer who becomes a born-again Christian and evangelist after a near-death experience.[18] That year Bellows also co-starred in the movie Unthinkable, and played the lead villain in Steve Austin's action film Hunt to Kill.

As an executive producer that year, he released Mick Jackson’s HBO biographical drama Temple Grandin, which earned him both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award.[19]

2011 to present day: current work

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!n 2011 co-starred with Macha Grenon and Julia Stone in The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom. He starred in the 2012 feature film Fury. In some second-season episodes (2012) of Boss he appeared as a casino investor.

In 2014, Bellows starred with Tricia Helfer in the Syfy miniseries Ascension, a retro space opera / murder mystery about the 600-person crew of the USS Ascension, an Orion-class nuclear pulse propulsion spaceship, on its secret 100-year journey to Proxima Centauri, having been launched in 1963 by President Kennedy. Bellows played Harris Enzmann, the son of the founder of the Ascension project, who oversees its progress from a secret facility on Earth.

On October 16, 2016, Bellows debuted as a cast regular in USA Network's new, 10-episode, straight-to-series police drama, Eyewitness. He plays Gabe Caldwell, a veterinarian and the husband of Sheriff Helen Torrance (series lead Julianne Nicholson). The series, although set in mainly in the Hudson River Valley, was actually filmed in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada.

From 2015 to 2018, he had a recurring role as Lawrence Lacroix, on Patriot, the Amazon Prime Video series which he also executive produced.

In 2019, Bellows guest-starred as the unnamed maternity doctor in season 3, episode 9, of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale.

Personal life

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Bellows was married to American actress Rya Kihlstedt, whom he met in the early 1990’s. The couple have two adult children. The couple separated in 2021 and divorced in 2023.[20]

Acting credits

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Main article: Gil Bellows on screen and stage

References

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  1. ^ Holden, Stephen (November 11, 1990). "Review/Theater; A Baroque Vision of Evil in One-Act Play Series". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bernstein, Paula S. (October 2, 1994). "UP AND COMING: Gil Bellows; Hey, Brando, Remember That Hunk at the Door?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  3. ^ Writer, Staff. "Actor Gil Bellows to attend Shawshank anniversary". The Daily Jeffersonian. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  4. ^ Bernstein, Paula S. (October 7, 1994). "Success is a new lifestyle for Bellows". Austin American-Statesman. pp. E5.
  5. ^ "The 67th Academy Awards | 1995". www.oscars.org. October 5, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  6. ^ Tobias, Scott (September 23, 2024). "The Shawshank Redemption at 30: is it really the greatest film ever made?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Davidson, Neil (September 18, 1994). "In the heart of Texas". Red Deer Advocate. p. 8.
  8. ^ Thomas, Kevin (November 23, 1994). "'Love and a.45': fast, violent and funny". Los Angeles Times. pp. F6.
  9. ^ McCarthy, Todd (June 6, 1994). "Love and a .45". Variety. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  10. ^ Savlov, Marc (November 25, 1994). "Movie Review: Love & a .45". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Miami Rhapsody movie review & film summary (1995) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  12. ^ a b James, Caryn (September 8, 1997). "A Young Lawyer and Her Fantasies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  13. ^ "Ten Beloved Characters, Ten Ignoble Deaths". Vulture. February 28, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  14. ^ Salamon, Julie (May 22, 2002). "TELEVISION REVIEW; 'Ally McBeal' Ends, Not With a Bang but a Whimper". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  15. ^ Nellie Andreeva (May 23, 2008). "'24' prequel adds cast - Eric Lively, Tony Todd, Gil Bellows join the fray". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 26, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
  16. ^ #8
  17. ^ "Smallville: Maxwell Lord is Cast". IGN. February 22, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  18. ^ Hale, Mike (March 19, 2010). "'FlashForward' Watch: Simon Says". The New York Times.
  19. ^ "Gil Bellows". CBC.
  20. ^ "'Shawshank Redemption' Star Gil Bellows' Wife Files for Divorce After 26 Years of Marriage". August 2, 2022.
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