Born: July 8, 1959
Age: 65
Birthplace: Fremont, Ohio, U.S.
Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the FOX drama series Prison Break from 2005 to 2009 and has also appeared in films such as Good Night, and Good Luck, Hitman and Transporter 3. Knepper joined the cast of Heroes in 2009 for its final season as Samuel Sullivan, and he played Sid Rothman in the neo-noir television series Mob City in 2013.
Knepper was born in Fremont, Ohio, to Pat Deck and Donald Knepper. He is of German descent. He was interested in acting from an early age, due to his mother's involvement at a community theater. He was raised in Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo, by his mother and father, who were veterinarians. Knepper spent many years of his youth working in community theater and high school productions. After graduating from Maumee High School in 1977, he attended Northwestern University to study drama. During this time, Knepper also obtained professional roles in plays in Chicago. Nearing the completion of his degree, Knepper quit Northwestern and went to New York City, where he continued to work in theater.
Although Knepper never intended to work in film and television projects, he began his television and film career in 1986 with The Paper Chase and That's Life!. Knepper went on to have larger roles in such films as Wild Thing, Young Guns II, When the Bough Breaks and Everyone Says I Love You. He made appearances on well known television series such as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, ER and Law & Order. In 2005, after a recurring role on the HBO series Carnivàle, Knepper was cast in his most well known role, as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in Prison Break. The series received positive reviews upon release and "T-Bag" is often considered to be one of the greatest television villains of all time. During his time on Prison Break, Knepper also starred in a number of films; Good Night, and Good Luck, Hitman, Transporter 3 and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
After Prison Break ended in 2009, Knepper was cast as villain Samuel Sullivan in the fourth and final season of Heroes. After this, he went on to have a recurring role in Stargate Universe in 2010. He guest-starred on season six of Criminal Minds as Rhett Walden, a serial killer. The same year he played the titular character in the film adaptation of Burning Daylight.
In 2011, he reprised his role of T-Bag in one episode of the A&E series Breakout Kings. The next year he played Frank Sinatra in My Way, biopic of Claude François, a French pop singer who wrote the song "Comme d'habitude", the original version of Sinatra's song "My Way".
Knepper was cast in the 2013 television series Cult as Roger Reeves, an actor playing Billy Grimm on a show called Cult The show was cancelled after only one season. The same year, he appeared in R.I.P.D., Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and guest starred on the television series The Blacklist (episode: "The Courier"). At the end of 2013, the TNT series Mob City premiered, in which Knepper played gangster Sid Rothman. In 2014, Knepper guest starred in episodes of Arrow and The Flash as master hacker and time-and-motion study expert William Tockman a.k.a. Clock King
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | That's Life! | Steve Larwin | |
1987 | Wild Thing | Wild Thing | |
1987 | Police Story: The Freeway Killings | Karl James | Television film |
1987 | Made in Heaven | Orrin | |
1988 | D.O.A. | Nicholas Lang | |
1989 | Renegades | Marino | |
1990 | Arduous Moon | Andrew | Short film |
1990 | Young Guns II | Deputy Carlyle | |
1991 | Session Man | Torrey Cole | Short film |
1991 | Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion | Kim Weatherly | Television film |
1991 | Where the Day Takes You | Rock Singer | |
1992 | Gas Food Lodging | Dank | |
1993 | Zelda | Wilson | Television film |
1993 | When the Bough Breaks | Lt. Jimmy Creedmore | |
1994 | Pointman | Johnny | Television film |
1994 | Getting Out | Carl | Television film |
1994 | Under the Heat | Milo | |
1995 | Search and Destroy | Daniel Strong | |
1996 | Dead of Night | Christian | |
1996 | Voice from the Grave | Milosh | Television film |
1996 | MugShot | Joe | |
1996 | Everyone Says I Love You | Greg | |
1996 | The Undercover Kid | Bo the Dog (voice) | |
1997 | You Are Here | Jack | |
1998 | Phantoms | Agent Wilson | |
1998 | The Stringer | John | |
1998 | Jaded | Freddy | |
1999 | Absence of the Good | Glenn Dwyer | Television film |
1999 | Kidnapped in Paradise | Renard | Television film |
2000 | Love & Sex | Gerard Boussard | |
2001 | Lady in the Box | Chris Stark | |
2001 | Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot | Robert F. Kennedy | Television film |
2002 | Topa Topa Bluffs | Frank | |
2002 | The Pennsylvania Miners' Story | Mark Popernack | Television film |
2002 | Swatters | Daniel Steinberg | |
2004 | Species III | Dr. Abbot | Direct-to-video |
2005 | Good Night, and Good Luck | Don Surine | |
2005 | Hostage | Will Bechler | |
2007 | Hitman | Yuri Marklov | |
2008 | Turok: Son of Stone | Chickak (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2008 | Transporter 3 | Johnson | |
2008 | The Day the Earth Stood Still | Colonel | |
2010 | Burning Daylight | Elam 'Burning Daylight' Harnish | |
2011 | Earth's Final Hours | John Streich | Television film |
2012 | My Way | Frank Sinatra | |
2012 | Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden | Lieutenant Commander | Television film |
2013 | R.I.P.D. | Stanley Nawlicki | |
2013 | Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters | Kronos (voice) | |
2014 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 | Antonius | |
2014 | Ride | Peter | |
2015 | The Hoarder | Vince | |
2015 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 | Antonius | |
2015 | Cold Deck | Turk | |
2016 | Hard Target 2 | TBA | Post-Production |
2016 | Jack Reacher: Never Go Back | General Harkness | Filming |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | The Paper Chase | Howard | Episode: "Graduation" |
1986-1993 | L.A. Law | George 'Georgia' Buckner / David Orcott | 3 episodes |
1987 | Tour of Duty | Racist Soldier | Episode: "Burn, Baby, Burn" |
1987 | The Twilight Zone | Alonzo | Episode: "Joy Ride" |
1987 | Tour of Duty | PV2 Allen | Episode: "Burn Baby, Burn" |
1987 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Wyatt Miller | Episode: "Haven" |
1989 | Gideon Oliver | Paul Hecht | Episode: "Kennonite" |
1990 | E.A.R.T.H. Force | Dr. Peter Roland | 3 episodes |
1990-1991 | China Beach | Long / Vietnam Vet | 2 episodes |
1991 | Civil Wars | Joey D'Amato | Episode: "Have Gun, Will Unravel" |
1992 | Tequila and Bonetti | Ren Philips | Episode: "Runt of the Litter" |
1992 | Red Shoe Diaries | Nick Willard | Episode: "You Have the Right to Remain Silent" |
1993 | Doorways | Thane | Pilot |
1993-1996 | Murder, She Wrote | Charles George Drexler / Owen McLaglen / Robbie Dorow | 3 episodes |
1995 | Law & Order | Igor Smith | Episode: "Rebels" |
1995 | New York Undercover | David Carson | Episode: "Buster and Claudia" |
1995 | New York News | Ex-Con | Episode: "Fun City" |
1995 | Pointman | Ronnie McCusak | Episode: "Here She Comes, Miss Murder" |
1996 | Central Park West | Randy Boyd | Episode: "Guess Who's Come to Annoy You?" |
1996 | The Big Easy | Jack Gentry | Episode: "The Gambler" |
1996 | Desert Breeze | Pilot | |
1997 | The Visitor | Alex Burton | |
1998 | ER | Keith Reynolds | Episode: "My Brother's Keeper" |
1998 | Brimstone | Assistant D.A. Stewart Lambert | Episode: "Executioner" |
1999 | Strange World | Gil Sandifer | Episode: "Azrael's Breed" |
1999 | Star Trek: Voyager | Gaul | Episode: "Dragon's Teeth" |
2000 | Harsh Realm | Priest | Episode: "Camera Obscura" |
2000 | Profiler | Martin Lewis | Episode: "Tsuris" |
2000 | Seven Days | Major Gene Hastings | Episode: "Space Station Down" |
2000 | La Femme Nikita | Henry Collins | Episode: "Toys in the Basement" |
2001 | Thieves | Special Agent Shue | 10 episodes |
2001 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Dr. Peter Kelmer | Episode: "The Good Doctor" |
2001 | The West Wing | Morgan Ross | Episode: "Ellie" |
2002 | Haunted | Henry | Episode: "Pilot" |
2002-2003 | Presidio Med | Sean | 5 episodes |
2004 | CSI: Miami | Freddy Coleman | Episode: "Addiction" |
2003-2005 | Carnivàle | Tommy Dolan | 13 episodes |
2005 | Point Pleasant | Demon Dance Host | Episode: "Last Dance" |
2005-2009 2016 |
Prison Break | Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell | 75 episodes |
2009-2010 | Heroes | Samuel Sullivan | 19 episodes |
2010 | Stargate Universe | Simeon | 6 episodes |
2010 | Chase | Jack Druggan | Episode: "The Comeback Kid" |
2010 | Criminal Minds | Rhett Walden | Episode: "Reflection of Desire" |
2011 | Shameless | Rod | 2 episodes |
2011 | Breakout Kings | Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell | Episode: "The Bag Man" |
2013 | Cult | Roger Reeves/Billy Grimm | 13 Episodes |
2013 | The Blacklist | The Courier | Episode: "The Courier" |
2013 | Mob City | Sid Rothman | 6 episodes |
2014-2015 | Hawaii Five-0 | Internal Affairs Officer | 2 episodes |
2014 | Arrow | William Tockman/Clock King | Episode: "Time of Death" |
2014 | The Flash | William Tockman/Clock King | Episode: "Power Outage" |
2015 | Chicago Fire | Adrian Gish/Trenton Lamont | Episode: "3 Bells" |
2015 | Chicago PD | Adrian Gish/Trenton Lamont | Episode: "A Little Devil Complex" |
2015 | Texas Rising | Empresario Buckley | 4 episodes |
2015 | Public Morals | Captain Johanson | 4 episodes |
2015-2016 | iZombie | Angus McDonough | 4 episodes |
2015 | NCIS | Benson Long | Episode: "Personal Day" |
2015 | American Horror Story: Hotel | Lieutenant | Episode: "Room Service" |
2017 | Twin Peaks | TBA |