Skipp Sudduth

Skipp Sudduth
Skipp Sudduth in 2005
Born
Robert Lee Sudduth IV
(1956-08-23) August 23, 1956
Alma materHampden-Sydney College (BS)University of Virginia (MFA)
Years active1984–present
RelativesKohl Sudduth (brother)

Robert Lee "Skipp" Sudduth IV (born August 23, 1956) is an American theater, film and television actor. He appeared in the 1998 film Ronin and the TV drama Third Watch.

Early life and education

Born in Wareham, Massachusetts, the son of an engineer and a nurse, Sudduth attended George Washington High School in Danville, Virginia. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Hampden–Sydney College. He is the older brother of actor Kohl Sudduth. Sudduth received his Masters of Fine Arts degree in acting from the University of Virginia in 1985.[1]

Career

Sudduth worked for a year as director of alumni relations at his alma mater in the administration of the college's president Josiah Bunting III, author of The Lionheads and future commandant of Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Sudduth then worked for a year as apprentice to the winemaker with poet and vintner Tom O'Grady at Rose Bower Vineyard and Winery. During this period, Sudduth was acting in community and campus theater and writing original comedy and directing and producing the annual comedy review, Parting Shots, at Hampden–Sydney College.

The following year, Sudduth returned to school entering the acting program in the Department of Drama at the University of Virginia. At UVA, he met and worked with Spencer Golub, who would go on to head the Drama Department at Brown University. Golub's emphasis on physically liberating the imagination through extensive guided improvisation became the foundation for Sudduth's approach to acting. Sudduth acted extensively during his time at UVA playing leading roles in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class (opposite Nip/Tuck's Dylan Walsh), and Peter Shaffer's Equus, which featured the first full male and female nudity ever allowed on stage in a production at UVA.

Sudduth moved to Chicago in December 1985 aspiring to work with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. During his four and a half years in Chicago, Sudduth played in many stage productions including Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Emily Mann's Execution of Justice, and Nebraska (by screenwriter John Logan, who penned The Aviator). He has appeared in stage adaptations of The Grapes of Wrath, On the Waterfront and A Clockwork Orange, and acted in the 1999 Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh (alongside Kevin Spacey) and the 2003 debut performance of Woody Allen's play Riverside Drive (starring with Paul Reiser). He also appeared in Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center (with Helen Hunt).[2]

Sudduth's movie career has seen him play numerous small parts in 54 (1998), A Cool, Dry Place (1998), and Spike Lee's Clockers (1995), as well larger roles with Robert De Niro in Ronin (1998) and Flawless (1999). Sudduth, who is a keen amateur racing/stunt driver, performed nearly all of the driving his character does in Ronin.[3]

Skipp Sudduth had a recurring role in the TV soap operaOne Life to Live, but is better known for his portrayal of NYPD officer John "Sully" Sullivan in the NBC drama Third Watch. Sudduth appeared in all six seasons of the show and his character is one of the leading ensemble of eight around whom the underlying story arc revolves.[4] He earned his Directors Guild of America card directing the episode "Collateral Damage, Part II" in season four. Sudduth has also made guest appearances in Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Oz, Trinity, Cosby, and Mad About You.[5]

Sudduth is also a singer-songwriter. His acoustic-rock band Minus Ted has released three albums: Hope and Damage (1994), Really Really (1999) and Hope and Damage Revisited (2005). The last two are available on iTunes. He was a member of New York's Rumble in the Redroom comedy troupe (1996–99) and has recorded several notable audio books including one short story in the acclaimed Stephen King collection, Just After Sunset and Peter Canellos's biography of Ted Kennedy, Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy, both for Simon & Schuster.

In 2008, Sudduth created the role of Captain George Brackett in the Tony Award-winning revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific at Lincoln Center. Sudduth finished the year appearing in the New York premiere of Prayer for My Enemy, a play by Craig Lucas. The play was the second time Sudduth worked with director Bartlett Sher who had also directed South Pacific. The production ran at the off-Broadway theater Playwright's Horizons from November 14 to December 21 and also featured Victoria Clark, Michele Pawk, and Jonathan Groff. In the play, Sudduth played a recovering alcoholic coping with his son's return from the Iraq War.

Sudduth officially began his career as a director during his years in the cast of Third Watch by directing one episode in each of the last three years of the series. Since then, Sudduth has directed episodes of ER, Criminal Minds, Women's Murder Club, CSI: Cyber, and multiple episodes of CSI: NY. In 2012, he starred on the short-lived police drama NYC 22 as NYPD Detective Tommy Luster.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1984 Mutants in ParadiseBoris / Bob
1995 ClockersNarc #3
1995 Money TrainKowalski
1996 EraserWatch Commander
1998 A Cool, Dry PlaceJack Newbauer
1998 54Harlan O'Shea
1998 RoninLarry
1998 American CuisineWicks
1998 Bury the EvidenceGoon #2
1999 FlawlessTommy
2010 DrunkboatEarl
2013 The HuntedTony
2015 MeadowlandTed
2015 FreeheldChief Reynolds
2016 To Whom It May ConcernPeter
2016 The NeighborNeil
2018 Beyond the NightSheriff Hirsch
2019 Blow the Man DownOfficer Coletti
2020 Lazy SusanTom

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1992 The SecretJack (Voter) Television film
1993 DaybreakWorkfare Man
1993 ScamBob Sarcominia
1993 As the World TurnsDoctor Episode #1.9658
1994 CBS Schoolbreak SpecialBarry Goldstein Episode: "Same Difference"
1995 New York UndercoverTony Donato Episode: "Buster and Claudia"
1995 New York NewsLapetto Episode: "Broadway Joe"
1995–1999 Law & OrderVarious roles 3 episodes
1996 Swift JusticeCantrell Episode: "Out on a Limb"
1996 Kindred: The EmbracedGoth Episode: "Bad Moon Rising"
1996 Central Park WestNick Episode: "You Belong to Me!"
1996 ViperTerry Molloy Episode: "Talk Is Cheap"
1996 FirehouseSy Television film
1997 One Life to LiveFritz Van Hinkle Episode #1.7319
1997 George WallaceAlbert J. LingoMiniseries
1997 Brooklyn SouthOfficer Stan Pritchard Episode: "Pilot"
1997–1998 OzLenny Burrano 6 episodes
1998 Twelfth Night, or What You WillFabian Television film
1998 Mad About YouConstruction Worker #1 Episode: "Season Opener"
1998 TrinityTerry 2 episodes
1999 Homicide: Life on the StreetAngelo Marcini Episode: "Bones of Contention"
1999–2005 Third WatchJohn Sullivan 131 episodes
2005 Law & Order: SVUPhillip Westley Episode: "Rockabye"
2006, 2013 Criminal MindsStan Gordinski 2 episodes
2008 Law & Order: Criminal IntentClete Dixon Episode: "Neighborhood Watch"
2010 Live from Lincoln CenterCapt. George Brackett Episode: "South Pacific"
2010–2014 The Good WifeJim Moody 10 episodes
2011 Curb Your EnthusiasmMister Softee Man Episode: "Mister Softee"
2011 Person of InterestDetective Byrne Episode: "Blue Code"
2012 NYC 22Det. Tommy Luster 3 episodes
2014 Orange Is the New BlackSIS Agent Spiner Episode: "We Have Manners. We're Polite."
2014 LouieMr. Hoffman 2 episodes
2014 CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationEd Lusk Episode: "The Book of Shadows"
2014, 2016 ElementaryWilliam Hull 2 episodes
2015 Ray DonovanGovernor Verona 3 episodes
2016 NCIS: New OrleansBlake Jarrett Episode: "Help Wanted"
2016 The Night OfCop at crime scene Episode: "The Beach"
2016 QuarryLloyd 5 episodes
2017 Chicago P.D.John Bukowski Episode: "Promise"
2017–2019 Madam SecretaryPeter Harriman 6 episodes
2018 Escape at DannemoraSteve Racette 2 episodes

References

  1. ^"Skipp Sudduth". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  2. ^"Skipp Sudduth". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  3. ^Hamblin, Cory (2009). Serket's Movies: Commentary and Trivia on 444 Movies. Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4349-9605-3.
  4. ^Chance, Norman (2011-01-07). Who was Who on TV. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4568-2456-3.
  5. ^Green, Susan; Dawn, Randee (2009-09-01). Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Unofficial Companion. BenBella Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-935251-88-0.