Clancy Brown

Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles.

His film roles include Rawhide in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Frankenstein's monster in The Bride (1985), the Kurgan in Highlander (1986), Sheriff Gus Gilbert in Pet Sematary Two (1992), Capt. Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Sgt. Charles Zim in Starship Troopers (1997), Stanley Thomas in Promising Young Woman (2020), and the Harbinger in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023). On television, he has played Brother Justin Crowe on the HBO series Carnivàle (2003–2005), Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat on the Showtime series Billions (2018–2019, 2023), Kurt Caldwell on the Showtime series Dexter: New Blood (2021–2022), and Sal Maroni in The Penguin (2024).

Brown has voiced Lex Luthor in various DC Comics animated media since 1996 and Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob SquarePants since 1999. His other voice roles include Long Feng in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2006), Savage Opress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2011–2013), Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and General Kregg in Invincible (2021–2026). In video games, he voiced Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in the Crash Bandicoot franchise (1997–2003) and performed the motion capture and voice of Hank Anderson in Detroit: Become Human (2018).

Early life Clarence James Brown III was born on January 5, 1959, in Urbana, Ohio, and had an older sister, Beth, who died in 1964. Their mother, Joyce Helen (née Eldridge), was a conductor, composer and concert pianist. The siblings' father, Clarence J. "Bud" Brown Jr., was a newspaper publisher who helped manage the Brown Publishing Company, the family-owned newspaper business started by Clancy's grandfather, Congressman Clarence J. Brown. From 1965 to 1983, Bud Brown also served as a congressman, in the same seat as his own father, and later as Chairman of the Board of Brown Publishing. The family continued to operate the business until 2010.

Brown graduated from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and Northwestern University. At St. Albans, Brown performed the role of Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth in The Crucible.

Career

Live-action performances

In Brown's first mainstream film, he was cast as Viking Lofgren alongside Sean Penn in the 1983 crime drama Bad Boys. He followed up as the sadistic Kurgan in the 1986 film Highlander, which failed in theaters but had more success on home video. Other eighties roles included Army mercenary Larry McRose in Walter Hill's Extreme Prejudice, killer Steve in Roger Spottiswoode's Shoot to Kill and Detective Nick Mann in Kathryn Bigelow's Blue Steel.

Brown has played prison officers in three films dealing with miscarriages of justice: the tyrannical Captain Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, the sympathetic Lt. Williams in The Hurricane, and Lt. McMannis in Last Light. In 2001, he played a magical character credited as 'The granter of wishes' in the Hallmark version of Snow White. In 2007, he played the Viking leader opposite Karl Urban in Pathfinder.

He starred in several independent films in 2008: The Burrowers, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, and released in the United States on DVD in April 2009, and The Twenty. He appeared in Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film The Informant! opposite Matt Damon in which he played an attorney. He also portrayed Alan Smith in Samuel Bayer's 2010 remake of the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. In 2011, he appeared in Cowboys & Aliens (directed by Jon Favreau) with Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. He was cast as the voice of The Goon in the animated feature film. He also starred as Albert Marconi in the film adaptation of the David Wong novel John Dies at the End, directed by Don Coscarelli.

Brown was a series regular on the science fiction series Earth 2 from 1994 to 1995, playing the role of John Danziger. Brown was notable as the sinister preacher Brother Justin Crowe in the HBO series Carnivàle. Though the series only ran for two seasons, Carnivàle has attained a cult popularity and his performance was applauded by critics for showcasing a new side to his acting talents. He also starred in the Showtime production In the Company of Spies and the HBO film Cast a Deadly Spell. As conservative United States Attorney General Jock Jeffcoat, he was one of the primary antagonists in seasons three and four of the Showtime series Billions.

He has also made many guest appearances on various television series including ER, the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Desert Crossing" as Zobral, Lost as Kelvin Joe Inman, and former baseball player (and investment scam mark) Rudy Blue on The Riches. Brown also appeared as the frontiersman Simon Kenton, the key to America's westward expansion, in the 2000 Kentucky Educational Television production "A Walk with Simon Kenton". Kenton resembled Brown in stature and is buried in Brown's hometown. Brown most recently appeared as Hart Sterling, founding partner of fictional law firm Sterling, Huddle, Oppenheim & Craft in ABC's The Deep End. He also guest starred on the Leverage series episode "The Gone Fishin Job" and on The Dukes of Hazzard sixth-season episode "Too Many Roscos". He appeared on The CW's TV production of The Flash in the recurring guest-star role of General Wade Eiling. He has also portrayed Ray Schoonover in the Daredevil episodes "Guilty as Sin" and "The Dark at the End of the Tunnel" and The Punisher episode "Kandahar". He played Sheriff Joe Corbin in Sleepy Hollow. In January 2021, it was announced Brown had been cast in Showtime's Dexter revival Dexter: New Blood with a leading role as Kurt Caldwell. In 2022, Brown joined the cast of The Boys spin-off series Gen V as Richard "Rich Brink" Brinkerhoff. In 2025, Brown was cast as Big Hank Hickman in The CW’s series Good Cop/Bad Cop.

Voice-over work

As a voice-over actor, Brown has appeared in various video games, usually playing an antagonistic character. He lends his voice to several of the crystallized dragons in the PlayStation game Spyro the Dragon.He voiced Paladin Rhombus in Fallout (1997). He voiced the corrupt Baron Praxis in the PlayStation 2 video game Jak II; Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in a number of the Crash Bandicoot video games; Montross (a Mandalorian rival of Jango Fett) in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter; Hades in God of War III; Thrall in the cancelled video game Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans; Scourgelord Tyrannus in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King; the conniving Alderman Richard Hughes in the Xbox 360 game Saints Row; and the cynical, foul-mouthed Lt. Anderson in Detroit: Become Human.

For animated television series, he voiced several characters (Hakon, Tomas Brod and Wolf) in the series Gargoyles; Tanuki Gonta in the English language dub of Pom Poko (1994); Raiden on the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm; a Hessian trooper in The Night of the Headless Horseman (1999); billionaire Maxmilian Speil in Godzilla: The Series; and five of the six members of Legion Ex Machina in Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot.

Since 1999, he has played the role of Mr. Krabs of SpongeBob SquarePants (as well the spinoffs and films The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run). The show celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. In celebration, a television special was aired, titled "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout". One scene includes each of the show's main characters' voice actors portraying live-action versions of their characters. While not the first Spongebob Squarepants episode that blended animated sequences with live-action characters, this was the first time that the characters' voice actors have all played a live-action scene all together. From 2000 to 2005, he played several roles (Captain Black, Ratso and the animated moose doll Super Moose) on Jackie Chan Adventures. He also voiced Vice-Principal Pangborn in All Grown Up!, Barkmeat in Catscratch, Otto in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (which also stars fellow SpongeBob co-star Tom Kenny, who voices Gibson) and Gorrath in Megas XLR.

For Disney, he has played roles such as the Dark Dragon in American Dragon: Jake Long, the Ugly Bald Guy in the film Recess: School's Out, as well as Undertow in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, and he also made a guest appearance in the Kim Possible episode "Oh, No! Yono" where he played the titular character. He also voiced King Frederick in the Disney Channel series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure and the Disney Channel film Tangled: Before Ever After.

For Nickelodeon, Brown has voiced several characters in the Avatar franchise, such as corrupt Dai Li leader Long Feng in Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2006 and top gangster Yakone in The Legend of Korra in 2012. He guest-starred in the Season 1 episodes of Adventure Time, Dungeon as the Demon Cat, and Ocean of Fear as the narrator for the opening and closing quotes. Brown also voices Destro in G.I. Joe: Renegades; Jeff Fischer's biological father in American Dad!; Grune the Destroyer in the ThunderCats reboot; and the recurring role of Agent Silas in Transformers: Prime.

From 2011 to 2013, Brown voiced Savage Opress, Count Dooku's new apprentice and Darth Maul's brother, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He starred as Chris Bradford, Shredder's top henchman, in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television series. From the third quarter of 2014, Brown began doing voice-overs as the main talent for Chevy truck national and regional television commercials. On March 21, 2016, Brown began voicing a new character to the series, Red Death, a parody of the Marvel villain Red Skull, in The Venture Brothers episode "Red Means Stop". He continued this role in season 7, and was signed to appear in season 8 before the show's cancellation. Since 2021, he has provided various voices for the Amazon Prime Video series Invincible.

DC Comics media Brown is well known for voicing the villainous Lex Luthor in various animated media since 1996. He first voiced Luthor in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), starting with Superman: The Animated Series (where he had originally auditioned for the role of Superman) and reprised his role in the subsequent animated series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He also voiced the character in the video game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips as well as The Batman cartoon series. Brown later again played Luthor in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He also voiced a character under the name Rohtul (which is Luthor spelled backwards) in Batman: Brave and the Bold (while Kevin Michael Richardson provided the voice of the actual character). Brown once again voiced Lex in the video games Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham and Lego DC Super-Villains. From all these vocal appearances, Brown has played Lex Luthor longer than any other actor in history, including his own Justice League co-star Michael Rosenbaum (in Smallville).

Brown is also known for his voice work as villains in various DC animated series, films, television shows, and video games: Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow on Batman Beyond, Trident on Teen Titans, Mr. Freeze and Bane on The Batman, Per Degaton in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Parallax in the live-action Green Lantern film, King Faraday in Young Justice, and Zartok in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. He appeared on The CW's The Flash recurring in the first season as General Wade Eiling, and on HBO's The Penguin as Sal Maroni.

Marvel Comics media Brown has also voiced various Marvel characters in various animated projects: Sasquatch in The Incredible Hulk (1996), several characters (George Stacy, Rhino and Ox) in The Spectacular Spider-Man, Mister Sinister in Wolverine and the X-Men, Odin in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Red Hulk and Taskmaster in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and Ultimate Spider-Man. In Daredevil and The Punisher, he plays Major Schoonover, Frank Castle's former commanding officer. In Thor: Ragnarok, he voices the fire demon Surtur.

Activism On March 30, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) completed a merger of equals forming a new union SAG-AFTRA. As a result of this merger, a group of actors including Brown, fellow voice actors Michael Bell, Wendy Schaal, Schaal's former stepmother Valerie Harper, and other actors including former SAG President Edward Asner, Martin Sheen, Ed Harris, and Nancy Sinatra immediately sued against the current SAG President Ken Howard and several SAG Vice Presidents to overturn the merger and separate the (now merged) two unions because of their claims that the election was improper. The plaintiffs dropped their lawsuit several months later.

Personal life Brown has been married to Jeanne Johnson since 1993. They have two children. In 1999 he spearheaded a charity campaign to support J. Madison Wright, his on-screen daughter from Earth 2, who needed a heart transplant. He has also given back to his Alma mater the Northwestern University through benefit performances.

In a 2023 interview with NPR, Brown said that he came from a "very long legacy of Republican ideology - back when they had an ideology." His father, Bud Brown, had passed from COVID-19 complications the previous year.

Filmography Live-action Film + List of acting performances in films Year Title Role Notes 1983 Bad Boys "Viking" Lofgren 1984 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension "Rawhide" 1985 Thunder Alley "Weasel" The Bride Viktor 1986 Highlander Victor Kruger / The Kurgan 1987 Extreme Prejudice Master Sergeant Larry McRose 1988 Shoot to Kill Steve Moonwalker Police Officer Segment: "Speed Demon" 1989 Season of Fear Ward St. Clair 1990 Blue Steel Detective Nick Mann Waiting for the Light Joe 1991 Ambition Albert Merrick Past Midnight Steve Lundy 1992 Pet Sematary Two Sheriff Gus Gilbert Nominated – Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor 1994 The Shawshank Redemption Captain Byron Hadley 1995 Dead Man Walking State Trooper 1996 Female Perversions John 1997 Starship Troopers Sergeant Charlie Zim Flubber Smith 1999 Claire Makes It Big Frank Short film The Hurricane Lieutenant Jimmy Williams 2000 Chump Change The Man 2002 The Laramie Project Rob Debree 2003 The Making of Daniel Boone Allan Kenton Also executive producer Normal Frank 2004 Finding Neo Captain Hadme Short film Gambling The Reverend 2005 Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth Dogg 2006 The Guardian Captain William Hadley 2007 Pathfinder Gunnar Parker Max Crenna Short film 2008 The Burrowers John Clay The Express: The Ernie Davis Story Roy Simmons NASA Seals Stone Short film 2009 Slap Joe The Twenty John Simmonds The Informant! Aubrey Daniel 2010 A Nightmare on Elm Street Alan Smith 2011 Cowboys & Aliens Preacher Meacham 2012 John Dies at the End Dr. Albert Marconi At Any Price Jim Johnson Hellbenders Father Angus 2013 Sparks Archer Water & Power Turnvil Nothing Left to Fear Pastor Kingsman Homefront Sheriff Keith Rodrigue The Trials of Cate McCall Brinkeroff I Know That Voice Himself Documentary 2014 Just Before I Go Ted's Dad When the Game Stands Tall Mickey Ryan 99 Homes Mr. Freeman 2016 Hail, Caesar! Gracchus Warcraft Blackhand Voice and motion capture 2017 Little Evil Reverend Gospel Stronger Jeff Bauman Sr. Chappaquiddick US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara 2018 Supercon Adam King The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Joe "Surly Joe" Segment: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" 2019 The Mortuary Collection Montgomery Dark Also executive producer Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor 2020 Promising Young Woman Stanley Thomas In Search of Darkness: Part II Himself Documentary 2022 Last Looks Jim "Big Jim" Cuddy In Search of Tomorrow Himself Documentary 2023 Scrambled Richard John Wick: Chapter 4 The Harbinger Poolman Theodore Hollandaise Dumb Money Steve Gill 2024 The Fix The Chairman Audrey's Children C. Everett Koop 2025 The Addiction of Hope Riz Regretting You Hank Adams The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Pirate Filming

Television + List of acting performances in television shows Year Title Role Notes 1983 The Dukes of Hazzard Kelly Episode: "Too Many Roscos" 1987 Corridos: Tales of Passion & Revolution John Reed Television film The Room Upstairs Kevin The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains Flagg 1989 Fair Game Earl Dunning 1990 China Beach Joey Episode: "Strange Brew" Johnny Ryan Johnny Ryan Television film 1991 Love, Lies and Murder David Brown 2 episodes Cast a Deadly Spell Harry Bordon Television film 1992 Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation Clarence 1993 Tales from the Crypt Roger Lassen Episode: "Half-Way Horrible" Desperate Rescue: The Cathy Malone Story Dave Chattelier Television film Bloodlines: Murder in the Family Ben Guardino Last Light Lieutenant Lionel McMannis 1994–1995 Earth 2 John Danziger 21 episodes 1995 The Outer Limits Sergeant Linden Styles Episode: "Afterlife" Donor Unknown Nash Creed Television film 1996 Radiant City Al Goodman Desert Breeze Unknown Pilot 1997–1998 ER Dr. Ellis West 7 episodes 1998 The Patron Saint of Liars Son Television film 1999 Vendetta Chief Hennessey In the Company of Spies Dale Beckham The Caseys Pete Casey Pilot 2000 The Practice District Attorney Fox 2 episodes Yesterday's Children Doug Cole Television film 2001 Boss of Bosses Andris Kurins Snow White: The Fairest of Them All The Granter of Wishes 2002 Star Trek: Enterprise Zobral Episode: "Desert Crossing" Breaking News Peter Kozyck 13 episodes Red Skies Edgar Sterling Television film 2003–2005 Carnivàle Brother Justin Crowe 24 episodes 2006 Lost Kelvin Inman 3 episodes 2007 The Riches Rudy Blue Episode: "X Spots the Mark" 2008 Law & Order Sheriff John Burkhart Episode: "Knock Off" Blank Slate Agent Miles McAvoy Television film 2010 The Deep End Hart Sterling 6 episodes Leverage Hugh Whitman Episode: "The Gone Fishin' Job" Medium Rob Walcott Episode: "Where Were You When...?" 2011 Aim High Boris "The Bear" Klopov 5 episodes 2012 The Frontier Jack Ramsay, Lamazee Pilot 2013 The Surgeon General Becker 2013–2016 Sleepy Hollow Sheriff August Corbin 6 episodes 2014 The Trip to Bountiful Sheriff Television film Agatha Hank Pilot 2014–2015 The Flash General Wade Eiling 4 episodes 2015–2016 Chicago P.D. Eddie 3 episodes 2016 Daredevil Colonel Ray Schoonover 2 episodes 2017 The Punisher Major Ray Schoonover Episode: "Kandahar" 2018–2019 The Goldbergs Mr. Crosby 4 episodes 2018–2019,2023 Billions Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat 17 episodes 2019 The Crown Lyndon B. Johnson Episode: "Margaretology" The Mandalorian Burg Episode: "Chapter 6: The Prisoner" SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout Mr. Slabs Television film Schooled Mr. Crosby 5 episodes 2019–2020 Emergence Ed Sawyer 13 episodes 2021–2022 Dexter: New Blood Kurt Caldwell 8 episodes 2023 Ahsoka Ryder Azadi Episode: "Part One: Master and Apprentice" Gen V Prof. Richard "Rich Brink" Brinkerhoff 2 episodes 2024 The Penguin Salvatore Maroni 5 episodes 2025 Good Cop/Bad Cop Big Hank Hickman 8 episodes2026 Fallout Last President of the United States 2 episodes High Potential Nick Wagner, Sr. 2 episodes I Will Find You Nicky Fisher 2 episodes

Voice roles Film + List of voice performances in films Year Title Role Notes 1995 Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken Hakon Direct-to-video 1997 Annabelle's Wish Lawyer, Sheriff Direct-to-video The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Mr. Krabs, Narrator

Television + List of voice performances in animated shows Year Title Role Notes 1994 The Little Mermaid Octopin Leader Episode: "Heroes" 1994–1996 Gargoyles Hakkon, Wolf, Tomas Brod 12 episodes

Video games + List of voice performances in video games Year Title Role Notes 1997 Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny The Draracle, Dracoid, Large Imp Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Doctor Neo Cortex