Neal Bledsoe

Neal Bledsoe (born March 26, 1981) is a Canadian-American actor, writer, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his acting work on Broadway, and on screens both large and small, Bledsoe has built a career spanning theater, film, television, filmmaking, art, poetry, short stories and journalism. He was once even an Old Spice Man.

Early life Bledsoe was born in Toronto, but moved as a baby back to his family's hometown of Seattle, Washington where he grew up. He attended Roosevelt High School (Seattle) and Garfield High School (Seattle) in Seattle, Ascent within the CEDU system of schools, before finally graduating from the Shawnigan Lake School and then spending a post-graduate year at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, to grow as an actor and a writer. It was at the last of these two schools where he began to first publish his short stories and poems.

In college, he was accepted to the North Carolina School of the Arts where he studied with their world-class faculty was mentored under the renowned theater director, Gerald Freedman, earning a BFA in 2005.

Career Actor Bledsoe got a quick start out of school, booking a pilot opposite Kelly Lynch. He worked steadily for the next few years, until he had his breakthrough in 2009 first on Gossip Girl and then on Ugly Betty as, Tyler, the long lost son of Judith Light.

He then went on to star on the shows Law and Order: SVU, Smash, Ironside, The Man in the High Castle, with Rufus Sewell, The Mysteries of Laura as the long-time love interest of Debra Messing, Timeless, Code Black , Shameless opposite Emmy Rossum, among many others.

He has won several awards for his work in independent films such as Junction, West End and After the Sun Fell. He also has appeared in both Revolutionary Road and Sex and the City 2. He starred opposite Val Kilmer in the western A Soldier's Revenge. He will next be seen in Kathryn Bigelow's upcoming Netflix film A House of Dynamite (2025), as the husband of Rebecca Ferguson.

On the stage, he worked on the Broadway production of Impressionism, the world premiere of Stephen Wadsworth's Figaro Plays at the McCarter Theatre and Michael Arden's award-winning production of The Pride at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Most recently, he appeared on Broadway opposite Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in Othello (2025), where he played the Duke of Venice and was the understudy for Gyllenhaal's Iago.

He appeared in several campaigns for Tiffany and Co, opposite Dutch model, Doutzen Kroes and for Old Spice.

In December 2022, Bledsoe announced that he was leaving the Great American Family network because of their anti-LGBTQ stance. Bledsoe stated, "the thought that my work could be used to deliberately discriminate against anyone horrifies and infuriates me."

Writer As a writer, he has written films, poems, short stories, cartoons, essays and articles. In 2014, he became a contributor to Sports Illustrated's MMQB. His 2016 long-form series, The Delicate Moron, chronicled his attempt to play for the Los Angeles Kiss of the Arena Football League. He's also written for Men's Health magazine on former NFL running back and Ballers writer, Rashard Mendenhall and Variety.

Filmmaker In 2015, he received a commission to write and direct and star in the short film Primary. The film examines the subject of open relationships and was heavily influenced by the work of John Cassavetes, Esther Perel and Helen Fisher, as well as months of extensive interviews with a diverse range of people from across the relationship spectrum.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2005 Noah Direct-to-video 2008 Revolutionary Road Party guest 2009 Winked Out Satan Short film 2009 Under New Management FBI agent #1 2010 Sex and the City 2 Kevin 2011 The Walkens Short film 2011 Highrise Rory Short film 2011 Jed Wood 2012 Junction Donald 2013 You There? Lance Short film 2013 West End Vic Trevi 2013 Amateurs Brad 2014 Grand Street Hewitt Devoe 2016 Brandon 2017 Police State John 2017 Primary Mike Short film 2018 The client 2020 Frank 2022 Susie Searches Brady Wren 2025 A House of Dynamite Ben Walker

Television Year Title Role Notes 2005 Guiding Light Quinn 2 episodes 2007CSI: NY Sam Friar Episode: "...Comes Around" 2007 Six Degrees Roger Episode: "Objects in the Mirror" 2007 As the World Turns Gary Bradshaw 3 episodes 2008 Lipstick Jungle Leading man Episode: "Pilot" 2008 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Kevyn Episode: "Please Note We Are No Longer Accepting Letters of Recommendation from Henry Kissinger" 2009 Dmitiri Kane Episode: "The Beautiful Aftermath" 2009 Gossip Girl Josh Elis Episode: "Enough About Eve" 2009–2010 Ugly Betty Tyler Meade-Hartley 7 episodes 2010–2011 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit CSU Clifton Montgomery 3 episodes 2011 Body of Proof Stephen Burnett Episode: "Society Hill" 2011 Blue Bloods Cassidy Episode: "Silver Star" 2012 Smash John Goodwin 7 episodes 2013 Ironside Teddy Main role 2015–2016 Tony Abbott 11 episodes 2015 Captain Connolly 4 episodes 2016 Timeless Robert Todd Lincoln Episode: "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" 2016 Code Black Paul Wentworth Episode: "1.0 Bodies" 2017 Axel Episode: "A Brady-American Christmas" 2017 Coming Home for Christmas Robert Marley Television film (Hallmark) 2018–2019 Shameless Max Whitford 4 episodes 2019–2020 NCIS: New Orleans Man in the red suit 3 episodes 2020 Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector Greg Vaughn Episode: "Requiem" 2020 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Wilfred "Freddy" Malick 2 episodes 2020 Prince Whitaker Television film (Hallmark) 2021 Younger Vince Episode: "The Last Unicorn" 2022 The Winter Palace Prince Henry of Concordia Television film (GAC Family) 2022 The Blacklist Maverick Sawyer Episode: "Genuine Models Inc. (No. 176)" 2022 Christmas at the Drive-In Television film (GAC Family)