Paul Blackthorne

Paul Blackthorne (born 5 March 1969) is an English actor. Although born in Shropshire, he spent his early childhood on UK military bases in Britain and Germany.

Blackthorne broke into acting via television advertisements in England. His breakthrough commercial in the UK came in the Grim Reaper advertisement for Virgin Atlantic. Numerous radio commercials followed.

Blackthorne's first film role was in the Academy Award nominated Hindi-language Indian film Lagaan, released in 2001. Since then, he has mostly appeared in American films and television shows. He had recurring roles on ER and 24, both in 2004, and has been a main cast member in The Dresden Files (2007), Lipstick Jungle (2008–09) and Arrow (2012–18).

Film

Blackthorne's first film role was as Captain Andrew Russell in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood film Lagaan. He spent six months learning Hindi for the role.

He also starred in the independent feature-length film Four Corners of Suburbia, winner of both the Crossroads Film Festival in Best Narrative Feature (2006) and in the category of Best Composer at the Avignon Film Festival, Avignon, France (2006).

Additional indie film credits include Bret Easton Ellis's This Is Not an Exit, and a starring role in the British film The Truth Game. Blackthorne appeared as Jonas Exiler in Special, with Michael Rapaport.

Blackthorne's directorial debut This American Journey was released in 2013. The road trip documentary film follows Blackthorne and Australian photographer Mister Basquali as they travel across America interviewing everyday Americans about how they feel about their country and their hopes for its future. The film was featured at the Hollywood, Carmel, Ojai and Big Bear Film Festivals. It was released through Cinema Libre Studios.

Blackthorne would be joined the cast of Dark Ascension, as "Willis".

Television In 2002, Blackthorne portrayed British doctor Matt Slingerland on Presidio Med and made appearances as Guy Morton in the British television series Holby City, Liam MacGregor in Peak Practice, Doctor Jeremy Lawson in NBC's ER and biological terrorist Stephen Saunders on 24. He also appeared on Medium in two roles (one uncredited as Henry Stoller, Junior), Deadwood, and an episode of Monk Season 5 Episode 10 "Mr. Monk and the Leper" as dermatologist Aaron Polanski. He appeared as Shane Healy, a British musician and husband of Wendy Healy (played by Brooke Shields), in the NBC series Lipstick Jungle for two seasons. He played an IRA terrorist in the US series Burn Notice in 2009 in one episode. In 2010, he appeared in two episodes of Leverage as an arms dealer and in an episode of CSI: Miami directed by Rob Zombie. Later that year he had a recurring role in The Gates as Christian Harper. Also on 7 December 2010, he appeared in the Christmas episode ("Secret Santa") of the SyFy series Warehouse 13. He appeared in a two-part cliffhanger during the mid-season break of White Collar Season 2.

In the Sci Fi Channel's 2007 series, The Dresden Files, Blackthorne portrayed the lead character, wizard / detective Harry Dresden.

He starred as Clark Quietly in the ABC paranormal/adventure/horror television series The River about a group of people on a mission to find a missing TV explorer in the Amazon.

In 2012, Blackthorne joined the main cast of The CW superhero drama series Arrow as Detective Quentin Lance. He left the series at the end of the sixth season in May 2018, but returned in a guest role in the eighth and final season in the episode "Fadeout".

Personal life

In 2001, shortly after filming of Lagaan finished in India, the town where filming took place was levelled by an earthquake, including the apartment building in which the cast of Lagaan was staying. To assist the earthquake victims, Blackthorne exhibited his photography in a show in London.

He is the godfather of actor Jacob Dudman.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1998 Romeo Thinks Again Romeo 2000 Rhythm & Blues John 2001 Lagaan Captain Andrew Russell Hindi film The Truth Game Dan 2003 Mindcrime Man 2005 Four Corners of Suburbia Walt Samson 2006 Special Jonas Exiler 2008 The Gold Lunch Ex-Husband 2009 A Christmas Carol Guest No. 3, Business Man No. 2 Voice 2012 Justice League: Doom John Corben / Metallo, Henry Ackerson Voice 2013 This American Journey Self 2014 Dumb and Dumber To Emergency Room Doctor Cameo 2017 Dark Ascension Willis Daisy Winters Robert Stergen 2021 Margrete: Queen of the North William Bourcier

Television Year Title Character Notes 1999 Jonathan Creek Gino Episode: "The Eye of Tiresias" 2000 Rhythm & Blues John 2001 Holby City Guy Morton 11 episodes 2002–03 Presidio Med Dr. Matt Slingerland 13 episodes 2004 Gramercy Park Jack Quinn Unaired pilot ER Dr. Jeremy Lawson 5 episodes 24 Stephen Saunders 10 episodes 2005 Medium Henry Stoller Episode: "I Married a Mind Reader" 2006 Monk Dr. Aaron Polanski Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Leper" 2007 The Dresden Files Harry Dresden Lead role, 12 episodes Big Shots Terrence Hill 9 episodes 2008–09 Lipstick Jungle Shane Healy 20 episodes 2009 Burn Notice Thomas O'Neill Episode: "Long Way Back" 2010 Warehouse 13 Larry Newly Episode: "Secret Santa" Leverage Tony Kadjic 2 episodes CSI: Miami Tony Enright Episode: "L.A." White Collar Julian Larssen 2 episodes The Gates Christian Harper 6 episodes 2012 The River Clark Quietly 8 episodes CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Professor Tom Laudner Episode: "Trends with Benefits" Necessary Roughness Jack St. Cloud Episode: "Mr. Irrelevant" 2012–20 Arrow Quentin Lance Series regular (Season 1–6); Special guest star (season 7); recurring role (season 8) 2015–17 The Flash Special guest star (Seasons 1 & 4) 2016 Legends of Tomorrow Special guest star (Season 1) 2019 The InBetween Detective Tom Hackett Series regular 2023 The Company You Keep John Baylor 2023 Magnum P.I. Xavier Episode: "Hit & Run"

Video games Year Title Character Notes 2017 Star Wars Battlefront II Gideon Hask