The Walking Dead

Jon Bernthal

Bernthal's first major film role was in the Oliver Stone picture, World Trade Center with Nicolas Cage and Maria Bello. He has also starred in Date Night, with Steve Carell and Tina Fey; in Roman Polanski's award-winning The Ghost Writer, opposite Ewan McGregor; Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian opposite Ben Stiller and Christopher Guest and Hank Azaria; and the independent films The Air I Breathe with Kevin Bacon and Julie Delpy, and Day Zero with Elijah Wood. Bernthal completed production on Oren Moverman's Rampart, where he co-stars opposite Woody Harrelson, Steve Buscemi, Robin Wright and Sigourney Weaver. Alongside his father, Bernthal has launched a production company with several film and television projects in development. In television, Bernthal was recently part of the ensemble in the Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg HBO miniseries, The Pacific. The role required Bernthal to undergo boot camp training, as well as combat training with Marines. His other television work includes turns on Boston Legal, CSI: Miami, Law & Order Special Victims Unit, How I Met Your Mother, and Without A Trace. His first series in a starring role was The Class, created by David Crane and directed by James Burrows. During his college years, Bernthal was given the remarkable opportunity to study the prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre in Russia, renowned for its regimented program and disciplined training. Educated in acting, acrobatics, ballet and rhythm, the intense training provided Bernthal with a solid foundation in his craft. While studying at MAT, Bernthal was discovered by the director of Harvard University's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, at the American Repertory Theatre in Moscow. He was invited to study and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. Bernthal, a veteran of more than 30 productions, recently returned to his roots in the Rogue Machine Theatre's production of Small Engine Repair, where he starred as Terrance Swaino. Bernthal had previously starred in Neil LaBute's Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse. His other theatre credits include Langford Wilson's Fifth of July at New York's Signature Theatre, the off-Broadway production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, where Bernthal played Ui, at the Portland Stage Company; and This is Our Youth, at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. His love of theatre led him to open his own non-profit theatre company Fovea Floods, in upstate New York. Bernthal was a professional baseball player both in the U.S. minor leagues and European Professional Baseball Federation. These days, Bernthal prefers boxing where he has trained for years and boxes six days a week. He also teaches boxing to at risk children to teach them discipline and work ethic, leading them to channel their issues into a sport which teaches them confidence and control. Bernthal also works to retrain pit bulls that have been abused, then placing them in new, loving homes. Bernthal lives with his wife Erin, and their dogs, Boss and Venice.