J.T WALSH - (Captain Frank Bach)
J.T.
Walsh became a full-time actor at the relatively mature age of 31, having
been a social worker, salesman and underground journalist. Since then,
he's made a career of playing "ethically challenged" men. Many
of those roles put him in various military uniforms, such as Army Sergeant
Dickersen in "Good Morning, Vietnam," Marine Colonel Markinson
in "A Few Good Men," and, currently, as Frank Bach, the ominous
Navy captain in "Dark Skies."
"Bach reminds me of many people I've met in government," says Walsh, who grew up in Europe as the son of an American government worker posted there. "He's on a no-nonsense mission to get the job done, and he doesn't want any questions. He's not evil, but I see him as a master of bureaucracy, a career guy who takes responsibility for his actions. I think he's doing the right thing for his time."
Born in San Francisco, Walsh was five when his family moved to Europe. He attended boarding school in Ireland and studied for one year at the University of Tuebingen (in what was then West Germany) before heading back to the United States. He graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a B.A. in sociology, then became a social worker in the South Bronx and wrote for an underground newspaper in New York. Eventually, he moved back to Rhode Island to work as a salesman and restaurant manager.
At the same time, Walsh was active in community theater, which paid off in 1974 when a director spotted him and invited him to participate in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, where actors read new plays for authors. He then worked in off-Broadway shows and continued in various Broadway productions. In addition, he estimates that he appeared in 100 plays around the country from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.
Walsh's big turning point came in 1984 when he was cast as the realty manager in "Glengarry Glen Ross" on Broadway, and with his profile thus elevated, he was catapulted into a prolific feature film career, appearing in "House of Games," "Tin Men" and "Tequila Sunrise." In 1988, he relocated to Los Angeles, piling up more feature credits in "The Grifters" and "Red Rock West" (both among his favorites), as well as "The Big Picture," "Narrow Margin," "Backdraft," "Hoffa," "Blue Chips," "Miracle on 34th Street," "Outbreak," "Executive Decision," "Nixon" (as John Ehrlichman), and the upcoming "Breakdown" with Kurt Russell.
Although Walsh may play a single-minded tracker of extraterrestrials, he's not entirely convinced that UFOs have visited Earth just yet. "I think there are other forms of life in the universe," he says. "I'm just not sure how they would get here."
Walsh, who has a son, enjoys reading and attending conferences on alternative agriculture and medicine. Owing to his youth in Europe, he speaks German, and remains a fan of South African rugby and the United States soccer team. His birthday is September 28.