W. Earl Brown's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Deadwood Dan Dority Freaky Links Falcon Rock & Roll Jeopardy! W. Earl Brown

Main Movie Roles 2005 - Kids in America 2005 - The Big White 2004 - Killer Diller 2004 - The Last Shot 2004 - The Alamo 2001 - Vanilla Sky 2000 - Dancing at the Blue Iguana 2000 - Lost Souls 1999 - Being John Malkovich 1998 - Deep Impact 1998 - There's Something About Mary 1997 - Kiss the Girls 1996 - Scream 1995 - Vampire in Brooklyn 1995 - Without Evidence 1994 - New Nightmare 1993 - Excessive Force 1992 - The Babe 1991 - Backdraft

BIOGRAPHY:

W. Earl Brown comes from a long line of bootleggers and used-car dealers--the perfect lineage for becoming an actor. After receiving his MFA from DePaul, Earl began working in the Chicago theater scene. Stage roles eventually led to film roles, and Earl moved westward. He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife (who was his high school sweetheart), his daughter and his hound dog.

W. Earl Brown (born September 7, 1963) is an American character actor who has appeared in many mainstream film and television projects. He is perhaps best known as Dan Dority on the HBO series Deadwood. He is also well known for playing Warren in the 1998 film There's Something About Mary.

Life and career
Brown was born in Murray, Kentucky, and is an alumnus of Calloway County High School. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in theater from Murray State University before going on to DePaul University in Chicago where, with his fellow classmates John C. Reilly and Gillian Anderson, Brown received his master's degree. While building his résumé in Chicago's theater scene, Brown decided to give Los Angeles a try and moved to the City of Angels where he has remained ever since.

His first major movie role came as a dialogue coach in the film Backdraft teaching actors to speak with a Chicago accent. He also had a brief appearance on-screen in the film. One of his first higher profile roles was as Cameron Diaz's mentally challenged brother Warren in There's Something About Mary.

His other film credits include Scream (1996), Being John Malkovich (1999) "Dancing at the Blue Iguana" (2000) and The Alamo (2004) among many other projects, including television appearances on Numb3rs (2006), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Six Feet Under (2001), Charmed (2001), and The X-Files (1993). He is also the co-founder of the country band Sacred Cowboys, performing as a vocalist and guitar player.

Brown joined the cast of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a star for the first season in 2004. The series was created by David Milch and focused on a growing town in the American West. Brown played Dan Dority a trusted henchman to ambitious criminal and bar owner Al Swearengen. Brown remained a starring cast member for all three seasons of the show. Brown joined the crew of Deadwood as a writer for the third season in 2006. He wrote the episode "A Constant Throb".

Brown has gone by the name Earl his entire life, but added his first initial to his official SAG credit to avoid confusion with Earl Boen. He is married to his high school sweetheart, with whom he has one daughter.


TRIVIA:

• Graduated from Calloway County High School, in Murray, Kentucky.
• Attended The Theatre School of DePaul in Chicago with classmates 'John C. Reilly (I)' (qv) and 'Gillian Anderson (I)' (qv).
• Earl started the band "Sacred Cowboys" with Peter Spirer (the director of "Dunsmore"), Jeff Robertson, Stephen Quadros, Tony Cavazo, Ralph Stevens, and Mike "Rhinestone" Johnstone (who he met on the set of "Deadwood").
• Graduated from Murray State University with a degree in Theater.