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Rhys Coiro

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Rhys Coiro
Born
John Rhys Coiro

(1979-03-12) March 12, 1979 (age 45)
Santo Stefano in Aspromonte, Italy
EducationCarnegie Mellon University (BFA)
OccupationActor
Years active2003–present
SpouseKat Coiro
Children3

John Rhys Coiro (born March 12, 1979)[1] is an American actor. He began acting on Broadway but is best known for on-screen roles such as Billy Walsh on the television series Entourage.

Early life

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Born in Santo Stefano in Aspromonte Calabria, Italy, to David Coiro and Ann Baynes Coiro,[2] Coiro grew up in Princeton, New Jersey and attended Princeton High School.[3] As a teenager, Coiro began working for a local artist[4] who introduced him to the artistic director of The Passage Theater, June Ballinger.[5] Ballinger got him involved with the State Street theater project in Trenton NJ, modeled after Primary stages' 52nd street project. From there, Coiro spent summers building sets and operating lights at the New Jersey Shakespeare festival. Inspired by numerous productions, including Julie Taymor's "Titus Andronicus" at TFANA, Coiro decided to study theater at Carnegie Mellon University, where he eventually graduated with a BFA.[6] He also spent time studying at The Moscow Art Theater in Russia.[7]

Career

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At age 19, Coiro got his first professional gig as an understudy to three roles in the American premiere of Conor McPherson's off-Broadway play This Lime Tree Bower directed by Harris Yulin at Primary Stages.[8] Within a month of graduating from CMU, Coiro landed the role of Eddie the Bellhop in the Lincoln Center revival of George S. Kaufman's Dinner at Eight, directed by Gerald Guitierrez.[9]

Coiro then moved to Los Angeles and began working in construction, including a stint building a house with Nick Offerman. In fact, Coiro received the call that he'd landed his first on-screen acting gig, as Billy Walsh on Entourage, while digging a hole for a deck in Echo Park.[10] The role of Walsh was originally meant to be a guest star but soon evolved into an iconic character that has defined Coiro's career.

Coiro shared a studio space in Historic Filipino town with then-unknown painter Jonas Wood. During this period, Coiro formed an underground, traditional Irish music band with artists Matt Johnson and Greg Santos, that played around East LA. In 2007, following the birth of his first child, Coiro accepted the role of Sean Hillinger on the 7th season of 24. Coiro was cast in The Last House On The Left but had to pull out when the writer's strike abruptly ended and production resumed on 24. The role ended up being given to Aaron Paul. In 2009 Coiro returned to the stage, starring in a production of Howard Korder's "Boy's Life" at Second Stage in New York opposite Jason Biggs.[11] In 2010 Coiro starred in Slamdance[12] Winner Snow and Ashes and in 2011 appeared alongside Alexander Skarsard in Screen Gems' remake of Straw Dogs. In 2014, Coiro was antagonist to Stevie Van Zandt's character on the final season of Netflix's first original series, the Norwegian mega-hit Lillyhammer[13] and he played one of the original Texas Rangers in The History Channel's Mini-series Texas Rising, alongside Ray Liotta, Bill Paxton and Brendan Fraser.[14] During this show he honed his riding and roping skills. In 2015 Coiro played Armenian gangster Ari Adamian on the final season of USA's Graceland.[15] In 2017 and 2018 Coiro appeared as a series regular in Unsolved and in arcs on Ray Donovan, The Walking Dead, and S.W.A.T.

Personal life

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Coiro is fluent in Italian and Spanish.

In 2016, Coiro traveled to Standing Rock, North Dakota to take part in the peaceful protest against the North Dakota Access Pipeline.[16]

Coiro is married to director Kat Coiro, with whom he worked on Life Happens and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.[17] They live in Los Angeles with their three children.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2003 Making Revolution Italian Activist
2007 Look Ace
Mama's Boy Trip
2009 The Unborn Mr. Shields
Kidnapping Caitlynn Daniel
Man Without a Head Dino
2010 Snow & Ashes Blaise
30 Days of Night: Dark Days Paul
Life Happens Marc
Order of Chaos John
MacGruber Yerik Novikov
2011 Straw Dogs Norman
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy Marcus
2012 Life Happens Marc
2013 As Cool as I Am Ron
2014 4 Minute Mile Eli
This Last Lonely Place Sam Taylor
2015 Entourage Billy Walsh
2017 Valley of Bones Nate
2018 Gotti Rudy Pipes
2019 Finding Steve McQueen Ray Darrow
Hustlers Spencer
2022 Agent Game Reese
TBA Lear Rex Oswald Post-production

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2003 One on One Zorbo Vishanisavik Guest star
2004–2011 Entourage Billy Walsh Recurring character
2005 CSI: NY Razor Guest star
CSI: Miami Diablo Guest star
Six Feet Under Wolf Guest star
2006 Ugly Betty Vincent Bianchi 2 episodes:
"Queens for a Day"
"Fey's Sleigh Ride"
2007 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Reverend's Lawyer Guest star
Tell Me You Love Me Jaime's Rebound 2 episode guest star
Raines Eddie Guest star
Criminal Minds Ethan Guest star
Numb3rs Ricky Jones Guest star
2009 24 FBI Agent Sean Hillinger Regular character
2010 Burn Notice Vince Cutler Guest star
Dark Blue Victor Guest star
Hawaii Five-0 Bradford Matinsky Guest star
2011 A Gifted Man Dr. Zeke Barnes Recurring character
2012 Person of Interest Jordan Hester Guest star
2013 Longmire Bill Norquist Guest star
Hostages Kramer Delaney Main cast
Dexter Andrew Briggs[18] Guest star
2014 Lilyhammer Tommy Recurring character
2015 Graceland Ari Adamian Recurring character
2017 The Mick Ip deLuca Guest star
Ray Donovan Rob Heard Recurring character
2018 Sideswiped Charlie Recurring character
The Walking Dead Jed Recurring character
Unsolved Jim Black Recurring character
2018 S.W.A.T Remy Guest star
2019 I Think You Should Leave Billy 1 episode (“The Bones Are Their Money”)
2021-present Paradise City Adam TV spinoff of American Satan
2022 She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Donny Blaze Disney series
2024 The Penguin Sebastian Hady Guest star

References

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  1. ^ Rose, Mike (12 March 2019). "Today's top celebrity birthdays list for March 12, 2019". cleveland. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  2. ^ Baynes, Coiro, Ann. "Coiro, Ann Baynes". english.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2017-01-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "A conversation with Rhys Coiro". NJ.com. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  4. ^ "Karen McLean - Artist | Photographer | 609.466.3475". www.karenmclean.com. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  5. ^ "June Ballinger". Passage Theatre. 2015-01-06. Archived from the original on 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  6. ^ (CMU), Carnegie Mellon University. "People's Choice - Carnegie Mellon University | CMU". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  7. ^ "Moscow Art Theater School | A.R.T. - American Repertory Theater". americanrepertorytheater.org. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  8. ^ "Theater Review A staging of 'Lime Tree Bower' that speaks for itself — Irish Echo". irishecho.com. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  9. ^ Sommer, CurtainUp, Elyse. "Dinner at Eight, a CurtainUp review". www.curtainup.com. Retrieved 2017-01-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Home". Bad 4 Business Podcast. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  11. ^ "Second Stage's Boys' Life, with Biggs, Coiro and Scanavino, Opens Off-Broadway Oct. 20 | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  12. ^ "'Snow and Ashes,' 'American Jihadist': Slamdance Winners". Alt Film Guide. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  13. ^ ""Entourage"-stjerne klar for "Lilyhammer"". VG. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  14. ^ Team, The Deadline (2014-04-18). "Rhys Coiro & Joe Egender Join History's 'Texas Rising'". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  15. ^ "Ari Adamian (Character)". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  16. ^ "Entourage and Graceland Star Rhys Coiro Makes Impromptu Visit to Standing Rock - Indian Country Media Network". Indian Country Media Network. 2016-12-03. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  17. ^ "Rhys Coiro and Kat Coiro Photos Photos: LA Film Fest Premiere of "Life Happens" - Red Carpet". Zimbio. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  18. ^ West, Kelly (June 6, 2013). "Dexter Photos Offer New Clues For Season 8". Cinema Blend. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
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