Jonathan Banks

Jonathan Ray Banks, born on January 31, 1947 in Washington, D.C. and raised in Chillum Heights, Maryland, is a distinguished American actor whose career spans over five decades. The son of a civil servant father and a mother who served as a professor and later as a secretary for various federal agencies, Banks cultivated a passion for performance early, graduating from Northwood High School before attending Indiana University Bloomington where he studied alongside future star Kevin Kline. After college he toured as a stage manager with the musical Hair, traveling to Australia and New Zealand, and soon moved to Los Angeles in 1974 to pursue acting, landing bit parts and theater roles such as Frid in the U.S. tour of A Little Night Music. His early screen work included supporting roles in films like The Rose (1979), Airplane! (1980) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984), as well as television appearances that built his reputation as a reliable character actor.

Banks achieved breakout recognition with his Emmy‑nominated performance as FBI Special Agent Frank McPike on Wiseguy (1987‑1990), but it was his portrayal of the stoic fixer Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad (2009‑2013) and the subsequent spin‑off Better Call Saul (2015‑2022) that cemented his status as a television icon, earning five additional Emmy nominations. Beyond live‑action, he has lent his voice to iconic roles such as Commissioner Jim Gordon in the video game Batman: Arkham Knight and the elderly superhero Brit in the animated series Invincible. A devoted family man, he married Marnie Fausch in 1968 (divorced 1970) and later Gennera Cebian in 1990, fathering three children. In 2016 he received an honorary doctorate from Indiana University, and despite the tragic loss of his home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, Banks continues to work vigorously, contributing to projects like F Is for Family and The Commuter, embodying a career marked by versatility, resilience, and enduring talent.