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Patrick Fischler
Patrick Fischler
	Fischler at the 2018 New York Comic Con
Born	December 29, 1969 (age 55)
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Lauren Bowles (m. 2004)
Children	1
Relatives	Julia Louis-Dreyfus (half sister-in-law)

Patrick Fischler (born December 29, 1969)^[1] is an American character actor known for his roles as Jimmy Barrett on the drama series Mad Men, Dharma Initiative worker Phil on the drama series Lost and Detective Kenny No-Gun on the police drama Southland. He has more than sixty film and television credits, including the films Mulholland Drive (2001), Ghost World (2001), Old School (2003), The Black Dahlia (2006), and Dinner for Schmucks (2010).

In 2011, Fischler portrayed real-life gangster Mickey Cohen in the video game L.A. Noire using facial performance-capture technology to convert performances in the game's graphics. In 2012, he appeared in One for the Money, a crime thriller adapted from Janet Evanovich's novel of the same name. In 2013, he played gangster Meyer Lansky in scenes with Cohen's character in the TNT miniseries Mob City.

The Santa Monica restaurant Patrick's Roadhouse was started by his father and is named for him.^[2]

Early life

Fischler was born on December 29, 1969. His father, Bill, bought a restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, California, while Fischler was five years old, and named it "Patrick's Roadhouse" after him. The restaurant is a 'hot-spot' for celebrities Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sean Penn, Goldie Hawn, and Johnny Carson.^[3]^[4] After graduating from high school, Fischler attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts; there, he met and started dating his future wife, actress Lauren Bowles, half-sister of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.^[3]

Career

After graduating from Tisch, Fischler and Bowles moved back to Los Angeles; there, along with other New York University graduates, they formed a theater group called Neurotic Young Urbanites.^[3] An agent saw Fischler perform at a Neurotic Young Urbanites production, then arranged for him to attend an audition for the 1994 action film Speed, Fischler's first film acting job. In the film, Fischler played one of the men trapped inside an elevator but which nearly falls due to an attack by a bomber.^[3]

In 1998, Fischler starred in the independent film The Week That Girl Died, a romantic comedy about three long-time friends in a small New England fishing town. For the part, he received a best lead actor award by the American Film Institute International Film Festival's New Directions jury, which honors independent films.^[5] Fischler appeared in David Lynch's 2001 psychological thriller Mulholland Drive as a man describing a nightmare he had.^[6] 2002, he appeared in the television film Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, a biopic about comedian Gilda Radner; he portrayed Eugene Levy.^[7] He appeared in the films Twister (1996),^[8] Ghost World (2001),^[9] and Old School (2003).^[3] and The Great Buck Howard (2008),^[10] and portrayed Ellis Loew in Brian De Palma's 2006 crime film The Black Dahlia. The character was referred to in the film as "Jewboy"; film reviewer Stephen Cole called his role "a caricature as coarsely antisemitic as any sequence in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ."^[11] Fischler appeared as a guest star in television shows Angel,^[9] Nash Bridges, Burn Notice,^[3] Lie to Me,^[8] Bones, Cold Case, Monk,^[12] Star Trek: Enterprise, Girlfriends, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY.^[4] By 2009, he had more than 60 film and television credits.^[3]

Recognition

Fischler auditioned for the role of insult comic Jimmy Barrett on the AMC drama series Mad Men, of which he was a fan. Alex Witchel, a writer from The New York Times Magazine who sat in on Fischler's audition, said he was "breathtakingly good".^[13] The character, Jimmy Barrett, appears in television ads for a client of the advertising company within the show, and his wife Bobbie sleeps with protagonist Don Draper.^[14] Series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner cast Fischler because he felt the actor had a "New York quality" that he wanted the character to have. Weiner said of him: "Patrick has this tremendous edge. There was something very old-fashioned about the way he dealt with the character."^[3] Fischler said entertainer Joey Bishop was a major influence on how he played the role because he wanted Jimmy Barrett to have a charming element to him and make people laugh even while he said horrible things, as Bishop did.^[3]^[14] Fischler received a great deal of exposure and increase in name recognition after his role on Mad Men. During one episode, Jimmy tells Don's wife Betty about her husband's infidelity, then confronts Don and tells him off about his cheating. Fischler called receiving that script "the highlight of my career so far",^[4] adding: "After Mad Men I got a lot of 'How dare you speak to Don Draper like that? ... People, mainly women, were mad at me that I told Don off. I took it as a compliment."^[3] Fischler had been in talks to appear on the Showtime drama series Californication, and ended up appearing in four episodes.^[15]

Starting in 2009, Fischler became a recurring cast member on both the ABC drama series Lost and the NBC police drama Southland. He was cast in Lost immediately after the pilot for Southland was filmed and worked on both shows over the course of six months. To do so, he constantly flew back and forth between Hawaii, where Lost is filmed, and Los Angeles, where Southland is filmed, while simultaneously dealing with his wife's pregnancy.^[4]^[15] Fischler said the Lost producers were "incredibly accommodating" to his schedule.^[4] On Southland he played Detective Kenny No-Gun;^[12] series creator Ann Biderman described him as a "brilliant, incredibly versatile actor".^[3] Although originally expected to appear in only two Lost episodes, he ended up guest starring in nine,^[4]^[15] appearing in the fifth season as Phil, a member of the Dharma Initiative during a part of the show set in 1977.^[12] When he auditioned for the role, Fischler did not know the storyline would move from the present to the past, and did not learn this until he was handed his first script.^[15] In a May 2009 interview, Fischler said, "This is not a joke: a year ago if you were to ask me what are the two shows I want to be on, I would have said Mad Men and Lost."^[12]

Later projects

Fischler appeared in the 2010 comedy film Dinner for Schmucks as Vincenzo, one of the guests at a dinner where rich people bring eccentric guests and compete for who can bring the biggest loser. In the film, Fischler's character has a pet vulture, which he feeds by chewing food and spitting it directly into the bird's mouth.^[16] Fischler also portrayed the real-life gangster Mickey Cohen in the video game L.A. Noire, which was released in May 2011. The game uses a facial performance-capture technology called MotionScan to record the performances of actors, then convert them to the graphics of the game. The game's casting directors worked on Mad Men and specifically approached Fischler for the Cohen character, and he accepted because he likes the film noir genre. Fischler said of the experience: "You really get to act in those scenes cause they’re capturing every moment on your face. A slight smile. A small frown. Everything."^[17]

Fischler appeared in Red State as ATF Agent Hammond in 2011.

In January 2012, Fischler appeared in One for the Money, a crime thriller film adapted from the 1994 novel of the same name by Janet Evanovich, the first in a series featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. He portrayed Vinnie Plum, a bail bondsman and Stephanie Plum's cousin.^[18] He portrayed poet Lew Welch in the 2013 Michael Polish film Big Sur, based on the autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac.^[19] He played the antagonistic Author in the second half of the fourth season of ABC's Once Upon a Time. In 2016, he appeared in The Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar!^[20]

Personal life

Fischler and Lauren Bowles were married in 2004. They have a daughter named Fia Lucille (b. April 2009).^[3]^[12]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Speed	Friend of Executive
	The Shadow	Sailor
	Swimming with Sharks	Moe
1996	Twister	The Communicator
1998	The Week That Girl Died	Ralph
2001	Mulholland Drive	Dan
2001	Ghost World	Masterpiece Video Clerk
2002	Full Frontal	Harvey – probably's Assistant
2003	Old School	Michael
2003	Something's Gotta Give	Stage Manager
2004	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!	Waiter	Uncredited
2005	The Seat Filler	Irwin
2006	The Black Dahlia	Deputy DA Ellis Loew
2006	Idiocracy	Yuppie Husband
2007	Three Days to Vegas	Kenneth
2007	Live!	Trevor
2008	The Great Buck Howard	Michael Perry
	Finding Amanda	Kevin – TV Executive
	Garden Party	Anthony
2010	Miss Nobody	Pierre JeJeune
2010	Dinner for Schmucks	Vincenzo – Vulture Lover
2011	Red State	Agent Hammond
2011	Atlas Shrugged: Part I	Paul Larkin
2012	One for the Money	Vinnie Plum
2013	Big Sur	Lew Welch
	The Test		Short film
	2 Guns	Dr. Ken
	Haunted Trumpet		Short film
2014	The Pact 2	FBI Agent Ballard
2015	The Diabolical	Austin
2016	Hail, Caesar!	Communist Writer #2
	Rules Don't Apply	Director
	Her Last Will	Gill Cotton
2018	Under the Silver Lake	Comic Fan
2018	The Standoff at Sparrow Creek	Beckmann
2023	Fair Play	Robert Bynes
	American Fiction	Mandel
	The Mill	Neighbor

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Knots Landing	Office Worker #2	Episode: "Blind Side"
1993	Love & War	Delivery Boy	Episode: "The Big Lie"
	Flying Blind	Steve	Episode: "The People That Time Forgot"
	The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.	Guard	Episode: "Crystal Hawks"
1994	Sister, Sister	Lenny	Episode: "Free Billy"
1995	Double Rush	Anthony	Episode: "The Show We Wrote the Day We Found Out We Were Going on Opposite Roseanne"
1996, 2001	NYPD Blue	Johnny DuMont / Ken Thornton	2 episodes
1996–2001	Nash Bridges	Pepe	Recurring role; 11 episodes
1997	The Pretender	Toby	Episode: "Exposed"
2001	18 Wheels of Justice	Andrew 'Andy' Jacobs	Episode: "Past Imperfect"
2002	Off Centre	Donald	Episode: "Marathon Man"
	Charmed	Foreman	Episode: "Trial by Magic"
	Gilda Radner: It's Always Something	Eugene Levy	TV movie
	Judging Amy	Phil Brown	Episode: "Thursday's Child"
2003	Birds of Prey	Dr. Will Kroner	Episode: "Feat of Clay"
	Angel	Ted	Episode: "The Magic Bullet"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mr. Lee / Wolfie	Episode: "Fur and Loathing"
	Line of Fire	James Henkel	Episode: "Undercover Angel"
2004–2007	Girlfriends	Clark	3 episodes
2004	ER	Chamber Tech	Episode: "Blood Relations"
	My Wife and Kids	Director	Episode: "Hand Model"
	The West Wing	Walter Sprout	Episode: "Impact Winter"
2005	Monk	Eddie	Episode: "Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra"
	CSI: NY	Brent the Screenwriter	Episode: "The Fall"
	Star Trek: Enterprise	Mercer	Episode: "Demons"
	CSI: Miami	Vince Nolan	2 episodes
	E-Ring	Mark Sinclair	Episode: "Cemetery Wind: Part 1"
2006	Four Kings	Server Phil	Episode: "Night of the Iguana"
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	David	Episode: "Open Water"
	Him and Us	Dr. Parker	TV movie
2007	What About Brian?	Schmitty	2 episodes
	Drive	Brad	2 episodes
	According to Jim	Darryl	Episode: "Any Man of Mine"
	Veronica Mars	Russell Marchant	Episode: "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down"
	Moonlight	Alan	Episode: "B.C."
	Bones	Gil Bates	Episode: "The Boy in the Time Capsule"
2008	NCIS	George Stenner	Episode: "In the Zone"
	The Middleman	Dr. Rollin Newleaf	Episode: "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum"
	Burn Notice	Jimmy	Episode: "Breaking and Entering"
	Mad Men	Jimmy Barrett	Recurring role; 4 episodes
	Cold Case	Monty Moran '53	Episode: "Pin Up Girl"
	Pushing Daisies	The Waffle Nazi	Episode: "Comfort Food"
2009	Lost	Phil	Recurring role; 9 episodes
2009–2010	Southland	Detective Kenny 'No-Gun'	Recurring role; 8 episodes
2010	Dark Blue	Ray Blake	Episode: "Brother's Keeper"
	Weeds	Don, the hotel manager	Episode: "A Yippity Sippity"
	Lie to Me	Olson	Episode: "Darkness and Light"
	The Whole Truth	Medical Examiner	Episode: "When Cougars Attack"
	Chase	Ed Castwick	Episode: "The Longest Night"
	Law & Order: LA	Josh Solomon	Episode: "Ballona Creek"
2011	Criminal Minds	Jack Fahey	Episode: "Lauren"
	Franklin & Bash	John Stills	Episode: "Big Fish"
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Stu	Episode: "The Smiley Face"
	Grimm	Billy Capra	Episode: "Lonelyhearts"
2012	County	Hendricks	TV movie
	Body of Proof	Joey Jablonsky	Episode: "Occupational Hazards"
	Grey's Anatomy	Jake Steiner	Episode: "Migration"
	The Finder	Jason Stefanian	Episode: "The Boy with the Bucket"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Gene Brightman	Episode: "Strange Beauty"
	Veep	Ken	Episode: "Baseball"
	Scandal	Arthur 'Artie' Hornbacher	Episode: "Hunting Season"
	Castle	Leo	Episode: "After Hours"
2012–2013	Californication	Gabriel	4 episodes
2013	Hawaii Five-0	Ryan Webb	Episode: "Hana I Wa'la"
	Newsreaders	Bram Strunk	Episode: "CCSI/Boston"
	The Mentalist	Gary Beinhart	Episode: "Red Velvet Cupcakes"
	Mob City	Meyer Lansky	Episode: "Stay Down"
2014	Maron	Ted Curtis	Episode: "Radio Cowboy"
2014–2015	Married	Jay	2 episodes
2014–2016	Suits	A. Elliott Stemple	2 episodes
2015	Battle Creek	Attorney Milner	Episode: "The Hand-Off"
	Silicon Valley	Dr. Davis Bannercheck	3 episodes
	Grandfathered	Frederick	Episode: "Deadbeat"
	Shameless	Wade Shelton	2 episodes
2015–2017	Once Upon a Time	Isaac Heller	Recurring role; 8 episodes
2016	Fresh Off the Boat	Mr. Jaffey	Episode: "Rent Day"
2017	Rosewood	Chuck Furwell	Episode: "White Matter and the Ways Back"
	Code Black	CDC DD Gareth Reddick	2 episodes
	Doubt	ADA Alan Markes	4 episodes
	Scorpion	Kapper	Episode: "Strife on Mars"
	Twin Peaks	Duncan Todd	6 episodes
	Kingdom	Dan	3 episodes
	Dice	Toby	2 episodes
2017–2019	Happy!	Smoothie	Main cast; 16 episodes
2018	Timeless	Joseph Pope	Episode: "The Salem Witch Hunt"
2020	Defending Jacob	Dan Rifkin	4 episodes
2020	The Right Stuff	Bob Gilruth	8 episodes
2021	9-1-1	Hollis Harcourt	Episode: "Treasure Hunt"
	United States of Al	Clint	Episode: "Blackout / Parchawi"
	Brand New Cherry Flavor	Alvin Sender	2 episodes
	Impeachment: American Crime Story	Sidney Blumenthal	4 episodes
2022	The Rookie	Mr. Karga	Episode: "The Knock"
	NCIS: Hawaiʻi	Glenn Smith	Episode: "Broken"
	American Gigolo	Theodore Banks	2 episodes
	A Friend of the Family	Garth Pincock	Miniseries
2023	Quantum Leap	Dr. Mueller	Episode: "Ben, Interrupted"
	Barry	Lon O'Neil	3 episodes
	The Lincoln Lawyer	Jacob Zimmer	2 episodes
	Billions	Ern Quinn	Episode: "DMV"
2024	NCIS: Origins	Cliff Wheeler	Recurring

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	L.A. Noire	Mickey Cohen	Voice and motion capture

References

^ "This Day in History". The Boston Globe. December 29, 2009. p. G20. Actor Patrick Fischler is 40.
^ "Patrick's Roadhouse". Patricksroadhouse.info. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Bradner, Liesl (July 16, 2009). "Patrick Fischler: Have you seen this actor?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 10, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Mollow, Tim (May 20, 2009). "Lost, Mad Men and Southland's Patrick Fischler Can Take a Punch". TV Guide. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Klady, Leonard (November 1, 1998). "'Fire-Eater' burns bright at AFI fest". Variety. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ "Mulholland Drive – Filmcritic.com Movie Review". AMC. April 9, 2002. Archived from the original on January 8, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Gallo, Phil (April 29, 2002). "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something". Variety. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Poli, Chiara (November 8, 2010). "Lie to Me – Il finale di stagione". Fox International Channels Italy. Archived from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Angel – Season Four". DVD Talk. September 7, 2004. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Chang, Justin (January 20, 2008). "The Great Buck Howard". Variety. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Cole, Stephen (September 18, 2006). "Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia is one nasty noir". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Carter, Kelley L. (May 11, 2009). "Patrick Fischler feasts on his tasty roles". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Witchel, Alex (June 22, 2008). "'Mad Men' Has Its Moment". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Koo, Carolyn (January 23, 2009). "Q&A – Patrick Fischler (Jimmy Barrett)". AMC. Archived from the original on January 31, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Lost (2004–2010): Exclusive: Season 5 – Patrick Fischler Interview". MovieWeb. 2010. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ "Film review: Dinner for Schmucks". The Scotsman. August 31, 2010. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Gaskill, Jake (May 17, 2011). "Interview: L.A. Noire's Patrick Fischler Spills The Beans On Playing Mickey Cohen". G4. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Nguyen, Hanh (August 6, 2010). "Debbie Reynolds as Plum's Grandma Mazur: Yea or nay?". Zap2it. Archived from the original on June 25, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
^ Zakarin, Jordan (April 15, 2011). "'Big Sur': Kerouac Adaptation Film Cast Announced". Huffington Post.
^ "Hail, Caesar! Review". sootoday.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.