50 Awesome Television Actors

by inombanana | created - 29 Mar 2011 | updated - 29 Mar 2011 | Public

50 actors that make me smile. All of these actors are either known to me because of a television show, work primarily in television, or got their start in television. Also please note that apart from #1. this list is in no particular order.

1. Nathan Fillion

Actor | Castle

Nathan Fillion was born on 27 March 1971 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is the son of Cookie (Early) and Bob Fillion, both retired English teachers, and has an older brother, Jeff. His father is of French-Canadian descent, and his mother is of English, German, Finnish, and Norwegian ancestry. In ...

Nathan is clearly made from double rainbows and awesome.

2. Joe Manganiello

Actor | True Blood

Joe Manganiello is an American actor, producer, director, and author. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Susan (Brachanow) and Charles John Manganiello, and has a younger brother, Nicholas who is also his producing partner. His ancestry includes Sicilian, Irish, Croatian, Armenian, German,...

Beautiful, rugged, awesomeness. :)

3. Alan Tudyk

Actor | Rogue One

Alan Tudyk was born in El Paso, Texas, but grew up in Plano, where he attended Plano Sr. High. In 1990, he went on to study drama at Lon Morris Jr. College. While there, he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for Drama. He was also named Most Likely to Succeed and Sophomore Beau. During this ...

4. Eric Christian Olsen

Actor | Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

Eric Christian Olsen was born on May 31, 1977 in Eugene, Oregon, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), Fired Up! (2009) and Not Another Teen Movie (2001). He has been married to Sarah Wright since June 23, 2012. They have three children.

He's just like a little puppy, but in the best way possible.

5. Tahmoh Penikett

Actor | Battlestar Galactica

He is the son of former Yukon premier Anthony David John Penikett (Tony). A graduate of the Victoria Motion picture school, Tahmoh also studied at the Lyric School of Acting in Vancouver. Tahmoh and his family (his father, and his twin sisters Sarah and Stephanie) make their home in Vancouver, ...

Made Riverworld suck less.

6. Michael Shanks

Actor | Stargate SG-1

Michael Shanks was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for Stargate SG-1 (1997), Stargate: Continuum (2008) and Elysium (2013). He has been married to Lexa Doig since August 2, 2003. They have two children.

From the bumbling Dr. Daniel Jackson to an arrogant Hawkman. Always sexy.

7. Michael Trucco

Actor | Next

Born and raised in San Mateo, California, he graduated from Santa Clara University with a BA in Theatre Arts and was quickly headed to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of a career in Film and Television. He didn't have to wait long. A recurring role on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) brought Michael the...

8. Richard Dean Anderson

Actor | Stargate SG-1

The original MacGyver (1985) and Stargate SG-1 (1997) star was born on January 23, 1950, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, Stuart Anderson, was a teacher at a local high school and his mother, Jocelyn, was an artist who was talented in both sculpting and painting. He and his three younger ...

9. Kavan Smith

Actor | Stargate: Atlantis

Kavan was born in Edmonton, Alberta and both he and his brother were raised by his father when his parents divorced. He excelled in many sports as a child focusing on football and martial arts. During his teenage years, he cultivated a love for performing with a friend. They would often skip school...

10. Adam Baldwin

Actor | Serenity

Adam Baldwin is an American actor who is from Illinois. He is known for playing Jayne Cobb from Firefly and Serenity, Hal Jordan in various DC cartoons and games and Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket. He also acted in Independence Day, The Patriot, Predator 2, American Underdog, Superman: ...

11. Alexander Skarsgård

Actor | The Legend of Tarzan

Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård was born in Stockholm, Sweden and is the eldest son of famed actor Stellan Skarsgård. Among his siblings are actors Gustaf Skarsgård, Bill Skarsgård, and Valter Skarsgård. For most of his formative years, his father was an acclaimed actor in Europe but had not yet ...

Talent tall drink of water.

12. Ben Browder

Actor | Farscape

Ben Browder is an American actor, writer and director born in Memphis, Tennessee on December 11, 1962, as Robert Benedict Browder.

After a successful college football career with the Furman University Paladins as a Championship-winning Linebacker while starring in theatrical productions and gaining ...

My favourite southern boy.

13. Marc Blucas

Actor | Knight and Day

Marc graduated Girard High School in 1990. Marc played basketball throughout high school and his senior year. Because of his athletic ability, Marc went on full scholarship to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem North Carolina. After college, he played one year in Europe for the Manchester ...

14. Owain Yeoman

Actor | Emergence

Owain Sebastian Yeoman is a Welsh actor born to Michael and Hilary Yeoman. He has one sister Ailsa. An honors English graduate of Brasenose College (1996-99), Oxford University, Yeoman also graduated from the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London with the distinction of being ...

Tall, easy on the eyes, sexy accent, tall. :)

15. Jason Momoa

Actor | Aquaman

Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa was born on August 1, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of Coni (Lemke), a photographer, and Joseph Momoa, a painter. His father is of Native Hawaiian and Samoan descent; and his mother, who is from Iowa, is of German, Irish, and Native American ancestry. Jason ...

From Ronan to Conan. Always a sexy beast man. ;)

16. Sean Maher

Actor | Serenity

Sean Maher is well known to television and film audiences for his role as 'Dr. Simon Tam' in Joss Whedon's feature "Serenity". The film was based on the critically acclaimed series "Firefly".

Maher was born and raised in New York where he attended the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He moved to Los...

Sean is just too much adorable for his own good.

17. David Tennant

Actor | Doctor Who

Widely considered as one of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation both in his native Scotland and internationally, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald, who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish ...

Most delightful Doctor yet.

18. Matt Smith

Actor | Doctor Who

Matt Smith is an English actor who shot to fame in the UK aged 26 when he was cast by producer Steven Moffat as the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC's iconic science-fiction adventure series Doctor Who (2005).

Matthew Robert Smith was born and raised in Northampton, the son of Lynne (Fidler) and David ...

Matt made it hurt less that Tennant is no longer the Doctor.

19. Joe Flanigan

Actor | Stargate: Atlantis

Joe Flanigan started his career in politics working as an advance man at the White House. That was followed by a stint at Andy Warhol's Interview magazine until finally settling At Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. He was quickly cast in several NBC projects and eventually put ...

20. Alex O'Loughlin

Actor | Hawaii Five-0

The Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin was born in August 1976.

Alex started out his film career in 2004, when he starred in Oyster Farmer (2004) as Jack Flange. The following year, he returned to the big screen as Michael Carter in Feed (2005), a movie that he also co-produced and helped write. Also ...

21. Zachary Quinto

Actor | Star Trek

Zachary Quinto was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Margaret J. (McArdle), an Irish-American office worker, and Joseph John Quinto, an Italian-American barber. Zachary graduated from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, with the class of 1995, where he won Pittsburgh's Gene Kelly Award ...

Good guy or Bad guy? Talented in any role.

22. David Boreanaz

Actor | Angel

David was born in Buffalo, New York and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Patti, a travel agent, and weatherman Dave Roberts (Boreanaz). His father is of Italian descent and his mother is of half Slovak ancestry. At the age of seven he decide to be an actor, which eventually ...

My favourite vampire.

23. Jensen Ackles

Actor | Supernatural

Jensen Ross Ackles, better known as simply Jensen Ackles, was born on March 1, 1978, in Dallas, Texas, to Donna Joan (Shaffer) and actor Alan Ackles. He has English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Jensen grew up in Richardson, Texas, together with his older brother, Joshua, and a younger sister, ...

My favourite vampire killer. ;)

24. Neil Patrick Harris

Actor | How I Met Your Mother

Neil Patrick Harris was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 15, 1973. His parents, Sheila Gail (Scott) and Ronald Gene Harris, were lawyers and ran a restaurant. He grew up in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a small town 120 miles south of Albuquerque, where he first took up acting in the fourth grade. ...

25. Joshua Jackson

Actor | Fatal Attraction

Joshua Carter Jackson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. His Irish mother, Fiona Jackson, is a casting director originally from Dublin. His American father, John Carter Jackson, is from Texas. Josh spent the first eight years of his life in California before returning to Canada. At the age of...

26. Matthew Gray Gubler

Actor | Alvin and the Chipmunks

Matthew Gray Gubler is an Emmy award-winning actor, director, producer, painter, and voice over actor from Las Vegas, Nevada. While studying film directing at NYU he interned for Wes Anderson who gave him his first feature film role as Bill Murray's loyal intern "Nico" in The Life Aquatic with ...

27. Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Actor | Inception

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt was born February 17, 1981 in Los Angeles, California, to Jane Gordon and Dennis Levitt. Joseph was raised in a Jewish family with his late older brother, Dan Gordon-Levitt, who passed away in October 2010. His parents worked for the Pacifica Radio station KPFK-FM and ...

SNL solidified my love for Joseph.

28. Jim Parsons

Actor | The Big Bang Theory

Having grown up in Houston, and its northern suburb of Spring, he made his first stage appearance in a school play at the age of 6. Parsons then went on to study theater at the University of Houston. From there he won a place on a two-year Masters course in classical theater at the University of ...

29. James Roday Rodriguez

Actor | Psych

James David Rodríguez was born on April 4, 1976. He is the son of Jim Rodríguez and Deborah Collins. Roday was born in San Antonio. He attended Taft High School. He studied theater at New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He has acted in ...

Positively the best psychic detective.

30. Seth Gabel

Actor | Big Sky

Seth Gabel is an American actor. He is known for his roles as agent Lincoln Lee on Fox's television series Fringe (2008), Cotton Mather on WGN America's series Salem (2014), and Adrian Moore on the FX series Nip/Tuck (2003). He is a grand-nephew of actor Martin Gabel. Gabel was born to a Jewish ...

I really enjoy his character on Fringe.

31. Matt Bomer

Actor | In Time

Matthew Staton Bomer was born in Webster Groves, Greater St. Louis, Missouri, to Elizabeth Macy (Staton) and John O'Neill Bomer IV, a Dallas Cowboys draft pick. Matt was raised in Spring, Texas, and educated at Klein High School, near Houston. After school, he attended Carnegie Mellon University in...

32. Jon Huertas

Actor | This Is Us

For six seasons, Jon Huertas starred as Miguel Rivas and directed multiple episodes of NBC's This Is Us (2016). His heartwarming portrayal of a character who spans decades, the 1970s through present day, allowed him to show not only exceptional but also a physically transformative range that ...

So much fun on Castle.

33. Zach Gilford

Actor | The Purge: Anarchy

Zachary Michael Gilford is an American actor, known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series Friday Night Lights. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series Midnight Mass. He is also set to appear in the horror series The Midnight Club in 2022. Gilford was born in ...

34. Kevin McKidd

Actor | Trainspotting

Kevin McKidd was born and raised in Elgin, Scotland, the son of Kathleen, a secretary, and Neil McKidd, a plumber. He was a member of the Moray Youth Theatre, before going on to study Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. While at the university, Kevin became involved with Bedlam Theatre, the...

35. Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Actor | Watchmen

Jeffrey Dean Morgan endeared himself to audiences with his recurring role on ABC's smash hit series Grey's Anatomy (2005). His dramatic arc as heart patient Denny Duquette, who wins the heart of intern Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) in a star-crossed romance, made him a universal fan favorite. He ...

36. Ryan McDonald

Actor | Bad Blood

Ryan McDonald was born on August 5, 1984 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for Bad Blood (2017), Black Conflux (2019) and Fringe (2008).

37. Benedict Cumberbatch

Actor | The Imitation Game

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born and raised in London, England. His parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (born Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch), are both actors. He is a grandson of submarine commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, and a great-grandson of diplomat Henry Arnold ...

Spectacularily awesome and delightful to watch.

38. Lee Pace

Actor | Guardians of the Galaxy

One of the most versatile actors working in Hollywood today, Lee Pace has established himself as a powerful leading man, consistently delivering compelling performances in film, television, and on stage.

Pace will next be seen in the highly anticipated Apple TV+ series FOUNDATION. Scheduled for a ...

39. Chris O'Donnell

Actor | Batman & Robin

Christopher Eugene O'Donnell was born on June 26th, 1970 in Winnetka, Illinois, to Julie Ann (Rohs) and William Charles O'Donnell, Sr., who managed a CBS radio station, WBBM-AM. He is the youngest child in his family, with four sisters and two brothers. His father had Irish ancestry and his ...

40. Jason George

Actor | Fallen

Jason George was born on February 9, 1972 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Fallen (1998), Sunset Beach (1997) and Breaking In (2018). He has been married to Vandana Khanna since July 10, 1999. They have three children.

41. Martin Henderson

Actor | Smokin' Aces

Martin Henderson was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He began acting when he was 13, appearing in Strangers (1989), a local television production. He attended Westlake Boys High School and Birkenhead Primary. He first became a star in his home country when he starred in the series Shortland Street, ...

42. Mark Harmon

Actor | NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

Thomas Mark Harmon was born on September 2, 1951, in Burbank, California, to football player and broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress and artist Elyse Knox (née Kornbrath). Harmon played college football and found success as one of TV's hunkiest actors. While many of his roles have relied on good ...

Absolutely a brilliant actor.

43. LL Cool J

Actor | Deep Blue Sea

L.L. Cool J was born James Todd Smith in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, the son of Ondrea Griffith and James Louis Smith, Jr.

Todd, as he was called, did not have a very happy childhood. At the age of four, he saw his mother and grandfather shot by his own father. After they recovered from their ...

44. Michael Weatherly

Actor | NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

Michael Manning Weatherly, Jr. was born on July 8, 1968 in New York City, to Patricia Ruth (Hetherington) and Michael Manning Weatherly, Sr. Raised in Fairfield, CT, he left college to pursue a career in acting. He also had a great passion for music, and played in a band while pursuing his acting ...

45. Ed Quinn

Actor | 2 Broke Girls

Ed Quinn originally pursued a path in music before considering a career in acting. He was born in Berkeley, California and attended the St. Mary's College High School. After high school, Ed attended the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in ...

46. Cory Monteith

Actor | Glee

Cory Monteith was born on May 11, 1982 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada as Cory Allan Michael Monteith. He was an actor, known for playing the singing jock Finn on the American TV show Glee (2009) and films such as Monte Carlo (2011), and Final Destination 3 (2006). He died on July 13, 2013 in Vancouver...

47. Sean Murray

Actor | Hocus Pocus

Sean Harland Murray is an American actor known for his role as Special Agent Timothy McGee on the American TV drama NCIS. He also played Thackery Binx in Disney's Halloween film Hocus Pocus and Danny Walden in the military drama series JAG. Murray was born on November 15, 1977 in the Bethesda Navy ...

48. Niall Matter

Actor | The Predator

Niall Matter was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for The Predator (2018), Watchmen (2009) and Primeval: New World (2012). He has been married to Sara Bradley Matter since June 2016. They have two children.

49. Gareth David-Lloyd

Actor | Torchwood

Gareth is an actor and singer. He fronts the metal progressive band called Blue Gillespie (previously known as "A Breath of Blue Fire").

Their first EP was "Cave Country" (December 2008) EP: "Cave Country Part 2" (August 2009) Album (debut): "Synesthesia" (May 2010) Album "Seven Rages of Man" (May ...

One of my favourite reasons for watching Torchwood.

50. Andrew Lee Potts

Actor | The Witcher

Andrew was born on 29 October 1979 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK to dad Alan and mum Susan. He has a sister, Sarah-Jane, who is also an actor. He studied at Leeds Performing Arts School and started out in musical theatre. He is now a veteran TV actor and has been in a catalogue of all ...

Hatter! That is all. :)



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