Alexis Denisof: Difference between revisions

Beginning his career in the film industry, Denisof was the fight director for a stage production of ''[[Hamlet]]'', and in 1991 was the fight director for the BBC's ''The Other Side'', ''Romeo and Juliet'', and ''The Soul's Dark Night''.<ref name="BEDLAM">{{cite web |url=http://www.betsyda.com/denisof/adacting.html |title=Alexis Denisof: Performing Credits |date=8 March 8, 2001 |website=Bentley's Bedlam |access-date=24 April 24, 2012}}</ref> His first lead role was alongside Sir [[Christopher Lee]] in the feature film ''Murder Story'' (1989) where he played an investigative reporter. One of his first known works in television was on the arcade version of the video for "[[Got My Mind Set on You#George Harrison version|Got My Mind Set On You]]" by [[George Harrison]]. In 1995, he landed a small part in the 1995 movie ''[[First Knight]]'', appearing as one of Arthur's round table knights in multiple scenes with [[Sean Connery]] and [[Richard Gere]].<ref name="metacritic"/> Following those roles, Denisof worked with [[Sean Bean]] in three episodes of ''[[Sharpe (TV series)|Sharpe]]'' as [[Lord John Rossendale]] in 1997.<ref name="filmreference"/>

The end of the series in 2004 saw a lag in Denisof's career. Save for appearing in three episodes of the hit series ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', as the goofy philandering Sandy Rivers, Denisof would not work as much as he used to for the next several years. During this time he appeared in several stage productions, including ''[[Rope (play)|Rope]]'' at [[Chichester Festival Theatre]]'s Minerva Theatre with [[Anthony Head]], who played Wesley's predecessor [[Rupert Giles]] on ''Buffy''. Most likely due to his time playing an English character on ''Angel'', Denisof was among 200 actors considered for the role of James Bond in ''[[Casino Royale (2006 film)|Casino Royale]]'', but lost out to [[Daniel Craig]]. Later, in 2008, he appeared in season 2 of ''[[Private Practice (TV series)|Private Practice]]'' as a man named Daniel, a bigamist who has two pregnant wives who don't know about each other.<ref name="bio">{{cite web |title=Exclusive: Angel Alum Brings Double Trouble to ABC's Practice |url=http://www.tvguide.com/news/alexis-denisof-angel-34726/ |first=Matt |last=Mitovich |date=27 October 27, 2008 |website=TV Guide |access-date=24 February 24, 2015}}</ref> In 2009, he appeared in four episodes of Joss Whedon's ''[[Dollhouse (TV series)|Dollhouse]]'' as Senator Daniel Perrin.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Alexis Denisof starts shooting 'Dollhouse': Please play a suit-wearing badass |url=http://www.ew.com/article/2009/08/05/alexis-denisof-dollhouse |first=Mandi |last=Bierly |date=5 August 5, 2009 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=24 February 24, 2015}}</ref>

In 2011, Denisof reprised his recurring role in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', as Sandy Rivers; he ultimately appeared in 10 episodes total, and his last appearance was in the episode "[[Gary Blauman]]". In a season 1 commentary, creators [[Craig Thomas (screenwriter)|Craig Thomas]] and [[Carter Bays]] speculated that Denisof was initially reluctant to take the role back in 2006 because he feared it was just charity work on account of his wife, Hannigan, playing a main character on the show. They went on to state that he was not aware, until they actually told him, that they were huge fans of his work dating back to his time on ''[[Angel (1999 TV series)|Angel]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=How I Met Your Mother: 'Buffy's' Danny Strong, Alexis Denisof to guest |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/12/how-i-met-your-mother-buffys-danny-strong-alexis-denisof-to-guest.html |first=Vlada |last=Gelman |date=16 December 16, 2010 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=24 February 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title='How I Met Your Mother' Reunites Cast Spouses as End Draws Near |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-i-met-your-mother-689115 |first=Michael |last=O'Connell |date=17 March 17, 2014 |magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=24 February 24, 2015}}</ref>

Since 2011, Denisof has been relatively active. He played a voice role in the animated DC movie ''[[Justice League: Doom]]''. He was featured in the majority of episodes in the AOL webseries, ''Little Women, Big Cars''. DenisofHe was then cast as a lead in [[Bryan Singer]]'s new webseries ''[[H+: The Digital Series]]''. He then reunited with [[Joss Whedon]] for two different film projects. The first was a minor role in the summer blockbuster ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'', as The Other, a servant of the character [[Thanos]], and a cohort of Loki. The second was the lead male role in a [[Much Ado About Nothing (2012 film)|modern version]] of Shakespeare's ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', which premiered at the [[Toronto Film Festival]], to positive reviews from critics. The film was released worldwide in June 2013.<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview: Alexis Denisof & Amy Acker on Much Ado About Nothing |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zaki-hasan/interview-alexis-denisof_b_3408382.html |first=Zaki |last=Hasan |date=8 August 2013 |website=[[The Huffington Post]] |access-date=24 February 2015}}</ref>

In August 2013 he was cast in the third season of NBC's ''[[Grimm (TV series)|Grimm]]'' as a recurring character named Viktor Albert Wilhelm George Beckendorf.<ref>{{cite magazine |title='Grimm': Alexis Denisof Makes His Royal Debut |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/grimm-alexis-denisof-makes-his-665220 |first=Philiana |last=Ng |date=12 December 12, 2013 |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=24 February 2015}}</ref> In 2014, Denisof reprised his role as The Other in ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy (film)|Guardians of the Galaxy]]''. In the same year he began starring in the [[MTV]] television series ''[[Finding Carter]]'' as David Wilson.<ref name="trailer0611">{{cite web |title=Video: MTV Debuts the Trailer for Its Highly Anticipated New Drama Series, 'Finding Carter' |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/video/2014/06/11/video-mtv-debuts-the-trailer-for-its-highly-anticipated-new-drama-series-finding-carter-584013/20140611mtv02/ |website=The Futon Critic |access-date=12 June 12, 2014 |date=11 June 11, 2014 |quote="Finding Carter" stars Kathryn Prescott as "Carter Stevens" (''Skins''), Cynthia Watros as "Elizabeth Wilson" (''Lost''), Anna Jacoby-Heron as "Taylor Wilson", Alexis Denisof as "David Wilson" (''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''/''Angel'') and Zac Pullam as "Grant". The series also features Milena Govich as "Lori", Meredith Baxter as "Grandma Joan" (''Family Ties''), Robert Pine as "Grandpa Buddy" (''CHiPs''), Eddie Matos as "Kyle", Alex Saxon (''The Fosters'') as "Max", Jesse Henderson as "Gabe" and Stephen Guarino as "Toby".}}</ref> As of 2018, Denisof starred in the web series ''I Love Bekka & Lucy'' as Glenn, and was nominated for a [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series]], his first such nomination.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goldderby.com/article/2018/alexis-denisof-i-love-bekka-and-lucy-buffy-emmys-news-846295713/ |title=Alexis Denisof ('I Love Bekka and Lucy') could become the first 'Buffy' alum to win an acting Emmy |first=Sam |last=Eckmann |date=24 July 2018 |website=[[Gold Derby]] |access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref>