The Incredible Hulk

Background:

American actor Ty Burrell is known to moviegoers for his impressive performances in such films as Zack Snyder's “Dawn of the Dead” (2004), Finn Taylor's “The Darwin Awards” (2006), Jon Turteltaub's “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” (2007) and Louis Leterrier's “The Incredible Hulk” (2008). On the small screen, he had regular roles on the sitcoms “Out of Practice” (CBS, 2005-2006) and “Back To You” (Fox, 2007-2008) and guest roles in “The West Wing,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Damages.” Starting out on stage, Burrell has collected extensive stage credits, which includes roles in “Burn This,” “Richard III,” “Show People,” “Drunk Enough to Say I Love You” and “Macbeth” (Broadway).

Burrell's fans should not miss his performances in the upcoming films “Leaves of Grass” (2009), “Fair Game” (2010) and “Morning Glory” (2010).

Oregon

Childhood and Family:

Ty Burrell was born on August 22, 1967, in Grants Pass, Oregon. He has one sister and two brothers.

Ty is married to an actress named Holly. The couple lives in New York City.

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Career:

Ty Burrell began his career on stage. In 1998, he performed in “Babble” at the Broad Horizons Theatre in New York. He also co-wrote the play with his brother, Duncan. He then appeared in a Broadway production of William Shakespeare's “Macbeth” at New York's Music Box Theater in September 2000 and portrayed Burton in an off-Broadway production of “Burn This,” by Lanford Wilson. He costarred with Edward Norton and Catherine Keener in the latter play. Other off-Broadways shows he has appeared in include “Corners” and “The Blue Demon.”

Burrell made his television acting debut by playing Tom Starks in a 2001 episode of “The West Wing.” He quickly moved to the big screen with supporting roles in Ivan Reitman's “Evolution,” opposite David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones and Seann William Scott, and Ridley Scott's “Black Hawk Down,” with Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore and Eric Bana.

Following guest roles in “Law & Order” and its spin-off, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Burrell got his breakout role of Steve Markus, a self centered yuppie, in “Dawn of the Dead” (2004), a horror remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name that was helmed by the first timer Zack Snyder and starred Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames and Jake Weber. The same year, he also played Enrique Colon in “In Good Company,” a movie directed and written by Paul Weitz and starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson. He then appeared on stage in Shakespeare's “Richard III,” in which he was cast as Buckingham.

Burrell next appeared in David Jacobson's “Dawn in the Valley” (2005) and Nicole Holofcener's “Friends with Money” (2006). He was cast in the adventure film “The Darwin Awards” (2006), opposite David Arquette, and as Allan Arbus in “Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus” (2006), a fictional account of iconic American photographer Diane Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman). “Fur” was directed by Steven Shainberg and written by Erin Cressida Wilson, who based his script on the book “Diane Arbus: A Biography” by Patricia Bosworth.

The tall actor revisited the small screen when he was cast in the comedy series “Out of Practice” (CBS, 2005-2006). Unfortunately for Burrell, who played Oliver Barnes, a self centered plastic surgeon and womanizer, the show was canceled after 14 episodes. He got his next regular role in another short-lived sitcom, “Back To You” (Fox, September 2007-May 2008), which was created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. Costars of the series included Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Ayda Field, Laura Marano, Lily Jackson, Josh Gad and Fred Willard.

After teaming up with Jack Carpenter in the made-for-TV film “Lipshitz Saves the World” (2007), which was directed by Chris Koch, Burrell had the noted small role of Connor in the adventure film “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” (2007), a sequel to the 2004 box office hit “National Treasure.” Like its original, the sequel was also a commercial success. He next costarred in the TV film “Fourplay” (2008) and was cast as psychiatrist Leonard Samson in the superhero film “The Incredible Hulk” (2008), based on the Marvel comics. The film starred Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner and the Hulk and Liv Tyler as Banner's girlfriend, Betty. It was directed by Louis Leterrier.

Recently making a guest appearance as Douglas Schiff in a 2009 episode of “Damages,” Burrell will play Phil in a TV pilot titled “Modern Family,” from “Back To You” creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. On the film front, he is set work with Norton, Susan Sarandon, Keri Russell and Richard Dreyfuss in “Leaves of Grass” (2009), a drama directed and written by Tim Blake Nelson (also stars). He will also support Sean Penn and Naomi Watts in Doug Liman's action film “Fair Game” (2010) and Rachel McAdams, Patrick Wilson, Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum and Diane Keaton in Roger Michell's comedy “Morning Glory,” which will be released on July 30, 2010.

Awards:
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