Clancy Brown

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Clancy Brown (born Clarence J. Brown III on January 5, 1959) is an American actor.

Biography

Born in Urbana, Ohio in 1959, he was raised by his mother (a classical musician) and his father (a Congressman). He attended St. Albans School, earning a scholarship for Northwestern University.

Brown began his acting career in the early 1980s with appearances in The Dukes of Hazzard. He is mostly recognizable for his role as the protagonist's friend in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), The Kurgan in Highlander (1986; during filming, he made friends with swordmaster Bob Anderson), prison guard Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), drill instructor in Starship Troopers (1997) and the preacher Meacham in Cowboys & Aliens (2011; directed by Jon Favreau).

Having a deep and resonant voice, he also works as a voice actor for both animation and video-games, including Mortal Kombat (1995), Gargoyles (1995-1996), SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008; a show which featured heavy involvement from Dave Filoni and Giancarlo Volpe). He also voiced Lex Luthor in the DCAU's Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000), Justice League (2001-2004) and Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006).

Personal life

In 1993, Brown married producer Jeanne Johnson and they currently have three sons. Although he often plays villains, Brown is considered to be a very friendly person and has backed up different charity campaigns. He is also a collector of animation and an avid reader of science fiction. He is quoted as saying that if he hadn't been an actor he would have been (in order) a fireman, an aristocrat, an archaeologist/anthropologist, a scuba diver and a circus acrobat.