Pruitt Taylor Vince
Acting • Born 1960-07-05
Biography
Pruitt Taylor Vince (born July 5, 1960) is an American character actor. He had roles in the films Mississippi Burning (1988), Jacob's Ladder (1990), JFK (1991), Identity (2003), and Constantine (2005). He played J.J. Laroche in The Mentalist (2008–2015). Vince has also appeared on many television series. In 1997, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role as Clifford Banks in the second season of the television series Murder One. Vince was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5, 1960. He attended Louisiana State University. For most of his life, Vince has had a condition called nystagmus, the involuntary movement of the eye. Vince made his film debut in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law, but his scenes were edited out. He had prominent supporting roles in several major films, including a turn as a dimwitted Ku Klux Klan member in Mississippi Burning (1988), Lee Bowers in JFK (1991), and the main character's best friend in Nobody's Fool (1994). His first lead role was in James Mangold's independent film Heavy (1995), playing a sweet, silent, overweight cook harbouring a crush on a waitress played by Liv Tyler. He starred in Giuseppe Tornatore's film The Legend of 1900 (1998). Vince often alternates between heroic and villainous characters. Vince played a Southern policeman in the neo-noir psychological horror film Angel Heart (1987), a kidnapper's assistant in the crime thriller film Trapped (2002), and a deputy prison warden in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994). He played a lovable, small-town pub owner in Beautiful Girls (1996); a mentally ill serial killer in the 2003 mystery thriller film Identity (a second collaboration with director Mangold); a pompous sheriff in Nurse Betty (2000); a gossip columnist in Simone (2002); and a dissolute Roman Catholic priest with psychic abilities in the 2005 supernatural horror film Constantine. He can also be seen in the dramatic film Love from Ground Zero (1998), playing as Walter. Other film titles include the psychological horror film Jacob's Ladder (1990), the neo-noir film China Moon (1994), the action thriller film Homefront (2013), and the supernatural horror film The Devil's Candy (2015). Guest appearances on TV shows include Deadwood, Alias, The X-Files, Miami Vice, Quantum Leap, Chicago Hope, In the Heat of the Night, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Highlander: The Series, and the American remake of Touching Evil. In 2011, he appeared as Otis in the AMC television series The Walking Dead. He also had a guest role playing a 600-lb. patient in Fox's medical drama House. From 2010 to 2014, he had a multi-episode appearance in The Mentalist. In 2012, he appeared in a full episode of Justified. He took a comic role as "Jelly" in Flypaper. In 2018, he appeared on an episode of The Blacklist as Lawrence Devlin. Vince received an Emmy Award in 1997 for Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as serial killer Clifford Banks during the second season of the television series Murder One.
Filmography
94 credits
ASIA A
Movie • 2018
Noah
Constantine
Movie • 2005
Father Hennessy
Mississippi Burning
Movie • 1988
Lester Cowens
JFK
Movie • 1991
Lee Bowers
Jacob's Ladder
Movie • 1990
Paul
K-9
Movie • 1989
Benny the Mule
The Legend of 1900
Movie • 1998
Max Tooney
Identity
Movie • 2003
Malcolm Rivers
Barfly
Movie • 1987
Joe
Nobody's Fool
Movie • 1994
Rub Squeers
When A Man Falls In The Forest
Movie • 2007
Travis Gilmore
Mumford
Movie • 1999
Henry Follett
Heavy
Movie • 1995
Victor Modino
Trapped
Movie • 2002
Marvin
Leaves of Grass
Movie • 2009
Big Joe Sharpe
Don McKay
Movie • 2009
Mel
Captivity
Movie • 2007
Ben Dexter
In the Electric Mist
Movie • 2009
Lou Girard
The Smell of Success
Movie • 2011
Cleveland Clod
Flypaper
Movie • 2011
Jelly
Bending The Rules
Movie • 2012
Happy
The End of Violence
Movie • 1997
Frank Cray
Homer and Eddie
Movie • 1989
Cashier
Shy People
Movie • 1987
Paul
Fear
Movie • 1990
Jay Anthony Lapedes ("Shadow Man")
On the Inside
Movie • 2011
Ben Marshal
Butter
Movie • 2012
Ned Eaten
13 Sins
Movie • 2014
Vogler
The Grief Tourist
Movie • 2013
Carl Marznap
Under the Hula Moon
Movie • 1995
Bob
Till Death Us Do Part
Movie • 1992
Michael Brockington
Love from Ground Zero
Movie • 1998
Walter
Drop Dead Sexy
Movie • 2005
Spider
Brake
Movie • 2012
Driver / Boss Terrorist (voice)
The Cell
Movie • 2000
Dr. Reid
Creature
Movie • 2011
Grover
Red Heat
Movie • 1988
Night Clerk
Drive Angry
Movie • 2011
Roy
Angel Heart
Movie • 1987
Det. Deimos
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
Movie • 1994
Bud
Beautiful Creatures
Movie • 2013
Mr. Lee
The Devil's Candy
Movie • 2016
Ray
Dead in the Water
Movie • 1991
Lou Rescetti
Wild at Heart
Movie • 1990
Buddy
Beautiful Girls
Movie • 1996
Stanley "Stinky" Womack
Superman
Movie • 2025
Pa Kent
Natural Born Killers
Movie • 1994
Deputy Warden Kavanaugh
A Further Gesture
Movie • 1997
Scott
Cold Around the Heart
Movie • 1997
Johnny 'Cokebottles' Costello
13 Moons
Movie • 2002
Owen
Nurse Betty
Movie • 2000
Ballard
S1m0ne
Movie • 2002
Max Sayer
Gotti
Movie • 2018
Angelo Ruggiero
Nobody Wants Your Film
Movie • 2005
Self
L.A. Confidential
Movie • 2003
Sid Hudgens
Monster
Movie • 2003
Gene / Stuttering "John"
59 Seconds
Movie • 2018
Robert
Mysterious Island
Movie • 2010
Gideon Spilett
Homefront
Movie • 2013
Werks
Bird Box
Movie • 2018
Rick
China Moon
Movie • 1994
Daryl Jeeters
Doctor Dolittle
Movie • 1998
Patient at Hammersmith (uncredited)
The Echo
Movie • 2008
Joseph
The Cottonwood
Movie • 1996
Mark Salli
Come See the Paradise
Movie • 1990
Augie Farrell
Crime Story
Movie • 2021
Tommy
Sweet Poison
Movie • 1991
Coyle
Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer
Movie • 1997
Clifford Banks
Medium
TV • 2005
Peter Winant
Deadwood
TV • 2004
Mose Manuel
House
TV • 2004
George
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
TV • 2000
Marty Gleason
Alias
TV • 2001
Campbell / Schapker
Miami Vice
TV • 1984
Cruz
Murder One
TV • 1995
Quantum Leap
TV • 1989
Hank Pilcher
Canterbury's Law
TV • 2008
The X-Files
TV • 1993
Gerry Schnauz
The Mentalist
TV • 2008
J.J. LaRoche
Chicago Hope
TV • 1994
Walter Platt
The Handler
TV • 2003
I Know My First Name Is Steven
TV • 1989
Irving Murphy
Hawaii Five-0
TV • 2010
Richard Branch
The Walking Dead
TV • 2010
Otis
True Blood
TV • 2008
Finn
The Cape
TV • 2011
Goggles
Lady in the Lake
TV • 2024
Bob Bauer
Justified
TV • 2010
Glen Fogle
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
TV • 2013
Grill
The Blacklist
TV • 2013
Lawrence Devlin
Highlander: The Series
TV • 1992
Mikey
Heroes Reborn
TV • 2015
Casper Abraham
Stranger Things
TV • 2016
Ray
Bones
TV • 2005
Haze Jackson