Frank Anthony Grillo born June 8, 1965 is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Marvel supervillain Brock Rumlow / Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). He had his first leading role in the action-horror film The Purge: Anarchy (2014), portraying Sergeant Leo Barnes, a role he reprised in The Purge: Election Year (2016), and has also appeared in Warrior (2011), The Grey (2012), End of Watch (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Wolf Warrior 2 and Wheelman (both 2017), and Boss Level (2021). Grillo’s television work includes recurring roles in the series Battery Park (2000), For the People (2002–2003), The Shield (2002–2003), Prison Break (2005–2006), Blind Justice (2005), and The Kill Point (2007).
Early life
Grillo was born the first of three boys in New York City, and is of Italian (Calabrian) heritage. He graduated from New York University with a business degree and spent a year on Wall Street before being asked to do a Miller Genuine Draft beer commercial. On the podcast The Fighter and the Kid, he stated that he holds Italian citizenship.
Career
Film
Grillo (second from right) with his co-stars from Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Grillo started his acting career by appearing in commercials, for companies such as American Express and Sure deodorant. His first film role was in 1992’s The Mambo Kings, and he went on to appear in the films Minority Report (2002), April’s Shower (2006), and both iMurders and New Line Cinema’s Pride and Glory in 2008.
Grillo was in the 2010 horror film Mother’s Day in the role of Daniel Sohapi and the following year, had a supporting role in the 2011 film Warrior as MMA trainer Frank Campana. In 2012, he played Diaz in the survival thriller The Grey with Liam Neeson and as Sarge in End of Watch with Jake Gyllenhaal. In 2013, he starred with Jaimie Alexander in the romantic thriller film Collision and had a bit role in the action film Homefront with Jason Statham.
In 2014, Grillo was cast as HYDRA agent Brock Rumlow in the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The same year, he starred as Sergeant Leo Barnes in the sequel The Purge: Anarchy, and reprised his role in 2016’s The Purge: Election Year. He also reprised the role of Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in the third installment of the Captain America film series, Civil War, which was released on May 6, 2016.
In October 2013, Grillo started filming for The Crash, starring alongside Academy Award nominee Minnie Driver, Ed Westwick, AnnaSophia Robb, Dianna Agron, John Leguizamo, Mary McCormack, Christopher McDonald and Maggie Q. The film is directed by Aram Rappaport and produced by Hilary Shor, Atit Shah and Aaron Becker. The Crash was released on January 31, 2017.
In 2015, Grillo starred in the films Demonic and Big Sky. Another film in which he stars, Beyond Skyline, was originally set for release in 2015, and was ultimately released on Netflix in December 2017.
In 2019, Variety announced that Grillo has signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for representation.
Grillo produced and starred in Boss Level, which was announced in November 2017 and was originally scheduled to be released by Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures on August 16, 2019, but was delayed. It was subsequently bought by Hulu, which released it on March 5, 2021.
Television
Nick Jonas, Joanna Going, Matt Lauria, Grillo and Jonathan Tucker at the premiere of the drama series Kingdom in October 2014
Grillo first appeared on television in episodes of Silk Stalkings (1993), and Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996) before being cast as oil tycoon Hart Jessup on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light in 1996 up until 1999. In 2002, he was cast in the series For the People as Det. J.C. Hunter and played Hunter until 2003. One of his more notable television roles was on the crime drama Prison Break where he played Nick Savrinn from 2005 to 2006. During that time, he also appeared on the Blind Justice as Marty Russo.
He was in the first and only season of The Kill Point in 2007, and played the role of Jimmy in the CSI: NY episode “The Things About Heroes,” which aired in November 2007. In 2010, he starred in the sci-fi series The Gates opposite Marisol Nichols and Rhona Mitra. The series only lasted one season.
Between 2014 and 2017, Grillo starred in the DirecTV drama series Kingdom as MMA coach Alvey Kulina alongside Nick Jonas and Jonathan Tucker.
Personal life
He married his first wife Kathy in 1991, but the couple divorced in 1998. They had a son, Remy (b. January 1997). Grillo met fellow actress Wendy Moniz in 1996 on the set of Guiding Light. The couple was married on October 28, 2000, and separated in February 2020. They have two sons: Liam (b. August 2004) and Rio (b. January 2008).
Filmography
Grillo at San Diego Comic Con International in 2013
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Mambo Kings | Machito | |
| 1993 | Deadly Rivals | Grogan | |
| 1996 | Deadly Charades | Vince Carlucci | |
| 2002 | Simplicity | General | Short film |
| 2002 | Minority Report | Pre-Crime Cop | |
| 2003 | The Sweetest Thing | Andy | |
| 2004 | Hunter: Return to Justice | Terence Gillette | |
| 2005 | Hunter: Back in Force | Terence Gillette | |
| 2006 | April’s Shower | Rocco | |
| 2006 | Hollis & Rae | Henry Callaway | |
| 2007 | Raw Footage | Ben Chaffin | Short film |
| 2008 | The Madness of Jane | Oliver Cornbluth | |
| 2008 | Blue Blood | Quarry | |
| 2008 | iMurders | Joe Romano | |
| 2009 | Pride and Glory | Eddie Carbone | |
| 2009 | Blue Eyes | Bob Estevez | |
| 2010 | Edge of Darkness | Agent One | |
| 2010 | Mother’s Day | Daniel Sohapi | |
| 2010 | My Soul to Take | Paterson | |
| 2011 | Warrior | Frank Campana | |
| 2012 | The Grey | John Diaz | |
| 2012 | Lay the Favorite | Frankie | |
| 2012 | End of Watch | Sarge | |
| 2012 | Zero Dark Thirty | Red Squadron Commanding Officer | |
| 2013 | Disconnect | Mike | |
| 2013 | Collision | Scott Dolan | |
| 2013 | Mary and Martha | Peter | |
| 2013 | Homefront | Cyrus Hanks | |
| 2014 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Brock Rumlow | |
| 2014 | The Purge: Anarchy | Sergeant Leo Barnes | |
| 2015 | Demonic | Mark Lewis | |
| 2015 | Big Sky | Jesse | |
| 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | Brock Rumlow / Crossbones | |
| 2016 | The Purge: Election Year | Sergeant Leo Barnes | |
| 2017 | The Crash | Guy Clifton | |
| 2017 | Stephanie | Stephanie’s father | |
| 2017 | Wolf Warrior 2 | Big Daddy | |
| 2017 | Wheelman | Wheelman | Also producer |
| 2017 | Beyond Skyline | Mark Corley | |
| 2018 | Reprisal | Jacob | |
| 2018 | Donnybrook | Chainsaw Angus | |
| 2018 | El Chicano | As Executive Producer only | |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Brock Rumlow | Cameo |
| 2019 | Point Blank | Abraham “Abe” Guevara | Also producer |
| 2019 | Into the Ashes | Sloan | |
| 2019 | Black and Blue | Terry Malone | |
| 2019 | Hell on the Border | Bob Dozier | |
| 2020 | Jiu Jitsu | Harrigan | |
| 2021 | No Man’s Land | Bill Greer | |
| 2021 | Body Brokers | Vin | |
| 2021 | Boss Level | Roy Pulver | Also producer |
| 2021 | Cosmic Sin | General Eron Ryle | |
| 2021 | The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard | Post-production | |
| 2021 | Copshop | Teddy | Also producer |
| TBA | This Is the Night | Post-production | |
| TBA | Ida Red | Dallas Walker | |
| TBA | The Gateway |