Barry Robert Pepper born April 4, 1970 is a Canadian-American character actor. He played Private Daniel Jackson in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Corrections Officer Dean Stanton in The Green Mile (1999), Roger Maris in 61* (2001), Sergeant Michael Strank in Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Vince in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), and David Keller in Crawl (2019). He has been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award. For his role as Robert F. Kennedy in the miniseries The Kennedys (2011), Pepper won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
Early life
Pepper was born the youngest of three boys in Campbell River, British Columbia, the son of a lumberjack. When he was five years old, his family set sail in a homemade ship, navigating through the South Pacific islands for five years. His education was completed in both public schools and correspondence courses. Due to the lack of television as entertainment, the family created and performed sketches for each other. When the family had finished their travels, they returned to Canada and set up a shop on Denman Island.
Career
Pepper is perhaps best known for his role as the sniper Private Daniel Jackson in Saving Private Ryan. He portrayed Corrections Officer Dean Stanton in The Green Mile, appeared as Frank Slaughtery in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, as journalist Joseph L. Galloway in We Were Soldiers, his role as the heroic antagonist of the film Battlefield Earth, his depiction of Roger Maris in Billy Crystal’s HBO film 61*, as Dale Earnhardt in the ESPN produced film 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, and as Dan Morris in the film Seven Pounds, with Will Smith. He recently had roles in Casino Jack and the Coen brothers’ True Grit. Pepper provided the voice for Alex Mercer, the protagonist of the video game Prototype and the voice for Corporal Dunn, a character in the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Pepper won the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance in Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000. He has stated that, had he known in advance he was going to win the award, he would have gladly accepted it in person. He also appeared in Jagged Edge’s music video for “Goodbye”. In 2011, he starred as Robert F. Kennedy in the Canadian-American TV mini-series The Kennedys, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
In 2015, Pepper appeared in The Maze Runner sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, as Vince, “a survivalist who is one of the last remaining soldiers of a legendary unit called the Right Arm”. Filming began at the end of October 2014, and the movie was released on September 18, 2015.
In 2018, Pepper reprised his role as Vince in Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
In 2019, Pepper starred as David Keller in Crawl.
Personal life
Pepper has one child, a daughter named Annaliese, with his wife, Cindy.
He attended and graduated from Georges P. Vanier Senior Secondary located in the beautiful Comox Valley, in British Columbia, Canada. Growing up he was an exceptional athlete, playing volleyball and rugby on the senior team squads, and playing fastball for the Denman Island Generals team, with both his father and one of his two brothers, Doug Pepper, and was very artistic. He even designed and installed the Towhee bird (Vanier’s emblem and mascot) insignia in the gymnasium for the school during his senior year.
He became a U.S. citizen in 2006.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | A Killer Among Friends | Mickey | Television film |
| 1995 | Johnny’s Girl | Jimmy Zee | Television film |
| 1996 | Titanic | Harold Bride | Television film |
| 1996 | Urban Safari | Rico | |
| 1998 | Firestorm | Packer | |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Private Daniel Jackson | |
| 1998 | Enemy of the State | NSA Agent David Pratt | |
| 1999 | The Green Mile | Dean Stanton | |
| 2000 | Battlefield Earth | Jonnie ‘Goodboy’ Tyler | |
| 2000 | We All Fall Down | John | |
| 2001 | 61* | Roger Maris | Television film |
| 2001 | Knockaround Guys | Matty DeMaret | |
| 2002 | We Were Soldiers | Joseph L. Galloway | |
| 2002 | 25th Hour | Frank Slaughtery | |
| 2003 | The Snow Walker | Charlie Halliday | |
| 2004 | 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story | Dale Earnhardt | Television film |
| 2005 | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Mike Norton | |
| 2005 | Ripley Under Ground | Tom Ripley | |
| 2006 | Flags of Our Fathers | Sgt. Mike Strank | |
| 2006 | Unknown | Rancher Shirt | |
| 2007 | Miami Drifters | Billy Masterson (voice) | |
| 2008 | Seven Pounds | Dan Morris | |
| 2009 | Princess Kaiulani | Lorrin A. Thurston | |
| 2009 | Like Dandelion Dust | ‘Rip’ Porter | |
| 2010 | Casino Jack | Michael Scanlon | |
| 2010 | True Grit | Ned ‘Lucky Ned’ Pepper | |
| 2010 | When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story | Bill W. | Television film |
| 2012 | To the Wonder | Father Barry | Deleted scenes |
| 2013 | Broken City | Jack Valliant | |
| 2013 | Snitch | DEA Agent Cooper | |
| 2013 | The Lone Ranger | Captain Jay Fuller | |
| 2014 | Kill the Messenger | Russell Dodson | |
| 2015 | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials | Vince | |
| 2017 | Monster Trucks | Sheriff Rick Lovick | |
| 2017 | Bitter Harvest | Yaroslav | |
| 2018 | Maze Runner: The Death Cure | Vince | |
| 2019 | Crawl | David Keller | |
| 2019 | The Painted Bird | Mitka | |
| 2019 | Running with the Devil | The Boss | |
| TBA | Awake | Post-production | |
| TBA | Solitary | Filming |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–96 | Madison | Mick Farleigh | 16 episodes |
| 1994 | Neon Rider | Jason | Episode: “The Secret Life of Garret Tuggle” |
| 1994 | M.A.N.T.I.S. | Clayton Kirk | Episode: “Days of Rage” |
| 1995 | Highlander: The Series | Michael Christian | Episode: “They Also Serve” |
| 1995 | Sliders | Skidd | Episode: “Summer of Love” |
| 1995 | Lonesome Dove: The Series | Cam | Episode: “Ties That Bind” |
| 1996 | Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years | Jake | Episode: “Partners” |
| 1996 | The Outer Limits | Tyson Ruddick | Episode: “The Heist” |
| 1996 | The Sentinel | Kurt Hessman | Episode: “Payback” |
| 1996 | Viper | Johnny Hodge | Episode: “White Fire” |
| 2011 | The Kennedys | Robert F. Kennedy | 8 episodes |
| 2017 | The Kennedys: After Camelot | 1 episode |