Born July 7, 1959 in Charlottesville, Virginia, William Oliver Campbell is an American film and television actor. In television, he is best known for his roles as Rick Sammler on Once Again, as Det. Joey Indelli on Crime Story, as Jordan Collier on The 4400, and as Dr. Jon Fielding on the Tales of the City Miniseries. He is also known for his recurring role as Luke Fuller in Dynasty, which is also the role that first gained him recognition and eventually launched him into television stardom. The most notable films he has appeared in are The Rocketeer, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Enough. He is currently a series regular on the new AMC television series The Killing portraying the role of Darren Richmond.
Campbell grew up in the Southern City and attended Western Albemarle High School. His parents divorced when he was two years old. He shuttled between his mother in Virginia and his father in Chicago. He has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program. He is good friends with actor and Crime Story co-star Stephen Lang. Campbell portrayed General George Pickett in Gods and Generals, a part previously played by Lang in the film Gettysburg. Campbell is a rugby enthusiast, having played rugby with the Chicago Lions RFC and the Santa Monica Rugby Club.
The youngster also happened to be an heir to the Champion spark plug fortune, which sounded better than the reality, since the small inheritance he received at age 18 was gone almost immediately. Meanwhile, he graduated from high school in 1979, where he had played football and performed in a student production of “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” Relocating to Chicago, IL to be near his father, Campbell attended the American Academy of Art with the intention of becoming a comic book artist. However, his passion switched to acting after taking classes at the suggestion of a friend. Deciding to pursue the craft seriously, he studied at the Ted Liss Studio for the Performing Arts, as well as at the Players Workshop of Second City in Chicago. After appearing in local regional theater, Campbell left the Windy City and headed to Los Angeles to pursue acting as a professional, while continuing his training at Howard Fine.
Campbell is probably most famous for his portrayal of Rick Sammler on the ABC series Once and Again for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series. Among his other well-known roles are as a gay gynecologist, Dr. Jon Philip Fielding, in all three of the television miniseries adaptations of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City novels, and as Carter Buckley in seven episodes of the second season of television series The O.C. He had a recurring later turned series regular role as Jordan Collier on the USA Network original series The 4400.
Recently, he has made a successful career out of playing villains. One such role was as a college professor accused of raping a student (played by Shannyn Sossamon), on the episode “Doubt” of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; it aired on November 23, 2004, as part of Season 6 (2004–2005.) In addition, he has portrayed serial killer Ted Bundy in the made-for-TV movie The Stranger Beside Me, and an accused serial killer who defends himself in the television series Shark.
Billy Campbell Photo Gallery
