Walton Goggins

Biography

In the past few years, Walton Goggins has had pivotal roles in films by two of Hollywood's most important auteurs: Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg. His integral role as 'Chris Mannix,' a southern renegade who claims to be the new sheriff of Red Rock in Tarantino's THE HATEFUL EIGHT, marks his second collaboration with the Academy Award-winning writer/director. He previously played slave fight trainer 'Billy Crash' in Tarantino's 2012 DJANGO UNCHAINED. That same year, Goggins also appeared in Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN, where he portrayed Congressman 'Wells A. Hutchins.' Goggins has wrapped principal photography on the feature "The Three Christs of Ypsilanti," in which he plays the role of 'Christ.' The story follows a doctor (Richard Gere) who is treating paranoid schizophrenic patients at the Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan, each of whom believe they are Jesus Christ. Jon Avnet directed from a script he wrote with Eric Nazarian, adapted from the biographical novel by Milton Rokeach. He has completed production on a starring role in HISTORY's upcoming "Six," an 8-episode contemporary military action drama from A+E Studios and The Weinstein Company. Inspired by current events, the project is about an elite team of Navy SEALs whose 2014 mission to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan goes awry when they uncover a U.S. citizen working with the terrorists. Goggins will play 'Rip Taggart,' the one-time leader of the SEAL team SIX squad who now patrols an African village to protect its residents from Boko Haram. Goggins stars opposite Danny McBride in the HBO series "Vice Principals." Created by McBride and Jody Hill, who also created "Eastbound & Down," "Vice Principals" is a dark comedy about a high school and the two people who almost run it, the vice principals. McBride and Goggins star as the V.P.'s who are in an epic power struggle, vying for the top spot: to be school principal. The show premiered at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival and won the Episodic Audience Award. Season Two will debut in 2017. For more than a decade, Goggins has been one of the most magnetic and intense actors on television. He received an Emmy® nomination and four Critics Choice Award nominations for his mesmerizing portrayal of 'Boyd Crowder' on FX's Peabody Award-winning Drama series "Justified," which ran for six seasons. Goggins' 'Boyd' was the long-time friend, yet ultimate nemesis to U.S. Marshal 'Raylan Givens' (Timothy Olyphant). Elmore Leonard, executive producer and writer of the short story "Fire in the Hole" on which the show is based, says of 'Boyd,' "There has never been a more poetic bad guy on television in the way that he sees the world." "Justified" completed its sixth and final season this past year. Goggins' critical turn as the complex transgender prostitute 'Venus Van Dam' on the FX drama series "Sons of Anarchy" earned him two Critics Choice Award nominations and helped shed a fresh light on the transgender community. The role reunited Goggins with series creator Kurt Sutter, who was also a writer on "The Shield." He previously garnered much acclaim for his complex and edgy portrayal of 'Detective Shane Vendrell' on FX's gritty, award-winning drama series "The Shield," which ran for seven seasons. He was nominated for a Television Critics Association (TCA) Award in the category of "Individual Achievement in Drama." Goggins' impressive resume includes dozens of films, having worked with the likes of Robert Duvall and Anthony Hopkins. His recent feature credits include such diverse films as AMERICAN ULTRA, G.I. JOE: RISE OF THE COBRA, Robert Rodriguez's PREDATORS and MACHETTE KILLS, Jon Favreau's COWBOYS & ALIENS, and Rod Lurie's STRAW DOGS. He has also taken his turn behind the camera. Goggins' collaborations with his partners at Ginny Mule Pictures include winning an Academy Award® for their 2001 short film, THE ACCOUNTANT, which he produced and starred in. The team produced, directed and starred in their first feature, CHRYSTAL, starring Billy Bob Thornton, which was accepted into the 2005 Sundance Film Festival's Dramatic Competition. For their third collaboration, Goggins produced and starred in the feature RANDY AND THE MOB, which won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2007 Nashville Film Festival. Goggins and his Ginny Mule partners completed their fourth feature, THAT EVENING SUN, starring Hal Holbrook and Goggins. The film made its world premiere at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, TX in March 2009, where it won the Narrative Feature Audience Award and received the Special Jury Award for "Best Ensemble Cast." The film continued winning awards at over 14 film festivals, culminating with the honor of the "Wyatt Award" from the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) and two Independent Spirit Award nominations.