Ted Levine

Ted Levine
Ted Levine, in December 2008.
Born	Frank Theodore Levine (1957-05-29) May 29, 1957 (age 59) Bellaire, Ohio, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Kim Phillips
Children	2

Frank Theodore "Ted" Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and as Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.

Levine was born in Bellaire, Ohio, the son of Charlotte Virginia (Clark) and Milton Dmitri Levine, who were both doctors and members of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Levine's father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother had Welsh ancestry. He describes himself as a "hillbilly Jew". He grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. In 1975, he enrolled at Marlboro College. He became a fixture in the Chicago theatre scene and joined the Remains Theatre which was co-founded by Gary Cole and William Petersen. After his stage experience, Levine began to devote most of his energy during the 1980s toward finding roles in film and television.

After his breakout role in The Silence of the Lambs (as primary antagonist Buffalo Bill), there was a period where he was typecast in villainous roles. Levine was able to remedy this by playing more positive characters, such as a member of Al Pacino's police unit in Heat, astronaut Alan Shepard in the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, and Paul Walker's police superior Sergeant Tanner in The Fast and the Furious. In the drama Georgia, he played Mare Winningham's husband, one of his most sympathetic roles. His résumé also includes an uncredited role as the voice of the sociopathic trucker "Rusty Nail" in 2001's Joy Ride, and his performance as Detective Sam Nico in the 2003 film Wonderland, based on the gruesome murders in the Hollywood Hills. From 2002 to 2009, he co-starred as Captain Leland Stottlemeyer on USA Network's detective series Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub.