Don Swayze
Kier
Don Swayze was born and raised in Houston, Texas, into a show business family. He is the son of Patsy Swayze (1927-2013), a choreographer, dance instructor, and artistic director of the Houston Jazz-Ballet Company. His father was Jesse Wayne Swayze (1925-1982), an engineering draftsman. He had an older brother, late actor / dancer / singer / musician Patrick Swayze (1952-2009), and has a younger brother, teamster Sean Swayze (b.1962). He had two sisters, Vicky Lynn Swayze (1949-1994) and Bambi Swayze (1966-2021). Both were dancers and actors.
He began his acting career in the 1980’s in TV and film. Early roles in Days of Our Lives, Street Hawk, The Fall Guy, L.A. Law, and in Matlock, as “Tommy” (a developmentally disabled murder suspect), which led to his first film role in Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People as “Mark Sullivan". During the 1990’s, he guest-starred in Columbo, Renegade, Murder She Wrote, NYPD Blue, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (as outlaw “Jesse James”), Walker: Texas Ranger, and Profiler. He has also worked as a stunt man. In Letters from a Killer, he was a stunt player and in the film Drop Zone, he did the parachute jumps from the Miami skyscraper.
During the 2000’s, he guest-starred in The X-Files, The Division, NCIS, CSI: Miami, and Without a Trace. He also had recurring roles in HBO's Carnivàle as “Tattooed Man”, in six episodes of True Blood as “Gus” (the werewolf), and in four episodes of The Bridge as “Tampa Tim”. He also played a serial killer, “Charles Hankel”, in two episodes of Criminal Minds. He appeared on stage in 2001 as “Pedro” in Man of La Mancha, and in 2005 as “Roy” in the comedy Lone Star (at the Beverly Hills Playhouse). In 2012, he starred in two westerns: Heathens and Thieves as “Colonel Sherman Rutherford”, and Ambush at Dark Canyon as “Chale Lord”. In 2013, he played “Lloyd Grimes” in Hawaii Five-0, and in 2014, he played “Carl Egan” on Sons of Anarchy. In 2016, he was in an episode of Longmire as “Jim Mackie”. In 2019, he played “Dennis Seacrest“ in Deadwood: The Movie. He did American Horror Story in 2019, as “Roy”, and in 2020 he played “Deputy Sharp” on The Rookie. In a 2021 episode of Lucifer, he played “Merle”. He was “Pete Walker” (the gun dealer), in a 2021 episode of NCIS, and in 2022 he played “Melvin Muchado” (the singing bail bondsman) in Magnum PI. In 2022, he played “Joe” on NCIS: Hawaii. Coming soon in 2024, he will be seen as “Terence”, in the film On Swift Horses.
In his spare time, Don is in avid cyclist, motorcyclist and skydiver. He and his wife, Charlene, have an animal therapy ranch outside of Los Angeles.