Barry Pepper

Actor

• Born: April 4, 1970
• Place of Birth: Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada

Contribution: Barry Pepper is an Emmy Award-winning actor best known for his roles in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), The Kennedys (2011), and Crawl (2019).

Background

Barry Robert Pepper was born on April 4, 1970, in Campbell River, a city in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Pepper's father worked as a lumberjack, and both of his parents were amateur sailing enthusiasts. In 1975, Pepper's family embarked on a trip through the South Pacific on a fifty-foot fiberglass sloop called the Moonlighter, which his parents constructed in a barn behind the family's home. For several years, Pepper and his two older brothers completed their education through correspondence courses and in various international locations, including Tahiti, New Zealand, and Fiji.

To fill the days spent aboard the family boat, Pepper took up drawing and painting, and he later won scholarships to study art at the collegiate level. Pepper enrolled in college in Vancouver to study graphic design but became attracted to acting after seeing actor Johnny Depp in Vancouver during filming the television series 21 Jump Street. Though he first saw acting as a way for an artist to make extra money, Pepper became hooked on acting after taking his first acting class at a local studio.

Career

Pepper's first major professional acting role was in the Canadian television series Madison, a teen-oriented program in which he appeared from 1993 to 1996. After moving to California in the mid-1990s, Pepper found additional television work, including a role in the 1996 television miniseries Titanic. Before long, however, Pepper began to transition into a career in films.

Pepper's breakout film performance was as the bible-quoting Private Jackson in the World War II film Saving Private Ryan (1998), directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring Matt Damon and Tom Hanks. Pepper's performance won praise from critics, and the film as a whole won five Academy Awards. The following year, Pepper won a minor role in another Tom Hanks film, The Green Mile.

In 2001, Pepper portrayed baseball legend Roger Maris in the HBO film 61*, a performance that earned him Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations. Pepper followed this critical success with minor roles in several feature films and a starring role playing race car driver Dale Earnhardt in the 2004 ESPN television film 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story. In 2006, Pepper had the opportunity to work on the World War II film Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood. Pepper portrays Sergeant Michael Strank, one of the individuals famously photographed raising the American flag at the peak of Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima before being killed in action.

In 2010, Pepper played the character of Lucky Ned Pepper in the film True Grit, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Pepper told the press that playing the outlaw Ned Pepper, who coincidentally shared his last name, reminded him of stories that his father's grandmother told about the outlaws in Pepper's own lineage. Also in 2010, Pepper appeared in the film Casino Jack, about the crimes and downfall of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, played by veteran actor Kevin Spacey. Pepper took on the role of Michael Scanlon, a congressional aide who plays an important part in a lobbying scandal. He noted that he tried to humanize his character, portraying Scanlon as complex rather than as a more stereotypical villain.

In 2011, Pepper won the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie for his portrayal of Robert F. Kennedy in the ReelzChannel miniseries The Kennedys. Pepper spent months researching the role, including many hours spent listening to Kennedy's speaking voice in an effort to imitate it. The Kennedys was originally slated to appear on the History Channel; however, the network decided to drop its involvement in the series after controversial media reports suggested that the series was historically inaccurate and biased. Pepper later told reporters that he felt that the Emmy Award nominations and wins The Kennedys received vindicated the cast and the historical accuracy of the series.

Pepper appeared in a supporting role in the blockbuster science-fiction sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials in 2015. He reprised the part in Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018). He also continued to appear in a wide range of other films, from the historical drama Bitter Harvest (2017) to the alligator-themed horror flick Crawl (2019). In 2021, Pepper starred in the film Awake, about a US Army medic who works at a college and steals drugs from its research lab to sell for money to support her children. Despite negative reviews, the film reached number one globally when it was released on Netflix. Also in 2021, Pepper played the lead, Nicolas Shaw, in Trigger Point. Shaw is a former US operative with memory loss who must return to action when a coworker goes missing. Pepper portrayed a getaway driver in 2024's Bring Him to Me. Pepper starred in Solitary, also in 2024, a film about a wrongfully convicted man who is released after spending seven years in solitary confinement. Pepper also played Esau Pierce, the leader of the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles, in the television series Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023).

Impact

Pepper's critically praised performance in Saving Private Ryan earned him recognition as a character actor suited to historical, dramatic roles, and he went on to appear in a number of well-received historical films. Though Canadian, Pepper has portrayed a number of iconic Americans, including Robert Kennedy, Dale Earnhardt, and Roger Maris.

Personal Life

After living for years in the United States, Pepper became a naturalized citizen so that he could have the ability to vote. Pepper and his wife Cindy, whom he married in 1997, had one daughter and worked together to manage small private production companies in both the United States and Canada.

Bibliography

Andersen, Nick. "Barry Pepper Says 'Kennedys' Emmy Nods a 'Wonderful Validation.'" Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 15 July 2011, Web. 2 July 2013.

"Barry Pepper." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0001608. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

"Barry Pepper." New York Times. New York Times, 2010. Web. 3 July 2013.

Portman, J. "Vancouver Actor Inspired by Fatherly Clint Eastwood." Ottawa Citizen. Postmedia Network, 30 Oct. 2006. Web. 3 July 2013.

Strauss, Bob. "Barry Pepper: A Canadian in Iconic American Roles." Globe and Mail. Globe and Mail, 21 Dec. 2010. Web. 3 July 2013.

Toto, Christian. "Pepper Humanizes 'Casino' Character." Washington Times. Washington Times, 21 Dec. 2010. Web. 3 July 2013.