Gil Birmingham biography

Gil Birmingham (born July 13) (year unknown) is an American actor of Comanche ancestry, known for his portrayal of Billy Black in the The Twilight Saga film series.

Personal background

Birmingham was born in San Antonio. His family moved frequently during his childhood, due to his father's career in the military. He learned to play the guitar at an early age and considers music his "first love." After obtaining a bachelor of science degree from the University of Southern California he worked as a petrochemical engineer before becoming an actor.

Professional background

Music videos

In the early 1980s, a talent scout spotted Birmingham at a local gym, where he had been bodybuilding and entering bodybuilding contests. This led to his first acting experience, in Diana Ross's 1982 music video for the song "Muscles".

Theme park appearances

After appearing in Ross' music video, Birmingham began to pursue acting as his primary career. He studied acting with Larry Moss and Charles Conrad. He portrayed the character of Conan the Barbarian in Universal Studios Hollywood's theme park attraction The Adventures of Conan: A Sword and Sorcery Spectacular.

Television roles

In 1986, Birmingham made his television debut on an episode of the series Riptide. By 2002, he had a recurring role as the character Oz in the medical drama Body & Soul, starring Peter Strauss. In 2005, he was cast as the older Dogstar in the Steven Spielberg six-part miniseries Into the West.
He has appeared in a number of television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, 10 Items or Less, Nip/Tuck, Castle, and The Mentalist. He has also had roles in several television films, such as Gentle Ben (with Dean Cain) and Gentle Ben 2: Danger on the Mountain, Dreamkeeper, The Lone Ranger, and Love's Long Journey (with Erin Cottrell and Irene Bedard).

Feature films

In 2001, Birmingham appeared in his first feature film, The Doe Boy, in which he portrayed the character of Manny Deadmarsh.
In 2008, Birmingham was cast as the character Billy Black in The Twilight Saga film series and has appeared in all four of the films.
The Twilight series has led to roles in other major film roles, including that of Sheriff Johnny Cortez in Love Ranch (with Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren), and Cal Bishnik in Shouting Secrets (with New Moon castmate Chaske Spencer). In September 2011, Birmingham appeared in the film Crooked Arrows, cast in the role of Ben Logan.
In addition to his work in front of the camera, Birmingham voiced the character of Wounded Bird in the animated film Rango (starring Johnny Depp), and provided voice work for the television series The Wild Thornberrys and the film Night at the Museum.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Year	Film or TV program	Role	Notes
1986	Riptide	cop	Episode #3.20 "Chapel of Glass"
1987	House II: The Second Story
	Falcon Crest		Episode #6.28 "Desperation"
1996	Le Jaguar		TV movie
	Night Man	Vargus	Episode #1.4 "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"
1997	Buffy The Vampire Slayer	The Bodygard	Episode #2.4 "Inca Mummy Girl"
	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Brave #1	Episode #6.11 "Safe Passage"
	Night Man	Vargus	Episode #1.4 "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"
1999	The Wild Thornberrys	Jim's dad	voice over, Episode #2.10 "Tamper Proof Seal"
2001	Family Law	Bernard	Episode #2.21 "Americans"
	V.I.P.	Roland	Episode #4.7 "Uncle from V.A.L."
	The Doe Boy	Manny Deadmarsh
2002	Gentle Ben	Pete	TV movie
	Skins	Sonny Yellow Lodge
	Body & Soul	Oz	recurring character, 8 episodes
2003	Gentle Ben 2: Danger on the Mountain	Pete	TV movie
	Dreamkeeper	Sam	TV movie
	The Lone Ranger	One Horn	TV movie
2005	Love's Long Journey	Sharp Claw	TV movie
	Into the West	Dogstar	TV miniseries
	Medical Investigation	Walter Shepard
	End of the Spear	Moipa	uncredited
2006	Night at the Museum	Voice over
	Charmed	Indian Chief	TV
2006	Veronica Mars	Leonard Lobo	TV
2007	Cosmic Radio	Tribal Council leader
2008	Turok: Son of Stone	Nashoba	Voice over
	California Indian	Chi Thomas
	Twilight	Billy Black
2009	10 Items or Less	John Greene	"Dances with Groceries"
	Nip/Tuck	Shaman	Episode #5.20 "Budi Sabri"
	Love Ranch	Sheriff Johnny Cortez
	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	Billy Black
2010	The Mentalist	Markham Willis	Episode "Aingavite Baa"
	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Billy Black
	Castle	Cacaw Te	Episode "Wrapped up in Death"
2011	Rango	Wounded Bird (a crow)
	Shouting Secrets	Cal Bishnik	In post-production
	Crooked Arrows[8]	Ben Logan	In post-production
	The Lying Game	Ben Whitehorse	5 Episodes