Benjamin Koldyke (born March 27, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Don Frank on ''
How I Met Your Mother
''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...
'' (2009–2010), Lee Standish in ''
Work It'' (2012), and Greg Gibbon on ''
Gortimer Gibbon's Life On Normal Street'' (2014–2016).
Early life and education
Koldyke was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Kenilworth. His father, Martin J. "Mike" Koldyke, is a former investment banker who founded
Frontenac Company
Frontenac is a Chicago-based private equity firm founded in 1971. The firm focuses on investing in lower middle market buyout transactions in the consumer, industrial, and services industries. Frontenac works in partnership with established operat ...
in Chicago and is a life trustee of
Northwestern University; through his mother, Patricia Blunt Koldyke, he is a member of the family that controls Laird Norton Company, an investment company with roots in the timber industry of the Pacific Northwest.
After graduating from high school, he did a post-graduate year at
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private high ...
. He graduated in 1991 from
Dartmouth College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English and was a quarterback for the football team.
Career
Originally a high school English teacher and football coach in Chicago, Koldyke's acting career received a jump start after a chance encounter with ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' creator-star,
Rob McElhenney. Regulars at the same Venice cafe, he covered Rob's tab with a note that said he "thought his show was fantastic," and this exchange led to Koldyke's first TV pilot, ''Boldly Going Nowhere'' for
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
, a few years later.
After ''Boldly'' was not picked up, Koldyke went on to recur as Dale Tomasson in the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series ''
Big Love'' and as Don Frank in ''
How I Met Your Mother
''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...
'' for
CBS.
In 2012, Koldyke starred as the lead character in the short-lived
ABC comedy series ''
Work It'' and later guest starred in
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
's ''
The Newsroom''. 2013 saw him star in another
ABC sitcom, ''
Back in the Game'', opposite
James Caan and
Maggie Lawson. He had a significant arc on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global ...
's ''
Masters of Sex'' as teacher and football coach Paul Edley, and played male chauvinist Brent throughout
the final season of ''The Good Place''.
In 2021 he had a recurring role on season 1 of
Peacock sitcom
Rutherford Falls.
Koldyke was seen on the big screen in 2016 in a supporting role for
Disney's ''
The Finest Hours'' alongside
Chris Pine,
Casey Affleck,
Eric Bana, and
Ben Foster Ben Foster may refer to:
*Ben Foster (actor) (born 1980), American actor
*Ben Foster (footballer) (born 1983), English goalkeeper
*Ben Foster (composer) (born 1977), British composer, orchestrator and conductor
* Ben Foster (director) (born 1984), ...
.
Personal life
On August 8, 2015, Koldyke married actress
Maggie Lawson in a ceremony at his family's ranch in Las Vegas, New Mexico. In early 2017, Lawson filed for divorce from Koldyke.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koldyke, Benjamin
American male film actors
American male television actors
Living people
1968 births
Male actors from Chicago
Dartmouth Big Green football players
21st-century American male actors