Chase Coleman (born March 20, 1985) is an American actor, director, and musician. Coleman portrayed the character of Billy Winslow
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 ...
TV series ''
Boardwalk Empire
''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...
''
and the werewolf, Oliver, on the
''CW'' spin-off series,
''The Originals''.
Life and Work
Early life
Chase Coleman was born in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
, and raised in
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe (historically french: Poste-du-Ouachita) is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and parish seat of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolita ...
. He attended Grace Episcopal School for elementary and junior high education and graduated from
St. Frederick Catholic High School. During his second year of high school, he became the lead singer of Crawl Space, a local Monroe rock band until graduation.
After high school, Coleman attended the
University of Louisiana at Monroe
The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System.
History
ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Cen ...
, pursuing a degree in
Business Marketing
Business marketing is a marketing practice of individuals or organizations (including commercial businesses, governments and institutions). It allows them to sell products or services to other companies or organizations that resell them, use the ...
. While there, he played in a hard rock band called, Fallstaff. However, not long after starting college, Coleman became interested in acting. He began performing with the Straus Community Theater and the Theater of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. During his junior year of college, he signed with the Baton Rouge Agency, Stage 2000, after being recruited by Ron Randell.
Acting career
Coleman was invited to Dallas to compete at the Mike Beaty Model and Talent Expo. It was there that Chase won several awards including best monologue and overall fitness model.
He was then discovered by talent manager Suzanne Schachter and was invited to go to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to test the market for the summer. While in New York, Coleman was offered the role of Garrett on the popular daytime soap opera, ''
One Life to Live
''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...
''.
Not long after landing that role, he received many offers to remain in New York City for professional acting work, shifting to online courses in order to finish his degree. In 2006, he signed with the company Suzelle Enterprises and Abrams Artists Agency through Paul Reisman. During his time in New York, he studied at the HB Studio with Lorraine Serabien, with
Susan Batson
Susan Batson (born February 27, 1943, in Roxbury, Massachusetts) is an American producer, actress, author, acting coach, and a life member of the Actors Studio. Batson graduated from Girls Latin School and Emerson College.
One of three sister ...
at Black Nexxus, and with Jennifer Gelfer at the Haymarket Annex Master Class.
One of Coleman's most recognized roles is the portrayal of Billy Winslow in Season 1 of ''
Boardwalk Empire
''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...
'', as well as guest starring on ''
The Good Wife
''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...
'', ''
Gossip Girl
''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...
'', ''
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...
'', and ''Kings''.
He has had many starring and supporting roles in numerous independent films such as ''
New York City Serenade'', ''Catahoula'', ''One Night Stand'', ''Halloween Season'', ''Grill Check'', ''God Don’t Make the Laws, The Halls of Montezuma, Warehouse Rumble, Mama, 8:46, Roses, Cloak and Dagger, The J Packages, Pop Up, and Love Hunter.'' He also played the lead of Andrew in the
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
play ''
My Big Gay Italian Wedding
''My Big Gay Italian Wedding'' is a play written by Anthony J. Wilkinson that premiered off-Broadway in 2003, at the Actor's Playhouse in New York City. In September 2009, an updated version co-starring Scott Evans and with choreography by J. Au ...
''.
In 2010, Coleman won the Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series," for his role on ''Boardwalk Empire''. He was then cast as Dr. Dane Sullivan in the web series, ''In Between Men''. It was this role that got Coleman nominated for an Indie Soap Award for "Best Supporting Actor in a Drama," in 2011.
Coleman founded the production company Bloodstone Productions and created the short film ''Into the Rose Garden'' that he wrote, directed, and starred in. Then, in the summer of 2012, he guest starred as Robert in the
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
of the TV series ''
The Americans
''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX (TV channel), FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg ...
,'' as well as worked on filming Season 2 of ''In Between Men'' in autumn of the same year.
In 2014, Coleman was cast as the werewolf, Oliver, on the hit TV show ''
The Originals,'' the popular spin-off show of ''
The Vampire Diaries
''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the The Vampire Diaries (novel series), book series ...
''. His role as Oliver spanned a total of twelve episodes between Season 1 and Season 2 of the series.
After his role of Oliver, Coleman went on to work on more independent films like ''Recorded Lives, Justice Served, Heaven's Renegade Angel, The Viking and the Pendulum, The Return, and Life's Too Short,'' to name a few''.''
Later in 2016, Coleman landed a guest-starring role on the NBC series,
Aquarius
Aquarius may refer to:
Astrology
* Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign
* Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages
Astronomy
* Aquarius (constellation)
* Aquarius in Chinese astronomy
Arts and entertainment ...
, as Terry Melcher, a character that spanned three episodes.
Currently, Coleman is appearing globally at several
fan convention
Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...
s developed for ''The Vampire Diaries'' and ''The Originals'', both as a guest star and musician.
Music
During his pursuit of expanding his acting career, music follows close behind. In 2014, while guest-starring in the fan convention circuit, Coleman began playing music acoustically for the audience; he covered mainstream music as well as singing original songs he had written.
Mercy Mode
In January 2017, Coleman, along with friends Chris Weaver and Micah Parker, formed the band
Mercy Mode Their first single, "Take It All," was released on March 15, 2017, and is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Google Play.
Filmography
Actor
Director
Writer
Stage
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
Mercy Mode Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Chase
American male television actors
American male musicians
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American film directors
Living people
1985 births