John Mese (born November 4, 1963) is an American actor, producer, director, and writer. He has had roles in numerous films and television shows. Credited appearances on television include:

Rizzoli & Isles ''Rizzoli & Isles'' is an American crime drama television series starring Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles. Based on the series of ''Rizzoli & Isles'' novels by Tess Gerritsen, the plot follows Boston Homicide polic ...

, Suits,

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

The Mentalist ''The Mentalist'' is an American drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show fol ...

, Weeds,

Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

The X Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

, and

Sex in the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

. Mese is also the writer of a children's book series that was featured in the March 2009 issue of

Kiplinger's Personal Finance ''Kiplinger's Personal Finance'' ( ) is an American personal finance magazine published by Kiplinger since 1947. It claims to be the first American personal finance magazine and to deliver "sound, unbiased advice in clear, concise language". It ...

magazine.Clark, Jane Bennett: "An Author Swims Against the Tide." Kiplinger's Personal Finance. March 2009.

Early life and education

John Mese was born and raised in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

. He finished secondary education at

Catholic High School Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

and went on to earn a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

(MFA) from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, where he was a member of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

fraternity and performed in a number of LSU Theatre productions. In 1986, he was a finalist in the "Face of the '80s" contest organized by

Ford Models Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford. Company Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eileen ...

and GQ Magazine.

Career

Theatre

At LSU, he acted in several theater productions, to name a few: ''

The Tooth of Crime ''The Tooth of Crime'' is a musical play written by Sam Shepard which made its premiere in London, London's Open Space Theatre on July 17, 1972. It tells the story of aging rock music, rock singer Hoss, doing battle with rival Crow. Plot The play ...

'' in 1986, in which he played Hoss; ''

Sly Fox ''Sly Fox'' is a comedic play by Larry Gelbart, based on Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' (''The Fox''), updating the setting from Renaissance Venice to 19th century San Francisco, and changing the tone from satire to farce. The play revolves around the ...

'' in 1982, and ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a montag ...

'' in 1986. He played "Treat" in

Lyle Kessler Lyle Kessler is an American playwright, screenwriter and actor, best known internationally for his 1983 play ''Orphans''. Career Actor Born in Philadelphia, Kessler began his career as an actor. His first professional appearance was in the Phi ...

's play ''

Orphans An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

''. He played Alvaro Mangiacavallo in the LSU Theatre main stage production of

The Rose Tattoo ''The Rose Tattoo'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams in 1949 and 1950; after its Chicago premiere on December 29, 1950, he made further revisions to the play for its Broadway premiere on February 2, 1951, and its publication by ...

, directed by John Dennis in 1987. He has the title role in an acclaimed

one-man show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...

written by Champ Clark, ''Wild Son: The Testimony of

Christian Brando Christian Devi Brando (May 11, 1958 – January 26, 2008) was an American actor who was one of the eleven children of actor Marlon Brando, and the only one Brando had with his first wife, former actress Anna Kashfi. On May 16, 1990, Brando f ...

'', which premiered at the

Santa Monica Playhouse Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

in 2019 and was praised by

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning playwright

Beth Henley Elizabeth Becker Henley (born May 8, 1952) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. Her play ''Crimes of the Heart'' won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a ...

. ''Wild Son'' is based on face-to-face interviews between the journalist Champ Clark and Christian Brando before the latter's death in 2008. The show was performed at Bistro Byronz, a restaurant chain in Baton Rouge, LA, on June 19th, 2022. The show ran at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

from August 15-20, 2022.

Film

Mese had the starring role as Richard Broderick in the film ''Noise in the Middle'' (2020), also starring

Tara Buck Tara Buck (born March 16, 1975) is an American film, stage, and television actress. Buck is known for her roles in ''True Blood,'' '' Ray Donovan'', and ''Party of Five''. Early life Buck attended Wood River High School in Hailey Idaho, where ...

as Richard’s deceased wife. He played Augie in ''King of Herrings'' (2013), an

indie film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

directed by

Eddie Jemison Edward Francis Jemison, Jr. (born November 25, 1963) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as Livingston Dell in the '' Ocean's'' film trilogy and Mickey Duka in ''The Punisher'', as well as the television series ''Hu ...

and also starring Mese's fellow LSU alumnus

Joe Chrest Joseph Chrest (born September 15, 1965) is an American academic and actor. He has had roles in numerous films and television shows including ''21 Jump Street'', ''22 Jump Street'', '' Oldboy'', ''Lee Daniels' The Butler'', ''The Perfect Date'', an ...

. Mese played "Crow" in Derek Sitter's award-winning short, ''Bugtussle'' (2022). ''Bugtussle'' was recognized by the Accolade Global Film Competition for "Awards of Merit" in August 2022, notably for Leading Actor (Mese), Supporting Actor (Sitter), Film Short, Script/Writer (Sitter), Original Score, composed by James Hutchens and Johnny Bourbon.

Television

Mese was featured alongside

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...

and Frederic Lehne in a

Lili Fini Zanuck Lili Fini Zanuck ( Fini; born April 2, 1954) is an American film producer and director. Personal life She was married to Richard D. Zanuck from 1978 until his death in 2012. Career Zanuck's first film with a producing title was the 1985 ...

-directed production called "We Have Cleared the Tower," in which Mese played the role of

Donn Eisele Donn Fulton Eisele (June 23, 1930 – December 1, 1987) (Colonel (United States), Colonel United States Air Force, USAF) was a United States Air Force, United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a List of astronauts by selection ...

of the

Apollo 7 Apollo 7 (October 1122, 1968) was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on Ja ...

mission; Harmon played

Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (, March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' f ...

, and Lehne played

Walt Cunningham Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter (name), Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record r ...

. Mese was a cast member for Episode 1 ("Can We Do This?") and Episode 3 ("We Have Cleared The Tower") of ''

From the Earth to the Moon ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' (french: De la Terre à la Lune, trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes) is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil W ...

'' (1998). His "first big job"Advocate, 15 Mar. 1992, p. 127. NewsBank: America's News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=image/v2%3A138F0D9908AC8D5F%40EANX-14ADB848068B3043%402448697-14ADB4B911A60035%40126-14ADB4B911A60035%40. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022. for television was in 1992 as the love interest of

Marlee Matlin Marlee Beth Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress, author, and activist. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for a ...

on ''

Reasonable Doubts ''Reasonable Doubts'' is an American police drama television series created by Robert Singer, which broadcast in the United States by NBC that ran from September 26, 1991 to April 27, 1993. Synopsis ''Reasonable Doubts'' is primarily about th ...

''. Prior to that, his TV roles (on shows like

The Fanelli Boys ''The Fanelli Boys'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 8, 1990 to February 16, 1991, as part of its 1990–91 prime time schedule. The series was created by the team of Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan, Kathy Spee ...

, Matlock, and

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American Northern comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska that ran on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It received 57 ...

) were relatively minor.

Writing

Mese and his wife, Dawn Kelsey, are the authors of a children's book series called ''Flippy and Friends'', which includes board books, paperback, and hardcover books. In 2017, Mese penned an editorial for the entertainment section of ''

Purple Clover ''Purple Clover'' is an English language news and lifestyle online magazine aimed at an audience 50 years and older. It is owned by Whalerock Industries. The website was launched in 2013. Background ''Purple Clover'' was launched in July, 2013. ...

''; this was an autobiographical sketch about boyhood fantasy, titled "My First Playboy."

References

{{Reflist

External links

@mesejohn Twitter (official)

John Mese on Vimeo (official)
1963 births Living people Male actors from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Louisiana State University alumni Catholic High School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) alumni Film producers from Louisiana American male stage actors Writers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana American writers of Italian descent American people of Italian descent