Reed Birney

Reed Birney was born in Alexandria, VA. He made his acting debut in his mid 20s, appearing in projects like the pseudo-documentary "Not a Pretty Picture" (1976) and the TV movie "The Greatest Man in the World" (PBS 1980). He worked fairly regularly over the course of the decade to follow, balancing supporting roles in films like "Four Friends" (1981) and "Crimewave" (1985) with appearances on television programs including the miniseries "Kane & Abel" (CBS 1986). Birney's career slowed down a bit in the 1990s, he came to find roles in a number of star-studded pictures and television series around the turn of the century, at which point he married fellow actor Constance Schulman. Alongside a recurring role on the popular TV show "Gossip Girl" (The CW 2007-2012) and parts in films like "The Ten" (2007), "Changeling" (2008), "Twelve Thirty" (2010) and "Girl Most Likely" (2012). Following this stretch of features, Birney found even greater success on the small screen. He joined the acclaimed political thriller "House of Cards" (Netflix 2013-) as the major recurring character Donald Blythe-who would ultimately become Vice President in the universe of the series-and appeared on "The Blacklist" (NBC 2013-) in a prominent recurring part as U.S. Attorney General Tom Connolly. At the same time, Birney reteamed with "Twelve Thirty" director Jeff Lipsky, starring in his films "Molly's Theory of Relativity" (2013) and "Mad Women" (2015).