Life and Career
Gries was born in Glendale, California, the son of Mary Eleanor Munday, an actress, and Thomas Stephen "Tom" Gries, a writer, director, and producer. His first film role came at the age of 11, when he played the Boy Horace in the Charlton Heston film Will Penny. Some of his signature roles have come in cult classics. He played Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius (1985), Azzolini in Rainbow Drive, Shawn McDermott in the TV series Martin (1992-1994), Ronnie Wingate in Get Shorty (1995), Harvey in The Rundown, and Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Gries has played a werewolf on several occasions, such as Fright Night Part II and The Monster Squad. In the historical Western film September Dawn, he played executed murderer John D. Lee, in a performance praised by critics who otherwise panned the film. He played Casey in the films Taken (2008) and Taken 2 (2012), and was also in TerrorVision, as O.D.
Among his television roles are that of a terrorist in season two of the hit show 24 and as Broots on the NBC series The Pretender. He had a guest role on The X-Files in the episode "Sleepless". He played Dylan McKay's drug dealer in season 5 of Beverly Hills, 90210. He played Ben Linus' father Roger in a recurring role on the TV series Lost. He played Shawn on the Fox sitcom Martin during the first two seasons. He appeared as a band member in the Quantum Leap episode "Glitter Rock". He appeared as Rusty the Bum (not to be confused with Rusty the Horse) in two episodes of Seinfeld. In "The Beard", when Elaine rips George's toupee off and tosses it out the window, Rusty finds it and puts it on. In "The Bookstore". Kramer and Newman start a rickshaw business powered by bums, but on its maiden run, Rusty takes off with the conveyance. In 2007 he played the menacing dad to Samaire Armstrong in Around June. In 2008, he appeared in the CSI: NY episode "The Box" as the father of that episode's victim. Jon recently wrapped production on A True Story. Based on Things that Never Actually Happened. ...and Some that Did. He also played Martin in the TV Show "Supernatural" in the episodes "Sam, Interrupted" and "Citizen Fang".
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