---
name: "Gil Birmingham"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/gil-birmingham"
fi1m_id: "gil-birmingham"
imdb_id: "nm0083655"
tmdb_id: 84225
wikidata_id: "Q553873"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "13 July 1953"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 11
average_fi1m_score: 62
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 11
updated: "2026-10-05T11:59:23.645046+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Gil Birmingham

## Identity

Gil Birmingham

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/gil-birmingham
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** gil-birmingham
- **IMDb ID:** nm0083655
- **TMDB ID:** 84225
- **Wikidata ID:** Q553873
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Birmingham, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q553873, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083655/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84225

Actor. Born 13 July 1953 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 13 July 1953, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- **Active:** 2008–present
- **Also known as:** گیل بیرمینگام
- **Frequently works with:** [Taylor Sheridan](https://film.one/person/taylor-sheridan.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 62, as actor, over 11 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 59 (2), 2010s 67 (7), 2020s 50 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 64 to 60 across 10 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 6 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 5 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 7, Adventure 5, Crime 5, Fantasy 4, Romance 4, Western 3
- **Screen time:** 16 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $3,103m across 8 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Birmingham, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q553873, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083655/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84225

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Hell or High Water*](https://film.one/film/hell-or-high-water.md) (84)
- **Netflix:** [*Wind River*](https://film.one/film/wind-river.md) (76)
- **Peacock:** [*Twilight*](https://film.one/film/twilight.md) (70)
- **Apple TV:** [*Marshals*](https://film.one/tv/marshals.md) (44)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Gil Birmingham

> Gil Birmingham's trade is the man beside the man who talks. In *Hell or High Water* he makes patience look like a decision rather than a temperament, and Taylor Sheridan has kept writing him parts that let him do it.

In *Hell or High Water* (2016) Jeff Bridges gets the insults and Gil Birmingham gets the job of hearing them. He plays Alberto Parker, one of the two rangers doing the pursuing, and his partner Marcus Hamilton needles him for the length of the film. Birmingham's contribution is to make Parker's patience visibly finite, so that each new dig lands on a man who is keeping count. We laughed at the insults and then felt a little sorry for the man delivering them, and that second feeling was largely Birmingham's work. Without him the scenes would be a solo comedy routine, and a shorter one.

He came to this from the side and quite late. Television guest parts from 1986, frequently as Native American characters, then *Twilight* (2008), where Billy Black put him in front of a great many people who had never seen him before. *Rango* (2011) gave him the voice of Wounded Bird in a film we liked for how it looked rather than for how it got on. Then Taylor Sheridan wrote him Alberto Parker and kept writing: Martin Hanson, a grieving father, in *Wind River* (2017), and Thomas Rainwater, a tribal chairman, across six years of *Yellowstone* (2018–2024) and on into *Marshals* (2026).

The pattern is plain. Birmingham is cast, again and again, as a contemporary Native American man with some authority and a community behind him, and he plays these men without the stoicism or the speechifying that the type used to demand. He has said, of *Hell or High Water*, "Really, it’s all about the work and the authenticity of characters that you’re portraying." Actors say that sort of thing. In his case the film bears it out: Parker is a ranger with a partner who annoys him, and nothing about the way Birmingham plays him asks us to see anything else.

The reservation is the one that attaches to most character actors. He has spent nearly forty years as the second name, the partner, the father, the chairman, and nobody has yet built a film around him. On the evidence of *Hell or High Water* we would like to see it tried, ideally with someone else on the receiving end of the insults for once.

## Biography

Gil Birmingham is an American actor of Comanche ancestry. He was born on 13 July 1953 in San Antonio, Texas, and studied at the University of Southern California before working as a petrochemical engineer. He began acting in the 1980s after a background in bodybuilding.

Birmingham made his television debut in an episode of *Riptide* in 1986. He is known for playing Billy Black in the *Twilight* film series (2008–2012), Alberto Parker in *Hell or High Water* (2016), and Thomas Rainwater in the series *Yellowstone* (2018–2024). Other credits include *Wind River* (2017), *The Lone Ranger* (2013) and *The Mentalist* (2008).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (11)

- *Marshals* (2026), Fi1m 44, as Thomas Rainwater — [page](https://film.one/tv/marshals.md)
- *PIECES OF HER* (2022), Fi1m 55, as Charlie Bass — [page](https://film.one/tv/pieces-of-her.md)
- *Wind River* (2017), Fi1m 76, as Martin Hanson — [page](https://film.one/film/wind-river.md)
- *Hell or High Water* (2016), Fi1m 84, as Alberto Parker — [page](https://film.one/film/hell-or-high-water.md)
- *Banshee* (2013), Fi1m 72, as George Hunter — [page](https://film.one/tv/banshee.md)
- *The Lone Ranger* (2013), Fi1m 55, as Red Knee — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lone-ranger.md)
- *Rango* (2011), Fi1m 77, as Wounded Bird (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/rango.md)
- *The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1* (2011), Fi1m 47, as Billy — [page](https://film.one/film/the-twilight-saga-breaking-dawn-part-1.md)
- *The Twilight Saga: Eclipse* (2010), Fi1m 55, as Billy Black — [page](https://film.one/film/the-twilight-saga-eclipse.md)
- *The Twilight Saga: New Moon* (2009), Fi1m 48, as Billy Black — [page](https://film.one/film/the-twilight-saga-new-moon.md)
- *Twilight* (2008), Fi1m 70, as Billy Black — [page](https://film.one/film/twilight.md)

## Complete filmography (58)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Marshals* (2026), series, as Thomas Rainwater — Fi1m 44, [page](https://film.one/tv/marshals.md)
- *X-Men '97* (2024), series, as Forge (voice)
- *Tracker* (2024), series, as Gus McMillion
- *The Marsh King's Daughter* (2023), as Clark Bekkum
- *Poker Face* (2023), series, as Skip Dooley — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/poker-face.md)
- *Under the Banner of Heaven* (2022), series, as Detective Bill Taba
- *PIECES OF HER* (2022), series, as Charlie Bass — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/tv/pieces-of-her.md)
- *Yellowstone* (2018), series, as Thomas Rainwater
- *The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island* (2018), Actor
- *Siren* (2018), series, as Sheriff Dale Bishop
- *Scalped* (2017), as Chief Lincoln Red Crow
- *Te Ata* (2017), as T.B. Thompson
- *Wind River* (2017), as Martin Hanson — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/wind-river.md)
- *Transformers: The Last Knight* (2017), as Chief Sherman (uncredited) — Fi1m 34, [page](https://film.one/film/transformers-the-last-knight.md)
- *The Space Between Us* (2017), as Shaman Neka
- *Hell or High Water* (2016), as Alberto Parker — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/hell-or-high-water.md)
- *Animal Kingdom* (2016), series, as Detective Pearce
- *Dr. Del* (2016), as Crow
- *Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt* (2015), series, as Virgil — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt.md)
- *The Lone Ranger* (2013), as Red Knee — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lone-ranger.md)
- *House of Cards* (2013), series, as Daniel Lanagin
- *Banshee* (2013), series, as George Hunter — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/banshee.md)
- *Vegas* (2012), series, as Don Simmons
- *Crooked Arrows* (2012), as Ben Logan
- *California Indian* (2011), as Charles 'Chi' Thomas
- *The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1* (2011), as Billy — Fi1m 47, [page](https://film.one/film/the-twilight-saga-breaking-dawn-part-1.md)
- *Shouting Secrets* (2011), as Cal
- *The Lying Game* (2011), series, as Ben Whitehorse
- *Rango* (2011), as Wounded Bird (voice) — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/rango.md)
- *Love Ranch* (2010), as Johnny Cortez
- *The Twilight Saga: Eclipse* (2010), as Billy Black — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/the-twilight-saga-eclipse.md)
- *The Twilight Saga: New Moon* (2009), as Billy Black — Fi1m 48, [page](https://film.one/film/the-twilight-saga-new-moon.md)
- *NCIS: Los Angeles* (2009), series, as Steven Douglas
- *Castle* (2009), series, as Cacaw Te — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/castle.md)
- *Twilight* (2008), as Billy Black — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/twilight.md)
- *The Mentalist* (2008), series, as Markham Willis — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist.md)
- *Turok: Son of Stone* (2008), as Nashoba (voice)
- *Love's Long Journey* (2005), as Sharp Claw
- *Into the West* (2005), series, as Older Dog Star
- *Veronica Mars* (2004), series, as Leonard Lobo — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/veronica-mars.md)
- *Medical Investigation* (2004), series, as Walter Shephard
- *Nip/Tuck* (2003), series, as Shaman — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/nip-tuck.md)
- *The Lone Ranger* (2003), as One Horn
- *Gentle Ben 2: Danger on the Mountain* (2003), as Pete
- *Skins* (2002), as Sonny Yellow Lodge
- *Body & Soul* (2002), series, as Oz
- *Gentle Ben* (2002), as Pete
- *The Doe Boy* (2001), as Manny
- *Family Law* (1999), series, as Bernard
- *Charmed* (1998), series, as Indian Chief
- *V.I.P.* (1998), series, as Roland
- *The Wild Thornberrys* (1998), series, as Jim's Dad (voice)
- *The Legend of Calamity Jane* (1997), series, as Additional Voices (voice)
- *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997), series, as Peru Man — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer.md)
- *Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman* (1993), series, as Brave #1
- *House II: The Second Story* (1987), as Featured Warrior
- *Falcon Crest* (1981), series, as Deputy
- *Wind River: Rising*, as Martin Hanson

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/gil-birmingham