---
name: "M.C. Gainey"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/m-c-gainey"
fi1m_id: "m-c-gainey"
imdb_id: "nm0301370"
tmdb_id: 22132
wikidata_id: "Q722038"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "18 January 1948"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 77
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-05T04:28:07.757172+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."
---

# M.C. Gainey

## Identity

M.C. Gainey

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/m-c-gainey
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** m-c-gainey
- **IMDb ID:** nm0301370
- **TMDB ID:** 22132
- **Wikidata ID:** Q722038
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Gainey, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q722038, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0301370/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/22132

Actor. Born 18 January 1948 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 18 January 1948, Jackson, Mississippi, USA
- **Active:** 1984–2012
- **Also known as:** Mike Gainey , Mike Connor Gainey , M. C. Gainey, MC Gainey, М. К. Гейни, Michael Connor Gainey, ام. سی. گینی
- **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as actor, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 77 (1), 1990s 74 (1), 2000s 74 (2), 2010s 80 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 77 to 73 across 7 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 5 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Action 2, Crime 2, Romance 2, Science Fiction 2, Thriller 2
- **Screen time:** 12 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,815m across 6 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Gainey, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q722038, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0301370/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/22132

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Starman*](https://film.one/film/starman.md) (77), [*Tangled*](https://film.one/film/tangled.md) (75)

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

## Fi1m on M.C. Gainey

> M.C. Gainey has spent four decades being the large, moustached man the hero should not have crossed. He does it without vanity and without much variation, and the one time a director laughed at the type rather than leaning on it, in *Sideways*, it produced his best work.

The moustache arrives first. Then the height, then the voice, gravel poured over something slow and Southern, and by the time M.C. Gainey has finished a line you know who he is: the convict, the biker, the deputy who will not be reading anyone their rights. He has never been the star of anything and has never looked as though he wanted to be. He walks into a scene as the reason someone else checks over their shoulder, does the job, and is gone.

The career has one shape and he knows it. Uncredited extra work on *Hard Times* (1975), a screen debut in *Pennies from Heaven* (1981), then more than fifty films and dozens of television guest parts, nearly all of them the same large man in a different hat. *Con Air* (1997) gave him Swamp Thing, an inmate on a plane full of inmates. *The Dukes of Hazzard* (2005) gave him Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. Quentin Tarantino gave him Big John Brittle in *Django Unchained* (2012). Television gave him the longest run, nineteen episodes as Tom Friendly on *Lost* (2005–2008), where a face that means trouble was worth having around. He has put it more plainly than we could: "Bikers, cowboys and convicts are my spe-ci-ality."

Of the two films we have reviewed, one uses him and one merely hires him. In *Tangled* (2010) he voices the Captain of the Guard and, as we said at the time, the part is a moustache; the animators drew the type and he supplied the growl. *Sideways* (2004) is another matter. Alexander Payne casts him as Cammi's husband, the cuckold in a wine-country comedy of small humiliations, and gives him a scene that involves no clothes whatever. We laughed harder than at anything else in the film and then felt slightly mean about it, because Gainey does not play it for the laugh. He plays a man too furious to notice he is naked, and that is exactly why it is funny. It is the one time a director has looked at the shape of him and found the person inside it.

The limit is the obvious one. He has said that his face rules out lawyers and priests, and the business has agreed with him since the 1980s. That is not a fault, and it is not quite a criticism, but it means the work is dependable rather than surprising. Directors who want a heavy get a good one. Directors who want anything else have rarely asked. If someone finally casts him as a priest, we would like to be told.

## Biography

M. C. Gainey (born Michael Connor Gainey) is an American character actor. He was born on 18 January 1948 in Jackson, Mississippi. He attended the University of Southern Mississippi and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in the early 1970s. Prior to acting, he worked as a mortician's apprentice and served in the US Army.

Gainey made his feature film debut in *Pennies from Heaven* (1981). He has appeared in numerous films including *Con Air* (1997), *Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines* (2003) and *Sideways* (2004), in which he played Cammi's Husband. On television he is known for the recurring role of Tom Friendly in *Lost* (2005–2008) and guest appearances in series such as *The X-Files*, *Criminal Minds* and *The Mentalist*. He has been married to Kim Novicki since 2002.

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

## On Fi1m (7)

- *Django Unchained* (2012), Fi1m 78, as Big John Brittle — [page](https://film.one/film/django-unchained.md)
- *Justified* (2010), Fi1m 87, as Bo Crowder — [page](https://film.one/tv/justified.md)
- *Tangled* (2010), Fi1m 75, as Captain of the Guard (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/tangled.md)
- *Sideways* (2004), Fi1m 86, as Cammi's Husband — [page](https://film.one/film/sideways.md)
- *Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines* (2003), Fi1m 61, as Roadhouse Bouncer — [page](https://film.one/film/terminator-3-rise-of-the-machines.md)
- *Con Air* (1997), Fi1m 74, as "Swamp Thing" — [page](https://film.one/film/con-air.md)
- *Starman* (1984), Fi1m 77, as Cop #2 — [page](https://film.one/film/starman.md)

## Complete filmography (153)

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

- *Last Train to Fortune* (2026), as Snake
- *The Cleaner* (2021), as Doug
- *A Teacher* (2020), series, as Wyatt Wilson
- *Moonbase 8* (2020), series, as T-Boy
- *Emperor* (2020), as Randolph Stevens
- *Bit* (2019), as Enoch
- *Orchard Girl* (2019), as Wheelchair Man
- *The Conners* (2018), series, as Group Leader
- *Boogeyman Pop* (2018), as Ed
- *Deadman Standing* (2018), as Hugh Anderson
- *Shifting Gears* (2018), as D. H. - Dirty Harry Hawkins
- *9-1-1* (2018), series, as Charlie
- *Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure* (2017), series, as Captain of the Guard (voice), Captain of the Guards (voice)
- *Tangled: Before Ever After* (2017), as Captain of the Guard (voice)
- *Riverdale* (2017), series, as Poppa Poutine
- *The Corridor Defended* (2017), as Bartender
- *Speechless* (2016), series, as Dom
- *Greater* (2016), as Coach Ford
- *The Magicians* (2015), series, as Stanley
- *The Week* (2015), as Doc
- *Bosch* (2015), series, as Ryan Rodgers
- *Kingdom* (2014), series, as Rick
- *Girl Meets World* (2014), series, as Pappy Joe — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/tv/girl-meets-world.md)
- *Maron* (2013), series, as Gus
- *The Pardon* (2013), as Gibbs Duhon
- *Django Unchained* (2012), as Big John Brittle — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/django-unchained.md)
- *Revolution* (2012), series, as Frank Blanchard
- *Stolen* (2012), as Hoyt
- *Haunted High* (2012), as Alger Danforth
- *The Babymakers* (2012), as Officer Malloy
- *The Finder* (2012), series, as Pete Steck
- *Leave* (2011), as Gus
- *Tangled* (2010), as Captain of the Guard (voice) — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/tangled.md)
- *Love Ranch* (2010), as Warren Stamp
- *Happy Town* (2010), series, as Sheriff Griffin Conroy
- *Justified* (2010), series, as Bo Crowder — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/tv/justified.md)
- *Human Target* (2010), series, as Donnelly
- *Trim* (2010), as Ron
- *All About Steve* (2009), as Norm the Truck Driver
- *Glee* (2009), series, as Santa Claus — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/glee.md)
- *Tripping Forward* (2009), as Jim Rose
- *The Mentalist* (2008), series, as Pete Barsocky — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist.md)
- *Life* (2007), series, as William Ford
- *Mr. Woodcock* (2007), as Hal - Barber #1
- *The Death and Life of Bobby Z* (2007), as Boom Boom
- *Burn Notice* (2007), series, as Jacob Orr
- *Unearthed* (2007), as Rob Horn
- *The TV Set* (2007), as Hutch
- *Wild Hogs* (2007), as Murdock
- *Beerfest* (2006), as Priest
- *Relative Strangers* (2006), as Spicer
- *Two Tickets to Paradise* (2006), as Barbosa
- *Apocalypse Oz* (2006), as Kurtz
- *Criminal Minds* (2005), series, as Moretti — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds.md)
- *Bones* (2005), series, as Braxton Smalls — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/bones.md)
- *The Dukes of Hazzard* (2005), as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
- *Are We There Yet?* (2005), as Al
- *Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie* (2004), as Bartender
- *Sideways* (2004), as Cammi's Husband — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/sideways.md)
- *Desperate Housewives* (2004), series, as Claude — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md)
- *Lost* (2004), series, as Tom Friendly — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/lost.md)
- *Club Dread* (2004), as Hank
- *King of the Ants* (2003), as Coach Rack
- *The Cooler* (2003), as Highway Officer
- *Wonderland* (2003), as Billy Ward
- *Cold Case* (2003), series, as Coach Walters (2008)
- *Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines* (2003), as Roadhouse Bouncer — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/terminator-3-rise-of-the-machines.md)
- *The Pitts* (2003), series, as Curtis
- *The Last Cowboy* (2003), as Amos Russell
- *The Country Bears* (2002), as Roadie
- *The New Guy* (2002), as Clem
- *Highway* (2002), as Steven
- *Run Ronnie Run* (2002), as Hark Trellis
- *Diary of a Sex Addict* (2001), as Theatre manager
- *Man and Cat* (2001), as Dog
- *UC: Undercover* (2001), series, Actor
- *CSI: Crime Scene Investigation* (2000), series, as Frank Maddox
- *Happy, Texas* (1999), as Bob Maslow
- *Horse Sense* (1999), as Twister
- *Bad Trip* (1999), as Sheriff Haggard
- *The Haunting* (1999), as Large Man
- *Last Rites* (1999), as Quinn
- *Ringmaster* (1998), as Trucker
- *Meet the Deedles* (1998), as Major Flower
- *The Magnificent Seven* (1998), series, as Earl
- *Con Air* (1997), as "Swamp Thing" — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/con-air.md)
- *Breakdown* (1997), as Earl
- *Citizen Ruth* (1996), as Harlan
- *The Pretender* (1996), series, as Sharpton
- *The Secret Agent Club* (1996), as Jock Dad
- *The Fan* (1996), as Man Behind Man
- *One Tough Bastard* (1996), as Hank
- *Don't Look Back* (1996), as Red
- *Nash Bridges* (1996), series, as Neil Gallow
- *Death Benefit* (1996), as D.K. Graham
- *Misery Loves Company* (1995), series, Actor
- *The Home Court* (1995), series, as Bobby Keaton
- *Marker* (1995), series, Actor
- *Women of the House* (1995), series, Actor
- *New Eden* (1994), as Thor
- *Touched by an Angel* (1994), series, as Smoky
- *ER* (1994), series, as Darrion Walters — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/er.md)
- *Blind Justice* (1994), as Bull
- *Dead Man's Revenge* (1994), Actor
- *Geronimo: An American Legend* (1993), as Unafraid Miner
- *The X-Files* (1993), series, as Bo Taylor — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md)
- *The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.* (1993), series, as Big Smith
- *Walker, Texas Ranger* (1993), series, as Tingley, Craig
- *Ulterior Motives* (1993), as Max
- *Leap of Faith* (1992), as Tiny
- *The Mighty Ducks* (1992), as Lewis
- *Renegade* (1992), series, as Mick Russell
- *Hearts Afire* (1992), series, as M.C.
- *Raven: Return of the Black Dragons* (1992), as Fat Boy Ochoa
- *Ned Blessing: The True Story Of My Life* (1992), as One-Armed Jack Sample
- *Silk Stalkings* (1991), series, Actor
- *Against the Law* (1990), series, Actor
- *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air* (1990), series, as Luther
- *El Diablo* (1990), as Bebe
- *An Innocent Man* (1989), as Malcolm
- *Hardball* (1989), series, Actor
- *Doctor Doctor* (1989), series, Actor
- *Caddie Woodlawn* (1989), as Hankinson
- *Police Story* (1988), series, as Rafferty
- *Spellbinder* (1988), as Brock
- *Frank Nitti: The Enforcer* (1988), Actor
- *Fatal Beauty* (1987), as Barndollar
- *Soul Man* (1986), as Jail Cell Bigot
- *Ratboy* (1986), as Police Officer
- *Designing Women* (1986), series, as T. Tommy Reed, Junior Jones
- *L.A. Law* (1986), series, as Jack Markell
- *Matlock* (1986), series, as Marty Jensen
- *The Rape of Richard Beck* (1985), as Sonny
- *Street Hawk* (1985), series, as Frankie Monroe
- *Starman* (1984), as Cop #2 — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/starman.md)
- *Hunter* (1984), series, as Magruder
- *Blue Thunder* (1984), series, as Saver
- *Night Court* (1984), series, as Eddie the Machete
- *Night Partners* (1983), as Rapist
- *Wizards and Warriors* (1983), series, Actor
- *The A-Team* (1983), series, as C.W. Watkins
- *Frances* (1982), as Reporter / Publicist / Photographer
- *Cheers* (1982), series, as Irving — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/cheers.md)
- *Knight Rider* (1982), series, as Jason Keller, Jerry Nash
- *T. J. Hooker* (1982), series, as Earl Banks
- *Pennies from Heaven* (1981), as Young Policeman
- *Simon & Simon* (1981), series, Actor
- *The Fall Guy* (1981), series, Actor
- *Time After Time* (1979), as London Bobby
- *Hart to Hart* (1979), series, Actor
- *Hard Times* (1975), as Party Guest at Mansion (uncredited)
- *Happy Days* (1974), series, Actor
- *Ruby Road*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Actor M. C. Gainey participating in a panel on the TV series Happy Town at WonderCon 2010.](https://film.one/media/person/98371/gallery-1f5369fb06ed.jpg) Actor M. C. Gainey participating in a panel on the TV series Happy Town at WonderCon 2010. — BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_1.JPG/1280px-M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_1.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Actor M. C. Gainey participating in a panel on the TV series Happy Town at WonderCon 2010.](https://film.one/media/person/98371/gallery-8ea4c09c1eeb.jpg) Actor M. C. Gainey participating in a panel on the TV series Happy Town at WonderCon 2010. — BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_2.JPG/1280px-M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_2.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![M.C. Gainey](https://film.one/media/person/98371/gallery-cc1373d3ed64.jpg) M.C. Gainey — BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_3.JPG/1280px-M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_3.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Actor M. C. Gainey participating in a panel on the TV series Happy Town at WonderCon 2010.](https://film.one/media/person/98371/gallery-a1a32e0f0f4a.jpg) Actor M. C. Gainey participating in a panel on the TV series Happy Town at WonderCon 2010. — BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_4.JPG/1280px-M._C._Gainey_at_WonderCon_2010_4.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© 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/m-c-gainey