Paul Guilfoyle brings a watchful, faintly threatening quality to policemen and gangsters without reducing them to types. We value his quiet authority, though too many of his supporting parts leave him little to develop.
Fi1m perspective
Paul Guilfoyle's searching eyes and sharp chin can make an authority figure look slightly suspect before we know much about him. He is frequently cast as policemen, lawyers and gangsters, all useful occupations for someone who can suggest quiet menace. The difficulty is getting a part that asks for anything beyond it. In Howard the Duck (1986), he plays Lieutenant Welker, but the film gives us too little reason to enjoy the company of its characters. Lea Thompson brings warmth to the central friendship; the weak jokes and lurches in tone make the rest hard going.
L.A. Confidential (1997) is a much better place to see him, as Mickey Cohen in Curtis Hanson's persuasive ensemble. We were gripped by its complicated mystery because the actors made us care about the people trying to solve it. Guilfoyle's supporting contribution fits a film in which credibility matters across the cast, though we would not pretend he is its chief attraction. The writing gives the women less attention than the men; recommending it for its actors should not mean overlooking that.
His regular years as Captain Jim Brass in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2014) gave him longer to develop the wry, instinctive police captain. It was a substantial shift from the succession of supporting film roles. His explanation of playing Brass is usefully plain: “Acting is small. I like to be able to do that, keep simplifying it more and more.” That approach suits an actor whose interest is in finding the human qualities of people who could easily be reduced to their professional duties.
Later work includes Peter Conley in Spotlight (2015), another ensemble part. The reservation is that Guilfoyle can be left with a job title and too little character to develop. His believability helps, but we cannot ask an actor to supply everything the writing has omitted. Start with L.A. Confidential; to spend more time with Guilfoyle himself, try CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Biography
Paul Guilfoyle is an American character actor born on 28 April 1949 in Boston, Massachusetts. He is best known for playing Captain Jim Brass in the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2014), with returns in the 2015 finale and CSI: Vegas.
Guilfoyle has appeared in numerous films including L.A. Confidential (1997) as Mickey Cohen, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Air Force One (1997), The Negotiator (1998), Spotlight (2015) and Don't Look Up (2021). His stage work includes Broadway productions such as The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Glengarry Glen Ross, and he is a member of the Actors Studio. He is not related to the earlier character actor of the same name.
