J.D. Evermore
While many actors who achieve success in major projects do so with a bang, J.D. Evermore's climb was slow and steady. Born in Mississippi, Evermore's family moved often, causing him to attend a total of 17 schools during the course of his education. He learned to become a class clown as a coping mechanism, but didn't consider a career on stage right away. Instead, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was stationed at 29 Palms, California. He met several actors during his 15 months there, and eventually decided to study theater, enrolling at The University of Southern Mississippi. Evermore gained experience on stage at the university, but ultimately didn't graduate, leaving school a semester early when his friend, playwright Mark Leonard, offered him $1000 to take on the lead in his play "Dylan's Ghost" at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica. Evermore took Leonard up on his offer, moving to L.A. to begin his career in earnest. He would find very steady work from the beginning, appearing on shows like "Walker, Texas Ranger" (CBS, 1993-2001), and appearing in small roles in both low profile films like "Single and Dealing with It" (2003) and major hits like "Walk the Line" (2005). Evermore also wrote, directed, and starred in his own film, the musical comedy "Glorious Mail" (2005). The actor gained a significant boost to his profile in 2010, when he was cast as Detective Thomas Silby on the drama "Treme" (HBO, 2010-13). He was soon afterward cast as O.B. in the Quentin Tarantino film "Django Unchained" (2012), before joining the cast of "Rectify" as Sheriff Carl Daggett (SundanceTV, 2013). Next came roles in the acclaimed films "12 Years a Slave" (2013) and "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013) as well as recurring roles on "The Walking Dead" (AMC, 2010-) and "True Detective" (HBO, 2014-). In 2016, Evermore reached an even higher level, co-starring with Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell in the disaster docudrama "Deepwater Horizon" (2016).