Sebastian Roché

Born in Paris during the summer of '64, Roché had an unconventional upbringing. His family spent much of the '70s traveling via sailboat, visiting South America, Africa and the Caribbean before finally returning to France. He enrolled in drama classes at the famed Conversatoire and worked steadily in French TV, beginning with the mini-series "Bonjour maitre," before graduating from the school in 1989. After being introduced to American audiences with a minor role in the horror anthology series "The Hitchhiker" (HBO, 1983-87; USA Network 1989-1991), Roché landed a supporting role in the critically-acclaimed "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992) and co-wrote the 1995 indie festival hit "Loungers," "Monster's Ball" director Marc Forster's debut film. In 1997 he portrayed Longinus, a cruel immortal Roman warrior, on "Roar," where he fell in love with co-star Vera Farmiga, whom he married later that year. Roché continued indulging his childhood love of science fiction and mythology with supporting roles in everything from the NBC miniseries "Merlin" (1998) to the time-traveling space adventure "Odyssey 5" (Showtime, 2002-03). In 2007, the newly-divorced Roché portrayed a fierce Old English warrior in the motion capture "Beowulf," written by "American Gods" author Neil Gaiman; and signed on to play the slippery Jerry Jacks on "General Hospital." His role as the enigmatic, shapeshifting soldier Thomas Newton on "Fringe" launched the actor onto two high-profile, cult-status CW series; first in 2010 as "Supernatural's" hedonistic angel Balthazar (whom he professed to share a lot in common with), then the following year as "The Vampire Diaries" original vampire Mikael. Since joining "Criminal Minds" (CBS, 2005-) as Interpol agent Clyde Easter, Roché has appeared on the fairy-tale thriller "Grimm" (NBC, 2011-17) and the Syfy made-for-TV movie "Pegasus vs. Chimera" (2012).