"You can't think about how people will perceive you or your character. All you can do is focus on your work. The rest is up to the universe. I've been acting for 16 years. I've done 55 movies and, in all seriousness, there's maybe five that are good and the rest are crap."
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. (born November 5, 1958 in Marietta, Georgia) is an American actor. He is well known for his work in the Science Fiction genre, and is a Saturn Award winner.
Born in Marietta, Georgia, he was raised in Columbus, Ohio. He is the eldest of 5 children. One of his siblings is Richard Patrick, former Nine Inch Nails guitarist and current lead singer of bands Filter and Army of Anyone.
He dropped out of college when drama class sparked his interest in acting, receiving his first professional acting job in the 1986 TV film Eye of the Eagle. Since then, he went on to appear in supporting roles in various films and television series.
He is described as someone who has "developed a solid reputation within the industry", with critics, fans, and co-stars alike praising his "work ethic, personality, and consistent performances".
Filmography:
Film roles
- 1990 Die Hard 2 as O'Reilly
- 1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day as T-1000
- 1992 Wayne's World as T-1000 (cameo)
- 1993 Fire in the Sky as Mike Rogers
- 1993 Last Action Hero as T-1000
- 1994 Double Dragon (1994) as Koga Shuko
- 1996 Striptease as Darrell Grant
- 1997 Cop Land as Officer Jack Rucker
- 1998 The Faculty as Coach Joe Willis
- 1998 Renegade Force as Jack McInroy
- 1999 From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money as Buck
- 2000 Spy Kids as Mr. Lisp
- 2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle as Ray Carter
- 2004 Ladder 49 as Lenny Richter
- 2005 Walk the Line as Ray Cash
- 2006 Firewall as Gary Mitchell
- 2006 The Marine as Rome
- 2006 Flags of Our Fathers as Colonel Chandler Johnson
- 2007 Bridge to Terabithia as Jack Aarons
- 2007 Balls of Fury as Sgt. Pete Daytona
- 2011 Red Faction: Origins as Alec Mason
- 2012 Safe House as Daniel Kiefer
- 2013 Gangster Squad as Max Kennard
- 2013 Lovelace as John Boreman
- 2014 Kill the Messenger as Ronny Quail
- 2015 Lost After Dark as Mr. C
- 2018 Back Roads as Chief Mansour
- 2019 The Laundromat as Captain Richard Harris
- 2020 Honest Thief as Agent Sam Baker
- 2021 No Man of God as Roger Depue
Television roles
- 1992 Tales from the Crypt as
Lothar - 1995 The Outer Limits as Major John Skokes ("Quality of Mercy" and "The Light Brigade")
- 1996 Superman: The Animated Series as Lebeau (voice)
- 1996 The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest as Race Bannon (voice) (later replaced by Granville Van Dusen in Season 2)
- 1999 Batman Beyond as Richard Armacost (voice)
- 2000 The Sopranos as David Scatino
- 2000-02 The X-Files as Agent John Doggett
- 2003 Duck Dodgers as J. Edgar Trashcan (voice)
- 2004 Stargate Atlantis as Colonel Marshall Sumner
- 2005 Elvis as Vernon Presley
- 2006-09 The Unit as Colonel Tom Ryan
- 2006 Ben 10 as Phil Billings (voice)
- 2007 Avatar: The Last Airbender as Piandao (voice)
- 2007 The Batman as Hawkman (voice)
- 2012 Ultimate Spider-Man as the Whizzer (voice)
- 2012 Last Resort as Command Master Chief Petty Officer Joseph Prosser
- 2012-2014 True Blood as Jackson Herveaux
- 2013-14 Sons of Anarchy as President Les Packer
- 2018-2019 Mayans M.C.
- 2014 From Dusk Till Dawn as Jacob Fuller
- 2014-18 Scorpion as Agent Cabe Gallo
- 2017 Lore as Reverend Eliakim Phelps
- 2020 Perry Mason (2020) as Herman Baggerly
- 2021 The Walking Dead as Mays
- 2022 Peacemaker as Auggie Smith
- 2022-present 1923 as Sheriff William McDowell
- 2023 Reacher as Shane Langston
Miscellaneous
- 1995 The Dig as Commander Low (voice)
- 2005 The Outfit as Deuce Williams (voice)
Tropes
- Adam Westing: Robert occasionally dresses up as a police officer, directly referencing his T-1000 role from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Badass Biker: Admittedly loves to ride motorcycles.
- Badass Bookworm: He majored in accounting.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: He's liked a tweet
about the popularly noted resemblance between him and Albert Wesker. - Dyeing for Your Art: Well-known for having done this in preparation for his role as the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Face of a Thug: He credits his tough-looking exterior to why he seems to be typecast as tough guys. James Cameron even casted him as the T-1000 because he remembered how cold and stoic he looked in Die Hard 2.
- Flip-Flop of God:
- In 2017, he's stated that he would be welcome to reprising his role as Doggett on the then-recently announced The X-Files revival, though later redacted that statement due to being busy with Scorpion, citing it would be too complicated to work major roles on two different networks.
- Even as recent as Terminator: Dark Fate, he's stated he'd be welcome to return to Terminator, although he had to turn down an offer to reprise his role as the T-1000 in Terminator Genisys due to his health and not wanting to tarnish his original performance as the T-1000.
- Happily Married: He and his wife are married since 1990.
- I Am Not Spock: Averted for the most part; he's proud to be known as the T-1000, though he's mentioned in one interview that there was one point where this trope bothered him but he's since loosened up.
- Memetic Badass: Courtesy of his Star-Making Role as the T-1000 and the Memetic Mutation that he actually did all of the T-1000's abilities himself (due to his infamous Dyeing for Your Art level of commitment to his role), expect jokes about why doesn't he just use his Terminator abilities in his other roles, how the T-1000 is really good at infiltration (such as being an FBI agent, etc.), or the T-1000 really let himself go (such as getting shot to death by John McClane, becoming depressed and getting a gambling addiction, etc.).
- Old Shame: He regards his early films (i.e. pre-Die Hard 2) as embarrassing, and he's also apparently not fond of Zero Tolerance.
- Playing Against Type: While he plays badasses most of the time, his character Davey Scatino in The Sopranos is a weasely, pathetic Gambling Addict who ends up on the receiving end of one of Tony's beatdowns and has his life utterly destroyed.
- Prop Recycling: His partially bleached blonde hair in Zero Tolerance is likely an artifact from working on Double Dragon (1994), as both were in production about the same time.
- So My Kids Can Watch: He described his reason for taking the part in Bridge to Terabithia with precisely these words.
- Star-Making Role: As the T-1000.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He's 5'11" (180cm), and most of the characters he play are aloof (some justified) Deadpan Snarkers.
- Two First Names: Robert and Patrick are commonly used as first names.
- Typecasting: As a cop or some other law enforcement officer (though the T-1000 is maybe the only evil variant on this).
- What Could Have Been:
- He was offered to return for the The X-Files revival, but turned it down due to being busy with Scorpion. The Season 11 opener was supposed to have Doggett return, but was rewritten due to his actor's unavailability.
- He discussed a T-1000 backstory with Terminator Salvation director McG about playing a scientist studying cell replication in a hypothetical sequel (in which John would have traveled back in time to an alternate 2011 and met Robert Patrick's character along the way), which would have somehow led to the T-1000 basing its appearance on said scientist.
- Robert was offered the chance to come back for Terminator Genisys, but his bad hip and age would have prevented him from doing his own stunts. Additionally, he didn't want to tarnish his original performance as the T-1000, saw no story reason to return to the role, had scheduling conflicts, and would be more welcome to returning if James Cameron was involved again.
