Paul Blackthorne
About
Biography
Biography
After spending his youth on English military bases thanks to his father's career, Paul Blackthorne struggled in the early days of his acting career. He got by primarily appearing in commercials in the United Kingdom, landing a few campaigns that were majorly popular. His career as an actor kicked in late, as it wasn't until he was 30 years old that he started appearing in film and television on a regular basis. He appeared in a minor capacity in a few TV shows and shorts in the late 1990s, but his first major film role kicked his career to another level. Blackthorne co-starred in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood film "Lagaan" (2001), which required him to learn Hindi for six months before filming began. Following the success of "Lagaan," he started to appear more often in mainstream projects, including multi-episode guest roles on popular shows such as "ER" (NBC 1994-2009) and "24" (Fox 2001-2010) in 2004. He landed a starring role on the science-fiction show "The Dresden Files" (Sci Fi 2007). While it lasted only one season, Blackthorne's portrayal of the title character was well received. After "The Dresden Files" was cancelled, he next appeared as a series regular on the short-lived "Lipstick Jungle" (NBC 2008-09). Once again, the show didn't last long and Blackthorne was back out searching for another full-time role as he guested on a variety of shows. He finally found another series regular role in 2012 when he joined the main cast of the superhero show "Arrow" (CW 2012- ) as the hard-nosed Detective Quentin Lance.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1998
Played Romeo in Mathew Parkhill's short film "Romeo Thinks Again"
1999
Made his TV debut on the British series "Peak Practice"
1999
Made his feature-length film debut in Bret Easton Ellis's "This is Not an Exit"
2001
Had a starring role in the British movie "The Truth Game"
2001
Played Captain Andrew Russell in the Oscar-nominated "Lagaan"
2002
Played British Doctor Matt Slingerland in the CBS drama "Presidio Med"
2004
Appeared in several episodes of season 10 of the NBC drama "ER"
2004
Offered a villainous turn as biological terrorist Stephen Saunders in the third season of the FOX series "24"
2005
Starred in the independent feature "Four Corners of Suburbia"
2007
Played the lead role of Harry Dresden on the Sci Fi Channel original series "The Dresden Files"
2007
Played the recurring role of a cosmopolitan British homewrecker in the ABC drama series "Big Shots"
2008
Cast as Shane, Wendy Healy's (Brooke Shields) supportive husband, in the NBC series "Lipstick Jungle"
2012
First appeared as Detective Lance on CW's "Arrow"
