Jason Thomas Butler Harner (born October 9, 1970) is an American actor known for his role as FBI Special Agent Roy Petty in Ozark.

Life and career

Harner was born in Elmira, New York and grew up in suburban Northern Virginia, where he saw a handful of plays at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. His middle name Butler is his mother’s maiden name. He graduated from T. C. Williams High School, Alexandria, Virginia, in 1988. Although Harner was the president of his high school drama club, he spent his time building sets rather than acting. At 17, after graduating from high school, he worked as an usher at the Eisenhower Theater, part of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He graduated from VCU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting in 1992. He was the second in his family to go to college, his father being the first. After graduating from VCU, he was an apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville; he subsequently moved to New York City and received a Master of Fine Arts in the Graduate Acting Program from Tisch School of the Arts in 1997, where he was taught by Ron Van Lieu'. Harner returned to VCU as a Master Teacher during their 2007-08 Guest Artist program. Harner completed filming for Changeling in December 2007. He played Gordon Stewart Northcott, a serial killer responsible for the Wineville Chicken Coop murders. Besides portraying Agent Roy Petty in Ozark, he has also appeared in Sugar, The Handmaid's Tale, Clipped, Scandal, Homeland, Ray Donovan, Rabbit Hole, Next, High Maintenance, and Fringe. He was cast as the regular character Silas Hunton on the cable series Possible Side Effects, until Showtime cancelled the series in April 2008. He plays Associate Warden Elijah Bailey "E.B." Tiller on the Fox series Alcatraz which debuted in January 2012. He made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's landmark trilogy "The Coast of Utopia" at Lincoln Center Theatre playing Ivan Turgenev over 50 years. He also appeared on Broadway in the 2016 revival of "The Crucible," directed by Ivo VonHove, and starring Ben Whishaw, Sophie Okenedo, Saoirse Ronan and opposite Janet McTeer in the 2018 world premiere of "Bernhardt/Hamlet" at the Roundabout Theatre. He made his London theater debut in February 2010 in the Lanford Wilson play Serenading Louie at Donmar Warehouse, London, England. He has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards ("The Paris Letter" and "The Village Bike") and earned an OBIE Award for his work in Ivo VonHove's production of "Hedda Gabler" opposite Elizabeth Marvel at New York Theatre Workshop. He starred opposite Sally Field in "The Glass Menagerie" at the Kennedy Center, Carey Mulligan in "Through the Glass Darkly" at the Atlantic Theatre, Greta Gerwig in "The Village Bike," Annette Bening and Sarah Paulson in "The Cherry Orchard" at Mark Taper Forum, Sarah Paulson and Bobby Cannavale in "The Gingerbread House" at the Rattlestick Theatre. He has taught Shakespeare at CalArts University. During his stay in London, Harner read Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs on BBC Book of the Week in April 2010. Harner produced and co-starred in the short film "The Anne Frank Gift Shop," written and directed by his husband, Mickey Rapkin, in 2023, which was short listed for the Oscars.

Theatrical career

Filmography

Films

Television

Other works

Harner narrated the audiobook version of Dark Prophecy: A Level 26 Thriller Featuring Steve Dark by Anthony Zuiker and Duane Swierczynski, ISBN 978-0-525-95185-8 and The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder by Stephen Elliott, ISBN 978-1-55597-570-8.

Awards