Quick Facts
Biography
Benjamin "Ben" Koldyke (born March 27, 1968) is an American actor who was most recently seen starring in Mr. Robinson for NBC.
Career
Originally a high school English teacher and football coach in Chicago, Koldyke's acting career received a jump start after a chance encounter with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator-star, Rob McElhenney. Regulars at the same Venice cafe, he covered Rob's tab with a note that said he "thought his show was fantastic," and this exchange led to Koldyke's first (of many) TV pilots, Boldly Going Nowhere for Fox, a few years later.
After Boldly was not picked up, Koldyke went on to book recurring roles as Dale Tomasson in the HBO series Big Love and as Don Frank in How I Met Your Mother for CBS.
In 2012, Koldyke starred as the lead character in the short-lived ABC comedy series Work It and later guest starred in HBO's The Newsroom. 2013 saw him star in another ABC sitcom, Back in the Game, opposite James Caan and Maggie Lawson. He has recently been seen in a significant arc on Showtime's Masters of Sex as teacher and football coach Paul Edley.
Koldyke will be seen on the big screen early next year in a supporting role for Disney's The Finest Hours alongside Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana, and Ben Foster.
Personal life
Koldyke was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Kenilworth. His father, Martin J. "Mike" Koldyke, is a former investment banker who founded Frontenac Company in Chicago and is a life trustee of Northwestern University; through his mother, Patricia Blunt Koldyke, he is a member of the family that controls Laird Norton Company, an investment company with roots in the timber industry of the Pacific Northwest.
He graduated in 1991 from Dartmouth College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English and was a quarterback for the football team.
On August 8, 2015, Koldyke married actress Maggie Lawson in a ceremony at his family's ranch in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Next Best Thing | Kelly's Boyfriend | |
| 2000 | Thirteen Days | RF-8 Pilot | |
| 2001 | Red Zone | Dutch Van Roble | Also writer and director |
| 2002 | Osama Bin Laden: Behind the Madness | Writer and director | |
| 2003 | Say I Do | Ben | |
| 2003 | Stuck on You | Officer Tommy Johnson | |
| 2008 | Jedi Gym | Master Flynn | Short film, also writer and director |
| 2016 | The Finest Hours | Sam |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 24 | LAPD Officer | Episode: "Day 2: 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m." |
| 2009 | Boldly Going Nowhere | TV pilot | |
| 2009 | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Sean | Episode: "The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis" |
| 2009 | The Big D | Will Dupree | TV pilot |
| 2009 | This Little Piggy | TV pilot | |
| 2010 | Big Love | Dale Tomasson | 5 episodes |
| 2009–2010 | How I Met Your Mother | Don Frank | 6 episodes |
| 2012 | Work It | Lee Standish | Series regular, 11 episodes |
| 2013 | The Newsroom | Cyrus West | Episode: "First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers" |
| 2013 | Back in the Game | Dick Slingbaugh | Series regular |
| 2014-ongoing | Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street | Greg Gibbon | Recurring |
| 2015 | Mr. Robinson | Jimmy | Series regular |
| 2015 | Masters of Sex | Paul Edley | Recurring |