Bernthal played the role of “Frank Castle/The Punisher” in the Netflix spin-off series The Punisher based on the Marvel comic. He received rave reviews for his performance in the series, which premiered in November 2017. The show’s second season debuted in January 2019. His performance originated in the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil series, which debuted in 2015. Additionally, Bernthal starred in HBO’s mini-series Show Me A Hero alongside Oscar Isaac, Jim Belushi, and Winona Ryde, which also premiered in 2015.
Bernthal starred as “Shane Walsh” in AMC’s breakout hit television series, The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book of the same name. Bernthal’s extraordinary portrayal as a survivor of the zombie apocalypse marks another remarkable turn in a career defined by acclaimed and varied performances both on stage and on screen. The Walking Dead earned recognition as one of AFI’s Ten Best Television Programs of the Year. The series also set new records as the most-watched drama series in basic cable history and has aired internationally in over 120 countries and 33 languages.
Bernthal also starred as the lead in Frank Darabont’s Mob City for TNT which premiered on December 4th, 2013. The show was set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and ’50s. It’s a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.
His other television work includes the Steven Spielberg HBO miniseries, The Pacific, as well as on: Boston Legal, CSI: Miami, Law & Order Special Victims Unit, How I Met Your Mother, and Without A Trace. His first series in a starring role was The Class, created by David Crane and directed by James Burrows.
A veteran of more than 30 productions, Bernthal most recently returned to his roots in the Rogue Machine Theatre’s production of Small Engine Repair, where he starred as “Terrance Swaino.” Bernthal also produced the play, a dark comedy-drama that charts three working-class friends in Manchester, New Hampshire as they reunite for an evening of drinking, fighting, and reminiscing. Bernthal earned a 2011 Ovation Award nomination for his performance, which had its New York premiere for MCC in the Fall of 2013. Bernthal had previously starred in Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse. His other theatre credits include Langford Wilson’s Fifth of July at New York’s Signature Theatre, the off-Broadway production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, where Bernthal played “Ui,” at the Portland Stage Company; and This is Our Youth, at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. His love of theatre led him to open his own non-profit theatre company Fovea Floods, in upstate New York.
given the remarkable opportunity to study at the prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre in Russia, renowned for its regimented program and disciplined training. Educated in acting, acrobatics, ballet, and rhythm, the intense training provided Bernthal with a solid foundation in his craft. While studying at MAT, Bernthal was discovered by the director of Harvard University’s Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, at the American Repertory Theatre in Moscow. He was invited to study there and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts.
Bernthal was a professional baseball player both in the U.S. minor leagues and European Professional Baseball Federation. These days, Bernthal prefers boxing, for which he trains six days a week. He teaches boxing to at-risk children, drawing out their discipline and work ethic, and helping them to channel their issues into a sport that teaches them confidence and control. Bernthal also works to retrain pit bulls that have been abused, subsequently placing them in new, loving homes. Bernthal resides in Ojai, California
