Vincent Kartheiser : biography
Vincent Paul Kartheiser (born May 5, 1979) is an American actor known for playing Connor in Angel and Pete Campbell in Mad Men.
Personal life
Kartheiser dated his The Hairy Bird co-star Rachael Leigh Cook for four months in 1998. Kartheiser began dating his Mad Men co-star Alexis Bledel in mid-2012. Kartheiser and Bledel announced their engagement in March 2013.
Kartheiser lives ascetically: he eschews car ownership, instead walking or taking mass transit; he currently lives in a bungalow he describes as a "wooden box" with no mirrors; and he has been selling or giving away everything he owns. Kartheiser is a vegetarian and has chosen not to have children describing both decisions as "green choices". He has since stated that he now owns a car.
Early life
Kartheiser was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Janet Marie (née Gruyé), who ran a nursery, and James Ralph Kartheiser, who sold construction equipment. The youngest of six children, he has four sisters, Andrea, Colette, Elise and Theresa, and a brother, Nathan.
Career
Some of Kartheiser’s first acting experiences were on stage of Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, including roles in Pippi Longstocking, Our Town, Dr. Seuss’ The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Kartheiser made his screen debut with a bit role in the 1993 film Untamed Heart. Kartheiser found himself cast in mostly family fare, including The Indian in the Cupboard and a starring role in the film Alaska. The film led to Kartheiser getting the lead role in Masterminds.
Kartheiser next portrayed Bobby, a drug-addicted, homeless street urchin in Larry Clark’s Another Day in Paradise. He had two explicit sex scenes with Natasha Gregson, one of which was cut from the film in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. The film earned the young actor significant accolades, and he went on to appear in Strike! (later retitled All I Wanna Do) and Crime and Punishment in Suburbia.
Screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, Crime and Punishment in Suburbia was a moody, updated take on Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, set in a modern high school. Kartheiser later landed a regular role on the supernatural drama series Angel in 2002. He played Connor, the son of two vampires, Darla and the titular Angel. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Connor’s gradually unraveling mental state was among the main focuses of the show’s fourth season; he would make two more appearances during its final season.
Returning to film work, Kartheiser starred in the well-received coming-of-age drama Dandelion, which was shown at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
Since its 2007 debut, he has played the role of ambitious young ad man Pete Campbell in the television series Mad Men, on AMC.
Along with the rest of the cast of Mad Men, Kartheiser won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2009 and 2010.
Kartheiser filmed his role as Fielding in the BBC’s two-part adaptation of Martin Amis’ novel Money in the winter of 2009. The adaptation began airing on BBC Two on the 23rd of May, 2010.
Kartheiser’s short film, Fruit of Labor, will make its Orange County debut at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Newport Beach, CA, on Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 8 p.m. and Monday, April 29, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. Both screenings will also feature the full-length film Wasteland.
Film and television credits
Film and Television appearances | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1993 | Untamed Heart | Orphan Boy | |
1994 | Heaven Sent | Eddie Chandler | |
1994 | Little Big League | James | |
1994 | Sweet Justice | Nicholas | Episode: "Story of My Life" |
1995 | The|Indian in the Cupboard|The Indian in the Cupboard (film)}} | Gillon | |
1996 | Alaska | Sean Barnes | |
1997 | Masterminds | Oswald Paxton | |
1998 | The|Hairy Bird}} | Snake | AKA, Strike! |
1998 | Another Day in Paradise | Bobbie | |
1999 | ER | Jesse Keenan | Episode: "Truth & Consequences" |
2000 | Crime and Punishment in Suburbia | Vincent | |
2000 | Preston Tylk | Dillon | |
2000 | Ricky 6 | Ricky Cowen | |
2000 | Luckytown | Colonel | |
2001 | The|Unsaid|The Unsaid (2001 film)}} | Thomas Caffey | |
2002–2004 | Angel | Connor | 28 episodes |
2004 | Dandelion | Mason Mullich | |
2005 | Shakespeare’s Sonnets | Sebastian | |
2006 | Alpha Dog | Pick Giaimo | |
2006 | Waning Moon | Michael | |
2007 | Killing Zelda Sparks | Craig Blackshear | |
2007–present | Mad Men | Pete Campbell | Series Regular
Nominated— Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2008Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2009Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2010 |
2010 | Elektra Luxx | ||
2010 | American Experience | Thomas Nickerson | Episode: "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World" |
2010 | Money | Fielding Goodney | TV mini-series |
2011 | Rango | Ezekiel | |
2011 | L.A. Noire | Walter Clemens | Arson Case: "The Gas Man" |
2011 | In Time | Philippe Weis | |
2012 | Fruit of Labor | Alfred |