Why Deputy Chief Kent From Blue Bloods Looks So Familiar
Ever since its inception, "Blue Bloods" has maintained a penchant for featuring prolific actors in one-off guest star roles. "Snakes on a Plane" star Flex Alexander appears as Detective DeMarcus King in the "Blue Bloods" pilot, "Reno 911!" actor Mather Zickel pops up as Dr. Leonard Walker in the Season 13 finale, and so on. In fact, if fans happen to recognize one particular guest character from "Blue Bloods" Season 5, Episode 21, it's likely because he is also played by a major face from the film and TV industry. We're talking about Deputy Chief Donald Kent, a stalwart from the NYPD and friend of Frank Reagan (Tom Sellick), who ends up becoming the unfortunate victim in a murder case.
While Kent's time on-screen leading up to his demise is rather brief, it may be long enough for some viewers to realize they recognize his actor. Indeed, the character is played by Dennis Haysbert, a performer who has amassed a lengthy list of movie and TV show credits dating all the way back to the late 1970s. Haysbert has popped up for minor appearances in all sorts of projects, and he has also worked extensively as a voice actor for a bunch of animated media projects. Still, his career highlights have seen him partaking in some of the most popular TV series and films from the past several decades.
Heat (1995)
While the first few decades of Dennis Haysbert's professional acting career saw him appearing in a bunch of notable projects, arguably the biggest credit from this period of his life arrived in 1995 with the release of Michael Mann's iconic crime flick, "Heat." In this cat-and-mouse game between LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and master thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), Haysbert's character finds himself allied with the latter. He plays Don Breedan, the good-natured getaway driver for McCauley's final heist. Of course, viewers know that things don't exactly play out well for the criminal and his associates.
Acting opposite De Niro proved to be an incredibly memorable experience for Haysbert. In an interview with /Film, he pointed out his fellow actor's performance in the movie's diner scene as one of his favorite memories from the shoot. "The first thing that comes up from 'Heat' is, oh my God, is watching De Niro prepare and standing in the middle of that little restaurant," he said. "It just seemed like a flurry of activity going all around him, and he just seems so grounded in that moment. I just said, 'I'm watching one of the most brilliant actors alive work here,' and he was just in his own head."
Decades have passed since "Heat" was first released, but it seems that Haysbert hasn't forgotten the experience. In a 2022 interview with Looper, the actor expressed a desire to work with Mann on yet another project in the future.
24 (2001)
While "Heat" was a landmark role for Dennis Haysbert, the big breakout role that came to define his career came several years when he joined the cast of Fox's hit 2001 action-drama "24." Throughout the first five seasons, Haysbert stars as Senator David Palmer, the deuteragonist of the show opposite Kiefer Sutherland's Agent Jack Bauer. At the beginning of the series, Bauer is tasked with protecting Palmer from an assassination plot. The two forge a bond and Palmer later becomes the United States president, though the character is ultimately written off during Season 5.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Haysbert spoke highly of his time working on "24," and how the series defied his doubts early on. "Soon as I started working on it, I saw the seriousness and the intensity of the work, and the absolute beauty of the script," he explained. "Not many people know this, but during that whole tenure of that show, I never changed a line. That's how well written it was."
Haysbert's role as Palmer garnered attention as one of the most prominent depictions of a Black U.S. president in media before the real-world election of Barack Obama in 2008. At the time of the election, Haysbert told TODAY that his performance as Palmer may have swayed the voter base. "If anything, my portrayal of David Palmer, I think, may have helped open the eyes of the American people," he said. "And I mean the American people from across the board... To prove the possibility there could be an African-American president, a female president, any type of president that puts the people first."
The Unit (2006)
Around the time of his exit from "24," Dennis Haysbert jumped onto the cast of a similarly action-packed procedural series for CBS: 2006's "The Unit." Across all four seasons of the military-focused show, the actor stars as Sergeant Major Jonas Blane, the skilled and consistently level-headed leader of the Delta Force team. Blane leads his group to victory across countless missions, but his dedication to his line of work often comes at the cost of his personal life and familial ties.
In an interview with The New York Times during the original run of "The Unit," Haysbert expressed appreciation for the authentic portrayal and writing of Jonas on the show. "There are not too many Jonas roles out there," the actor noted. "I like Jonas a lot. It makes me feel good knowing that there are Jonases out there, fighting the good fight."
While "The Unit" was well-received critically, the series was far from the commercial success that "24" was. Ultimately, the series was canceled after four seasons, despite plans for a fifth season being written. The ensuing years would see Haysbert moving further into the realm of film instead of TV.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
In a major departure from his roles on "24" and "The Unit," Dennis Haysbert took on a more villainous role in Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's gritty noir blockbuster, "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For." The actor appears in just one of the story vignettes from across the anthology flick's runtime — that being the titular "A Dame to Kill For" — but he leaves a striking impression in his limited screen time.
In the film, Haysbert portrays Manute, the beefed-up and ever-loyal bodyguard of Eva Green's Ava Lord. Despite his well-mannered persona, Manute is quite the intimidating physical presence, with borderline superhuman strength and a tendency to shrug off mortal wounds. Suffice it to say, he proves to be a major threat to Josh Brolin's Dwight McCarthy as he unravels the secrets behind Ava's motivations.
Haysbert took over the role of Manute from the late Michael Clarke Duncan, who portrayed the character in 2005's "Sin City" and died in 2012. As Haysbert explained in an interview with Collider, he sought to distinguish his iteration of Manute from the one played by Duncan. "I couldn't sit there and try to imitate Michael Clarke Duncan," the actor said. "I think that would have been disastrous. I had to make it my own. I tried to take as many nuances that he had with the character and utilize them as best I could, while creating a character that was unique to me."
The Dark Tower (2017)
Jumping from adaptation to adaptation, 2017's "The Dark Tower" — based on the Stephen King series of novels of the same name — included Dennis Haysbert in a crucial role. Specifically, Haysbert portrays Steven Deschain, the father of Idris Elba's Roland Deschain, aka the Gunslinger. Steven's murder at the hands of Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) serves as the driving force behind Roland's journey, as he embarks on a fantastical quest to enact revenge on Walter and stop him from destroying the titular Dark Tower.
While Haysbert did not read any of "The Dark Tower" prior to filming the adaptation, he was drawn to the project due to his recognition of King's acclaimed authorial status and its unique blending of genres. "It's different," he said in an interview with Ebony.com. "It's exciting because it's a great story, it has those two components to it — sci-fi and western. Very rarely do they combine the two where it actually works."
Though critical reception to "The Dark Tower" was ultimately mixed, plans were initially made for a TV series developed by "The Walking Dead" producer Glen Mazzara that would share continuity with the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project was set to feature several movie actors reprising their roles, including Haysbert as Steven. However, work on the show eventually ceased after Amazon passed on the series.
Lucifer (2020)
Rounding out Dennis Haysbert's list of credit highlights is his recurring part on Netflix's "Lucifer," which may just be one of his loftiest roles of all. Throughout the show's fifth season, Haysbert appeared multiple times as God — as in, the actual religious deity God. In quite the unexpected storyline, God returns to Earth and encounters his son, Lucifer (Tom Ellis), and his friends right as he announces his retirement. The result is a massive power struggle between his Angel children, though Lucifer, fortunately, manages to smooth things over in the end.
According to Ellis, he was pleased to find that his chemistry with Haysbert while filming made God and Lucifer's father-son dynamic believable. "The lovely thing about working with him was that it was really easy," he explained in an interview with In Creative Company. "Like, Dennis felt like my dad from the moment that I met him. Now, maybe that's because I have a huge amount of respect for him as a performer, and as an actor, and as the president, but it was not difficult to think of him as my dad."
Interestingly enough, Haysbert's time on "Lucifer" ended up being a bit of a mini-"24" reunion. As God, the actor appeared alongside D.B. Woodside's Amenadiel. Of course, the pair of performers previously worked together on "24," with Haysbert and Woodside portraying brothers David Palmer and Wayne Palmer respectively. It's no coincidence either. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "Lucifer" showrunner Joe Henderson revealed that Woodside was the one who recommended the team approach Haysbert for the role.