Why Jacob From Lost Looks So Familiar

"Lost." Never before in the history of television had a single syllable cause so much anger, confusion, and yearning with such rapt attention; the show's finale was such a disappointment to so many fans. In the time since, multiple series have helped audiences cope with the "Lost" experience by also crashing and burning, notably "Dexter" and "Game of Thrones." Before all the outrage at the show's ending, "Lost" was a show that inspired intrigue and great philosophical debates on good, evil, and the very nature of being and existence. When Oceanic Flight 815 plunged into the ocean, it took viewers' hearts and minds with it and we all washed ashore on the island together. Or something like that.

Throughout the series, the survivors of the crash — Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), Claire (Emilie de Ravin), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), and Sun (Yunjin Kim) — encounter more inhabitants of the mysterious island. Benjamin Linus, aka Henry Gale (Michael Emerson), initially served as primary antagonist and leader of the shadowy Others, though he later became an ally of sorts. Perhaps more importantly, Ben claims to be the only person capable of communicating with the mysterious messianic figure known as Jacob. Jacob is a great man who was born on the island, as was his brother, the Man in Black (Titus Welliver), aka the Smoke Monster. Despite being on the side of good, Jacob is also responsible for the plane's crash. 

Having been spoken of for a long time, Jacob didn't show up until the end of the fifth season of "Lost" and was actually killed in the 16th episode, entitled "The Incident." Viewers should recognize the actor behind Jacob as Mark Pellegrino, who's had a fair few memorable roles. Here's why Jacob from "Lost" looks so familiar.

A decade after dunking Jeff Bridges' head in a toilet — during which time he appeared in shows like "The X-Files," "NYPD Blue," and "The Practice," as well as films like "Mulholland Drive," "National Treasure," and "Capote" — Mark Pellegrino managed to land a role playing a character even more instantly dislikable than Blond Treehorn Thug. In 2006, he began a short but memorable tenure as Paul Bennett, the ex-husband to Rita (Julie Benz), the love interest and eventual wife to series protagonist Dexter (Michael C. Hall) on Showtime's popular series of the same name. Paul is a much more complicated character than he appears, at first glance. While there's no arguing that his past misdeeds — including nearly killing Rita during a prolonged period of domestic abuse — were appalling, it similarly cannot be argued that the recovering heroin addict, newly released from prison, has a deep and genuine love for Astor (Christina Robinson) and Cody (Daniel Goldman and later Preston Bailey), the children he shares with his ex-wife. Alternately manipulative and abusive or loving and with pure intent, Paul's alignment ceased to matter when he became a problem for Rita, because that made him a problem for everyone's favorite blood spatter analyst and serial killer. 

Pellegrino opened up about his process as an actor in preparing for such a role in an interview with Filmnut. "I never look at a bad guy as a bad guy ... Believe it or not, when you're talking about Paul, morally behind the character that I'm doing, I don't think that an actor should judge the character because then they objectify it in a way." Pellegrino elaborated that he tries to identify the human problem within the story. "For Paul, I felt his issue was just trying to bring his family back together ... I let the story and the audience judge for themselves whether or not I'm good or bad."

Having played a dim-witted thug, an abusive addict, a messiah and the Devil, Mark Pellegrino branched out into another type of character, though still a kind that the Winchester brothers would hunt down. Syfy's "Being Human," the North American adaptation of a British series of the same name, followed the same format as the version that aired on the BBC and told the tale of a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who all live together. Aidan Waite (Sam Witwer) is a vampire who's nearly 260 years old and works as a nurse at a hospital in Boston; Sally Malik (Meaghan Rath) is a ghost who haunts the house Aidan rents with Josh Levison (Sam Huntington), a werewolf who works at the same hospital as an orderly. As a member of the series main cast for its first season, Pellegrino took on the role of James Bishop, the vampire who turned Aidan during the time of the American Revolution. James was himself turned during the 1400s in pre-Renaissance England and works as a member of the Boston Police Department in the series' modern day setting.

With his character killed off during the "Being Human" Season 1 finale, Pellegrino recurred as a guest star in later seasons of the series as a vision or psychological construct in Aidan's head. He described the relationship between Bishop and Aidan as a prodigal son story in an interview with Collider, noting that the "vampire business" goes down at a funeral home in which he has a stake — no pun intended. "He basically operates out of there and is trying, from the very beginning, to bring Aidan back into the fold. Aidan has been the rebel. He's the prodigal son, so to speak. Bishop is trying to bring him back into the family business," he said.