Why Jimmy From Yellowstone Looks So Familiar
Paramount+'s hit neo-western show "Yellowstone" is still exciting fans with all sorts of twists and turns in its ongoing 4th season. The show, which first aired in 2018, quickly drew viewers in with its compelling premise of a family behind a large Montana ranch fighting against all sorts of modern-day forces like land developers and national parks in order to keep their land. The world of "Yellowstone" promises to only get deeper as time goes on, with two intriguing spinoff series on the horizon.
Longtime viewers of the series will by now have become acutely familiar with the character of Jimmy Hurdstram, a former drug dealer whom protagonist John Dutton takes on as a ranch hand for Yellowstone. However, audiences may be wondering why Hurdstram, who is played by actor Jefferson White, has such a familiar face. As it turns out, White has also made appearances on several other notable television shows that watchers might have seen in years past.
Jefferson White joined the villainous Sandstorm on Blindspot
Jefferson White played a major role in Season 2 of NBC's mystery-crime show and underrated gem "Blindspot." The show, which began in 2015 and lasted until 2020, focuses on a group of FBI operatives in New York City that discovers an amnesiac woman covered in tattoos that mysteriously relate to their ongoing cases. The team eventually comes to face off against the elusive Sandstorm, a terrorist organization dedicated to weeding out corruption in America by any means necessary.
White recurs as Parker Lewis, Sandstorm's new second-in-command during Season 2 after several of the organization's elite members betray their loyalty. Lewis wouldn't be long for this world, however, as he meets his demise during a shootout with the FBI at the end of the season. Despite this, White would go on to make one final appearance as Lewis in the show's series finale, returning as a hallucination.
White made trouble for the Underwoods on House of Cards
Though he only appeared in three episodes, White made a splash in his time on Netflix's political drama series "House of Cards." The show, which ran from 2013 to 2018, follows couple Frank and Claire Underwood (Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright) in their conniving attempts to attain ultimate political power in the United States. Season 4 of the show saw the anti-American terrorist organization ICO come to the forefront as a major issue for Frank to contend with during his first term as President of the United States.
Appearing in the final two episodes of Season 4 and the premiere episode of Season 5, White portrays Josh Masterson, an operative for ICO. When Masterson and other members of ICO take a family of three hostage, they prompt Frank to attempt to navigate a tense hostage situation while he simultaneously attempts to run for presidential re-election. Though negotiations regarding two of the hostage members allow them to go free, Frank settles on using ICO as a fear tactic to bolster his own chances of re-election and publicly declares total war against them, resulting in the brutal killing of the final hostage by the terrorists. Frank then chases down Masterson in secret and enacts vigilante justice by ordering his immediate execution.
Despite his brief time on the show, White's singular arc prompted a new low in a sea of lows for the Underwoods.
He also helped clear up a case on How to Get Away with Murder
White also makes several appearances across Season 2 of the ABC crime drama "How to Get Away with Murder." The show, which debuted in 2014 and wrapped up in 2020, centers upon a criminal defense lawyer named Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) and her five interns as, just as the title suggests, they attempt to get away with murder. Later seasons would see the group investigating and interfering with other criminal investigations.
The show's second season focuses on the murders of foster parents Grant and Ursula Hapstall. While the initial investigation suggests that their foster children Caleb and Catherine were both responsible for the killings, the waters are muddied when White's character, Philip Jessup, turns up and is revealed to be the incestuous son of Grant and his sister Helena. Though briefly becoming a prime suspect, Philip is eventually proven innocent and provides an alibi for Catherine, revealing Caleb as the one true killer after all. This marked a non-villainous turn for White, despite how it seemed at first.
White has a whole slew of guest actor credits
White has also made a series of guest appearances on other major shows in recent years. The actor appeared on "The Americans" — yet another crime-thriller series with a political bent — for two episodes as Navy seaman Brad Mullin. He also made an appearance on a single episode of the seventh season of "Blue Bloods" as a police officer Eric Carlson, one episode of Season 4 of "Elementary" as a nerdy software developer named Dorian Moll, and an episode in the first season of the 2019 reboot of the chilling sci-fi anthology series "The Twilight Zone" as paranoid astronaut Jerry Pierson.
It's clear that the actor has a lot of range, playing a whole slew of characters ranging from radical terrorists to well-meaning farmhands. Only time will tell where viewers will see Jefferson White pop up next on television and what new, unique role he'll be playing.