Why Griff From Good Sam Looks So Familiar
With medical dramas so prevalent in the world of genre television, it's difficult to come up with a unique premise in such a crowded entertainment landscape. Oftentimes it falls to the show's characters and their relationships to set a series apart from the pack. On "New Amsterdam," Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) focuses on his work as medical director at the titular hospital, to the detriment of his relationship with wife Georgia (Lisa O'Hare) and daughter Luna (Nora and Opal Clow). When it comes to the CBS medical drama "Good Sam," the relationship tension is baked into the show's premise. Title character Dr. Samantha Griffith (Sophia Bush) is elevated to the role of chief surgeon at the fictional Lakeshore Sentinel Hospital when the doctor who previously held the role falls into a coma. It would be awkward and intimidating enough to get a promotion through such means; the situation is made even more dramatic when her former superior wakes up from his coma and is now practicing medicine under her supervision. But that's not enough: to complicate matters further, her former boss and now employee happens to be her father.
Of course, that's not the only conflict Sam faces when it comes to the personnel on her team. Her ex, Dr. Caleb Tucker (Michael Stahl-David) is among the doctors she's now supervising, as well as her best friend, Dr. Lex Trulie (Skye Marshall). But, clearly, the primary personal stressor from her new role comes in the form of her father, Dr. Rob "Griff" Griffith. Jason Isaacs, the actor behind him, should be easily recognized from a number of film and television roles. Here's why Griff from "Good Sam" looks so familiar.
Isaacs played D.J. in Event Horizon
One of Jason Isaacs' first major film roles came in 1997 as part of the cast of sci-fi horror romp "Event Horizon." Isaacs took on the role of D.J., the medical officer aboard the Lewis and Clark starship. The ship's crew, led by Captain S.J. Miller (Laurence Fishburne), is tasked with responding to a distress call from the titular Event Horizon starship, which has suddenly reappeared in orbit around Neptune after disappearing seven years prior. They're joined by the Event Horizon's designer, Dr. Billy Weir (Sam Neill), who has a vested interest in finding out what happened to the ship he designed during its maiden voyage. We eventually come to find out that the Event Horizon is actually an experimental ship that left physical reality after tearing a hole in the space–time continuum — totally understandable and not at all intimidating, right?
D.J., being a doctor, is familiar with Latin and believes he's understood the ship's distress call to essentially mean "Save me." That sort of matches up when the crew eventually boards the Event Horizon and realize they've come to the scene of a bloody massacre. Crew members begin to hallucinate and go on to view the ship's video log, which involves lot of sex and mutilation. Oh, and we figure out that D.J. spectacularly whiffed on his translation: the full phrase "Liberate tutemet ex inferis" actually means "Save yourself from hell," because that's where the ship and its crew actually went on their spectacular journey and the ship brought something terrible back with it.
Despite a decent premise, "Event Horizon" was not well-loved by film reviewers and holds a lowly 29% critics score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It likewise bombed at the box office; according to The Numbers, "Event Horizon" grossed a mere $26.6 million against its $60 million production budget.
He played Colonel Tavington in The Patriot
A few years after unwittingly leading his ship's crew to the slaughter, Jason Isaacs took on the role of a butcher himself. In 2000's Revolutionary War film "The Patriot," Mel Gibson plays Captain Benjamin Martin, a war veteran and widower with seven children. Knowing the horrors of war, he declines to vote in South Carolina's decision to support the Continental Army against English forces, though the measure passes. Benjamin is further dismayed when his eldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), joins in the fight for independence. Gabriel's pursuits lead to his eventual return two years later, with the British cavalry and the sadistic Colonel William Tavington hot on his trail. Tavington's brutal field tactics are the stuff of legend and he wants to hang Gabriel for spying against the British. When Gabriel's younger brother Thomas (Gregory Smith), tries to free him, Tavington kills him and has his soldier's raze the Martins' property to the ground.
We'd imagine there's nothing quite like the death of a child at the hands of a madman to draw a reluctant warrior into the fight and Benjamin jumps in with both feet, brilliantly rescuing Gabriel and savagely killing the men holding him. He then joins the colonial militia and is given a command. British general Charles Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) blames Tavington for the response, having awoken such a fury with his unnecessary killing and destruction, but allows him to keep using any means necessary to suppress the Martins' militia unit.
"The Patriot" received enough positive reviews to earn a 62% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film earned a $215 million gross at the global box office, more than recouping its $110 million production budget, according to The Numbers.
He played Captain Mike Steele in Black Hawk Down
The year after "The Patriot," Jason Isaacs appeared as part of the ensemble cast of "Black Hawk Down," which told a dramatized version of the events of 1993's Operation Gothic Serpent, a United States military operation in Mogadishu, Somalia, after United Nations Peacekeepers begin withdrawing from the war-torn nation. The Ridley Scott war film follows the action from multiple perspectives among American troops, focusing mainly on the Army Ranger detail led by Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), as his and other units provide cover for a detachment of Delta Force special operations troops. The day's mission is to capture two top advisors of the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, though when the titular Black Hawk helicopter is shot down, the operation turns into a nightmare for the U.S. forces.
Isaacs took on the role of real life U.S. Army officer Captain Mike Steele, a company commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment that took part in the mission. Prior to the mission, Steele shows mild disdain for his Delta Force counterparts, whom he seems to regard as a bunch of undisciplined cowboys — namely Sergeant First Class Norm "Hoot" Gibson (Eric Bana), who cuts into the chow line after not eating for three days.
The gritty, visceral film enjoys a solid 76% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is Certified Fresh. According to The Numbers, the film grossed just under $160 million worldwide against its sprawling $95 million production budget.
Jason Isaacs played Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films
Jason Isaacs joined the Wizarding world to take on the role for which he may be best known: Death Eater Lucius Malfoy from the "Harry Potter" film franchise. We first meet the intimidating dark wizard in the second movie, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" — before the start of Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — when Harry and the Weasley family are shopping for school supplies. Unbeknownst to them at the time, Lucius had taken the opportunity to surreptitiously place Tom Riddle's diary in the bag of young Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright). As father to Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), the arch nemesis of the titular hero played by Daniel Radcliffe, Lucius is descended from a long line of dark wizard aristocracy, so much so that Harry felt Draco must be the heir of Slytherin who was commanding the basilisk in "Chamber of Secrets."
Over the course of the first few films, Lucius presents as menacing but not yet to the point of being truly evil. Even at the onset of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," when mocking the Weasley family's cheap seats for the Quidditch World Cup, his air is more of smugness than malice. That, of course changes by the end of the film when he's revealed to still be a Death Eater after Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is resurrected. In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Lucius is among the contingent of Death Eaters who attack Harry and the rest of Dumbledore's Army in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries.
Voldemort sets up shop at Malfoy Manor in the final two films, making himself at home with the rest of his dark wizard army and treating his former chief underling with utter disdain; it's no wonder the Malfoys skip out on the final battle in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
Isaacs played Roman Castevet in the Rosemary's Baby miniseries
In 2014, Jason Isaacs joined the cast of the "Rosemary's Baby" miniseries, a modern adaptation of the novel of the same name, which had previously served as the basis for the classic 1968 horror film, also of the same name. He took on the role of Roman Castavet, a darkly charming and wealthy man who, with his wife Margaux (Carole Bouquet), befriends a young couple, Guy (Patrick J. Adams) and Rosemary Woodhouse (Zoe Saldana), that moved to France for a fresh start after experiencing a miscarriage. While unfailingly kind, the Castavets maintain a creepily keen interest in the Woodhouses' lives, including inviting them to live in their luxurious apartment building. Fearing something is not quite right, Rosemary looks into the previous occupants, whom she finds died under tragic circumstances. In the course of her investigation, she finds out that another of the building's occupants is a billionaire named Steven Mercato who allegedly worships the devil and eats people's hearts. Okay.
Well, Steven Mercato is actually an anagram for Roman Castavet, meaning her new-found benefactors are probably up to no good. The problem is, her husband is in cahoots with them and her nightmare about having sex with a strange, unknown man while her husband and neighbors watched may not have been a dream. Rosemary finds out she has conceived and is pregnant, but she probably won't be too excited when she figures out who the father really is.
The updated adaptation did not fare nearly as well with critics as its predecessor; while director Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" from 1968 is considered a classic and is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 96% critics score, the 2014 miniseries sports a dismal 31% critics score. Viewers liked it even less: it has a meager 25% audience score.
Isaacs also played Hap in The OA
Moving from suspense horror into a blends of genres, Jason Isaacs took on the role of Dr. Hunter Aloysius Percy, aka Hap, in Netflix's sci-fi drama mystery series "The OA." Protagonist Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling), a blind woman who was adopted as a child, runs away on her 21st birthday, hoping to meet her father at the Statue of Liberty in New York, as she'd seen in her dreams. In the course of her journey, she meets Hap, who viewers come to find is abducting and experimenting on people who've had near-death experiences (NDEs) to study the afterlife. Prairie agrees to help him in his quest, not realizing he planned to imprison her along with a handful of others people who were also in his captivity. Hap proceeds to drown his victims and revive them, recording the sounds of their passing. While in their NDEs, Prairie and another subject, Homer (Emory Cohen) see visions and learn how to perform certain movements — of which there are five — that would allow one to travel across dimensions. The second season of "The OA" branched out even further, adding a mysterious puzzle game named "Q Symphony" that people play on their mobile devices. Oh, and there's also a giant octopus named Old Night who lives out of water in a nightclub and has the power of telepathy.
Isaacs also played himself in a cameo in the finale of Season 2, which would prove to be the last episode of the show, following the subsequent cancelation of "The OA." Prairie travels to another dimension, landing on a television soundstage. In this world, she's married to her co-star, an actor named Jason Isaacs who plays the role of Hap and strangely calls her "Brit."
"The OA" was well received by critics, resulting in an 84% overall critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.