Holt McCallany On 'Lights Out,' Boxing, Playing Tough Guys

He's had supporting roles as tough guys in everything from Fight Club to Three Kings. Now, Holt McCallany is being hailed as a leading man in his own right for his role in FX's Lights Out.

McCallany was born in New York City to a cabaret actress mom and an actor and producer dad, who made most of his decisions for him in his early life. His father insisted on him and his brother receiving an Irish education so they were sent to live with another family in Dublin. After his parents divorced he moved back to the United States, to New Jersey, and then Nebraska where he was expelled from a Jesuit Prep School. Shortly after his expulsion, he ran away to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams of becoming an actor, but his escape was not very successful due to his parents tracking him down and sending him back to boarding school in Ireland. He attended college at the Sorbonne in Paris where he studied French and later theater at two other acting schools in France.

Some of McCallany’s hyper-masculine roles include Casualties of War with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, Alien 3 with Sigourney Weaver, Fight Club with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, Alpha Dog with Emile Hirsch and Justin Timberlake, and Vantage Point with Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whitaker.

Lights Out is not Holt’s first television series appearance, but his first leading one. Holt had a two-year role on CSI: Miami and guest appearances on Heroes and Burn Notice. “Well, I always felt like I was a leading man trapped in a bad guy's body,” he tells Uinterview. “So it felt great because, to be honest with you, you’re right, I played a lot of heavies and soldiers and a lot of cops, but it’s a lot better to get the girl.”