Michael Bryan French

Michael Bryan French is an American actor whose work spans stage, film, and television. Born in Lackawanna, New York, he was raised in Elmira, New York.

French began his television career in 1990, taking on the role of Sam in the daytime drama As the World Turns. Over the course of the decade that followed, he accumulated an extensive list of guest appearances on network television, including L.A. Law, Quantum Leap, Matlock, Roseanne, The X-Files, Step by Step, Cybill, ER, The Drew Carey Show, Sliders, Diagnosis Murder, and The Pretender. He also appeared in the 1998 film I Know What You Did Last Summer.

His television work continued steadily into the 2000s, with guest roles on Judging Amy, The West Wing, Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, Boston Legal, Days of Our Lives, 24, and Bones, as well as a role in the 2002 film Big Fat Liar. From 2004 to 2009, he recurred on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portraying Dr. Franks across seven episodes. In 2008, he appeared in six episodes of the Fox drama Prison Break as Gregory White, the employer of T-Bag while the character operated under the alias Cole Pfeiffer at the GATE corporation as part of a mission to secure Scylla.

French subsequently guest starred on Breaking Bad, The Good Wife, and Person of Interest, and had a role in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street. He played Jack Pearson, a Management and Correction Corporation employee and the father of Danny Pearson, in the Netflix comedy-drama Orange Is the New Black, and portrayed Blake North in the ABC miniseries Madoff.

Alongside his screen career, French has maintained a presence on the Broadway stage. Between 2016 and 2024, his credits included Uncle Vanya, The Minutes, The Height of the Storm, Hillary and Clinton, and To Kill a Mockingbird, among other productions.