Skipp Sudduth

Robert Lee "Skipp" Sudduth IV was born on August 23, 1956, in Wareham, Massachusetts, the son of an engineer and a nurse. He attended George Washington High School in Danville, Virginia, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Hampden–Sydney College. After a period working in college administration as director of alumni relations under president Josiah Bunting III and spending a year as an apprentice to winemaker and poet Tom O'Grady at Rose Bower Vineyard and Winery, Sudduth pursued graduate training in acting at the University of Virginia, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1985. He is the older brother of actor Kohl Sudduth.

At UVA, Sudduth studied under Spencer Golub, who later headed the Drama Department at Brown University. Golub's method, centered on physically liberating the imagination through guided improvisation, became the foundation of Sudduth's acting approach. During his time there, he took leading roles in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class opposite Dylan Walsh, and Peter Shaffer's Equus. In December 1985, Sudduth relocated to Chicago with the goal of working with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Over four and a half years in the city, he appeared in productions including Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Emily Mann's Execution of Justice, and Nebraska, written by screenwriter John Logan.

Sudduth's Broadway career spanned 1990 to 2008 and included stage adaptations of The Grapes of Wrath and On the Waterfront, as well as the comedy Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, which featured Helen Hunt. In 1999, he appeared in the Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh alongside Kevin Spacey. In 2008, Sudduth created the role of Captain George Brackett in the Tony Award-winning revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific at Lincoln Center, directed by Bartlett Sher. That same year, he appeared in the New York premiere of Craig Lucas's Prayer for My Enemy, which ran at Playwrights Horizons from November 14 to December 21 and also featured Victoria Clark, Michele Pawk, and Jonathan Groff. Sher directed that production as well, marking the second collaboration between the two. In the play, Sudduth portrayed a recovering alcoholic whose son has returned from the Iraq War. He also appeared in the 2003 debut of Woody Allen's Riverside Drive, starring alongside Paul Reiser.

On television, Sudduth held a recurring role on the soap opera One Life to Live before becoming widely recognized for playing NYPD officer John "Sully" Sullivan in the NBC drama Third Watch. He appeared in all six seasons of the series, with his character serving as one of eight central figures around whom the show's story arc revolved. During the run of Third Watch, Sudduth earned his Directors Guild of America card by directing the episode "Collateral Damage, Part II" in season four and went on to direct one episode per season in each of the final three years of the series. He has also made guest appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Oz, Trinity, Cosby, and Mad About You. In 2012, he starred as NYPD Detective Tommy Luster in the police drama NYC 22. His directing credits beyond Third Watch include episodes of ER, Criminal Minds, Women's Murder Club, CSI: Cyber, and multiple episodes of CSI: NY.

In film, Sudduth appeared in Spike Lee's Clockers in 1995, followed by 54 and A Cool, Dry Place in 1998. That same year, he took a larger role in Ronin opposite Robert De Niro, performing nearly all of his character's driving sequences himself given his background as an amateur racing and stunt driver. He also appeared in Flawless in 1999. Outside of acting and directing, Sudduth fronts the acoustic-rock band Minus Ted, which has released three albums: Hope and Damage in 1994, Really Really in 1999, and Hope and Damage Revisited in 2005. He was a member of New York's Rumble in the Redroom comedy troupe from 1996 to 1999 and has recorded audio books for Simon & Schuster, including a short story from Stephen King's collection Just After Sunset and Peter Canellos's biography of Ted Kennedy, Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy.