Brian Markinson (born 1960 or 1961)^[1] is an American actor who has appeared in a wide variety of films and television shows. Some of Markinson's best known roles include a U.S. Attorney General in Shooter, an unscrupulous industrialist in Godzilla, and a supporting role in Angels in America.

Markinson was born into a Jewish family in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.^[2][3] Markinson trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and subsequently graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts^[4] in 1983. He married Canadian Nancy Kerr, and their sons Isaac and Evan were both born in Los Angeles in the late 1990s.^[5][6] In 1999 the family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where they have resided since.^[6][7]

Throughout his career, Markinson has appeared in many American and Canadian film and television projects. He frequently plays either an authority figure or a calculating or menacing villain. One of his most prominent roles was as Police Chief Bill Jacobs on Da Vinci's Inquest and Da Vinci's City Hall.^[4] He has also appeared on Continuum,^[8] Arctic Air, Traveler, NCIS,^[6] The L Word,^[9] NYPD Blue, Psych, Supernatural, Touching Evil, Taken, Dark Angel, UC: Undercover, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager,^[6] The X-Files, Millennium, Mad Men,^[4] Fargo,^[10] the TV film Lucky 7.

Markinson had appeared in three straight Woody Allen films in supporting character roles: Sweet and Lowdown in 1999, Small Time Crooks in 2000 and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion in 2001. Markinson was also a favorite of Mike Nichols, having appeared in more than six of the late director's projects, including the film Charlie Wilson's War. Markinson is also a stage actor, having performed both on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatres across Canada; On Broadway, he replaced Kevin Spacey in Lost In Yonkers and in 2016, he led the revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America at the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver.