Born: August 19, 1942

Fred Dalton Thompson spent 25 years as an active Nashville and Washington, D.C., attorney before making his film debut playing himself in a 1985 retelling of the true tale of a Tennessee woman who took on the state's crooked governor in Marie. When Thompson won more acclaim than the film's stars Sissy_Spacek and Jeff_Daniels, he decided to add "character actor" to his resumé. Since then he has appeared in numerous major features. Standing 6'5," he is a commanding presence and is usually cast as an authoritarian. Thompson put his film career on hold when he made a successful bid to become a Tennessee senator in 1994, then picked up where he left off when his term ended, playing DA Arthur Branch on Law & Order, along with other supporting film roles. Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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