Neal McDonough
Birthdate: Feb 13, 1966
Birthplace: Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
Neal McDonough is a veteran character and supporting actor, best known for his repeated role in Desperate Housewives (2008-2009), the hit series, Suits (2014-2019), and Yellowstone (2019). McDonough’s first significant feature role was in a supporting role in the brilliant Antonia Bird-directed Western horror film, Ravenous (1999), co-starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, John Spencer, and David Arquette, and released by 20th Century Fox.
After a small role in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller, Minority Report (2002), McDonough earned a significant supporting role in the remake of Walking Tall (2004), starring Dwayne Johnson “The Rock” and Johnny Knoxville, and directed by Kevin Bray, and earning $57 million globally.
McDonough played support to Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser, Amber Valletta, and Daniel Stern in director/writer/producer Michael Caleo’s black comedy, The Last Time (2006), and released via Sony Pictures Releasing. Neal McDonough nabbed one of his first prestigious supporting roles in Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers (2006), with Ryan Philippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Slattery, Paul Walker, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick, Melanie Lynskey, Judith Ivey, and Ann Dowd, but which proved to be a loss-leader for Warner Bros. with a $66 million gross.
McDonough had his first co-starring role in the indie action movie from director/writer/producer Michael Lazar, Machine (2006), co-starring Michael Madsen, Michael Lazar, James Russo, and Paul Sloan. McDonough appeared opposite Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, and Zachary Knighton in the remake of The Hitcher (2007), earning a good $25.4 million for distributor Rogue Pictures.
Neal McDonough co-starred opposite Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, and Brian Geraghty in the widely-panned psycho-thriller, I Know Who Killed Me (2007), grossing $10 million for Sony Pictures Releasing/Summit Entertainment. McDonough was cast in support by producer-director Jon Avnet for the thriller, 88 Minutes (2007), starring Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, and Deborah Kara Unger, but under-performing for Sony Pictures with a $32.6 million global take.
McDonough then had a major supporting role in the Don Cheadle-starring spy thriller, Traitor (2008), with Guy Pearce, Said Taghmaoui, and Jeff Daniels, and written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. After McDonough co-starred with Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein, and Michael Clarke Duncan (but which lost money for 20th Century Fox with a $13 million gross), McDonough played support in writer-director Elgin James’ indie drama, Little Birds (2011), which premiered at the Sundance film festival and co-starring Juno Temple, Kate Bosworth, and Leslie Mann.
McDonough’s first role in a superhero blockbuster was in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), directed by Joe Johnston and co-starring Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci, and which grossed over $370 million globally. After a small role in the $148-million-grossing action sequel, Red 2 (2013), McDonough co-starred with the ensemble of Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Amy Smart, and Tom Berenger in the crime drama, Bad Country (2014).
Neal McDonough co-starred with Kevin James, Raini Rodriguez, and Shirley Knight in the Columbia Pictures comedy sequel, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), earning over $107 million. McDonough starred in (and executive-produced) the money-losing, Christian-themed sports movie, Greater (2016), with Michael Parks and Nick Searcy, and then McDonough played with the ensemble of the Taraji P. Henson-starring thriller, Proud Mary (2018), with Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Billy Brown, and Danny Glover, under Babak Najafi’s direction, and grossed nearly $22 million worldwide.
Neal McDonough, in an unusual move, played himself in star-writer-director Josh Duhamel’s filmmaking debut, Buddy Games (2019), with Dax Shepard, Olivia Munn, and Kevin Dillon. Then McDonough signed up for his first animated feature voice role in the Sony Pictures/Sega hit production of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), with Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, and Tika Sumpter, grossing nearly four times costs with a $320 million global gross.
McDonough starred in and produced the Western features series, starting with The Warrant (2020), with Casper Van Dien and Annabeth Gish, and continuing with The Warrant: Breaker’s Law (2023), with Dermot Mulroney, Bruce Boxleitner, and Nick Searcy. After co-starring with Bruce Willis in the little-seen sci-fi drama, Apex (2021), McDonough had a supporting role in writer-director Johannes Roberts’ U.S./German/U.K. co-production sequel, Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City (2021), with Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, and Donal Logue, grossing $42 million worldwide for Sony Pictures Releasing.
McDonough took on the role of a hitman for two successive features—both of which McDounough also co-produced—Red Stone (2021) and Boon (2022), the latter of which McDonough also wrote, and both of which were directed by Derek Presley. McDonough then played support in the Paul Schrader-written drama, There Are No Saints (2022), co-starring Jose Maria Yazpik, Paz Vega, Ron Perlman, and Tim Roth, and released via Paramount Pictures and Saban Films.
Neal McDonough co-starred with Kevin Sorbo and Bailey Chase in the Canadian-produced apocalyptic thriller based on the Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins novel series, Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist (2023), earning $4.2 million globally. McDonough joined the Christian-themed sci-fi thriller, The Shift (2023), with Kristoffer Polaha, Elizabeth Tabish, and Sean Astin, directed by Brock Heasley. Neal McDonough then rejoined Astin in a lighter vein in director/writer/producer Stephanie Garvin’s Christmas comedy, Holiday Twist (2023), co-starring Kelly Stables, Emily Tosta, and Haley Reinhart.
McDonough joined the large cast of star/director/writer Mario Van Peebles’ western, Outlaw Posse (2024), with William Mapother, John Carroll Lynch, D.C. Young Fly, Mandela Van Peebles, Amber Reign Smith, Jake Manley, Edward James Olmos, Cedric the Entertainer, M. Emmet Walsh and Whoopi Goldberg, and released by Quiver Distribution. McDonough starred in and executive produced the Ben Smallbone-directed post-apocalyptic drama, Homestead (2024), co-starring Dawn Olivieri, Currie Graham, Susan Misner, and Bailey Chase, and released by Angel Studios.
Neal McDonough starred in director/co-writer Jon Avnet’s drama, The Last Rodeo (2025), co-starring Christopher McDonald, Sarah Jones, and Mykelti Williamson. Then McDonough starred in director/co-writer Marc Furmie’s futurist military drama, Viper (date to be announced), featuring Erin Karpluk, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Peter Facinelli, Stephen Dorff, which was produced by 308 Ent/Empress Avenue Media/Imoto Productions. McDonough joined the cast of director/writer Todd Turner’s drama, The December Cross (date to be announced), which included cast members Jennifer Esposito, Grave Van Dien, and Judd Hirsch, and backed by production companies Archstone Pictures/Filmhedge/Urban Tales Productions.
McDonough led the cast of director/co-writer Ben Cory Jones’ sports drama, Black Spartans (date to be announced), co-starring Parker McKenna Posey and KateLynn E. Newberry. Then McDonough was cast with Alicia Witt, Djimon Hounsou, Lauren LaVera, and Gina Philips under Darren Lynn Bousman’s direction in the horror thriller, The Monster (date to be announced), produced by Envision Media Arts and Chair 10 Productions.
Personal Details
Neal McDonough was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was raised Catholic in Barnstable, Massachusetts, by his Irish-born parents Catherine and Frank McDonough (motel owners). McDonough has two brothers, John and Gerard. After graduating from Barnstable High School, McDonough attended and graduated from Syracuse University with a B.F.A. degree in 1988.
McDonough continued his theater studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. McDonough married South African model Ruvé Robertson in 2003; the couple has five children, Morgan, Catherine, London, Clover, and James. McDonough’s height is 6’. McDonough’s estimated net worth is $7 million.
Filmography
actor
Previous (8)
- 2024 |
- 2023 |
- 2023 | Soul MatesasMatchmaker
Soul Mates
Follows Allison and Jason, two unsuspecting strangers who must find their way out of a nightmarish maze where they were forced to get into as part of a twisted new dating service created to help them find their Soul Mate.
- 2021 | Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon CityasWilliam Birkin
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Set in 1998, this origin story explores the secrets of the mysterious Spencer Mansion and the ill-fated Raccoon City.
- 2020 | Buddy GamesasSelf
Buddy Games
A group of friends reunite to play The Buddy Games, a wild assortment of absurd physical and mental challenges. In the process, they'll heal old wounds, right past wrongs and figure out the true meaning of friendship...or die trying.
- 2020 | Greater: 2020 Re-releaseasMarty Burlsworth
Greater: 2020 Re-release
The story of Brandon Burlsworth, possibly the greatest walk-on in the history of college football.
- 2020 | Sonic the HedgehogasMajor Bennington
Sonic the Hedgehog
After discovering a small, blue, fast hedgehog, a small-town police officer must help him defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on him.
- 2018 | Proud MaryasWalter
Proud Mary
Mary is a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes bad.
Some Facts About Neal McDonough
Pact: Neal McDonough contractually refuses to act in sex scenes, due to his Catholic faith and personal devotion to his wife.
