September 20: Jon Bernthal Celebrates His Birthday (The Punisher)

Happy Birthday Jon Bernthal

Jonathan Edward Jon Bernthal or Jon Bernthal for short was born on September 20, 1976, and was raised in Washington, D.C. to Joan Lurie and Eric Lawrence Rick Bernthal, a lawyer with Latham & Watkins LLP. He has two brothers, Nicholas and Thomas, his parents are both Jewish.

He graduated from the Sidwell Friends School in Washington. After high school, Bernthal studied at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, and later attended The School of Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.

Bernthal married Erin Angle (the niece of wrestler Kurt Angle) in September 2010, they have two sons together (born in August 2011 and February 2013) and a daughter (born February 2015). Bernthal is a cousin of Adam Schlesinger, who performs with the band Fountains of Wayne. Together with his brother Nicholas (an orthopedic surgeon at UCLA) he also runs a nonprofit organization called Drops Fill Buckets, described as an impact-driven, entrepreneurial approach to making a difference.  He often states that he has broken his nose 14 times.

Since 2002, Bernthal has performed in over 30 plays regionally and Off-Broadway and, had small guest roles in television series like Boston Legal, CSI: Miami, How I Met Your Mother and many more.

Bernthal got his first regular role on a television series on the sitcom The Class, which was created by Friends co-creator David Crane but, the show was cancelled after only one season though after this he had roles in other films such as World Trade Center and Day Zero.

In 2009, Bernthal had a supporting role in the comedy film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian as mobster Al Capone and was also seen on the television series Eastwick, which too got cancelled after only one season.

Bernthal portrayed Shane Walsh in Frank Darabont’s The Walking Dead, based on the comic book series of the same name. He was a regular on the show until 2012, when his character was killed off. In 2013, he appeared in Snitch. He also had supporting roles in the Martin Scorsese-directed film The Wolf of Wall Street and Grudge Match.

He will also star in the Irish action thriller film Pilgrimage, along with Tom Holland and Richard Armitage and will also portray the Marvel Cinematic Universe interpretation of Frank Castle / The Punisher in season 2 of TV series, Daredevil, which will be available to stream in 2016. In 2011, he got nominated for Ovation awards for Lead Actor in a Play for his role in Small Engine Repair.

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