Mr. Deeds

Background:

Brandon Molale is an American actor who is frequently cast in very physical or masculine roles. He is maybe best known for playing New York Jets quarterback Kevin Ward in “Mr. Deeds” (2002) and as Blazer in “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” (2004). Other films he has appeared in include “The Longest Yard” (2005), “Mission: Impossible III” (2006), “The Guardian” (2006), “Reno 911!: Miami” (2007), “Big Stan” (2007), “Magic Man” (2010) and “Little Murder” (2011), among others. Molale also has acted in a number of television shows, including recurring appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (2000-2008), “Reno 911!” (2009), “The Young and the Restless” (2010-2011) and “True Blood” (2011). Molale is also a stunt, a career he began in 1988. Molale, who played college football, has served as a football coordinator on television shows such as CBS's “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “American Dreams” and “American Family” as well as TV commercials for CBS, “The King of Queens” Superbowl and for Powerade, “Vick.”

Currently, Molale resides in Los Angeles and keeps three dogs as pet. He participates in a number of local and national charities.

Football

Childhood and Family:

Brandon Molale was born on November 24, 1971, in Pocatello, Idaho, but grew up in Concord, California. He received a BA in Advertising and Marketing from Fresno State University, where he also played college football. His football skill led him to performing football stunt in the 1998 film “The Waterboy,” starring Adam Sandler. It was also in college that Brandon began taking acting and drama classes.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Career:

Brandon Molale had his first experience in showbiz at age 17, when he was hired as a stunt actor in the television series “America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back” (1988). He got further stunt gigs in the TV series “Arli$$” (1996) and, thanks to his football experience, in the film “The Waterboy” (1998). He would continue on taking stunt works even after having a prolific acting career.

In 1999, Molale made his professional acting debut in episodes of the television soap operas “Sunset Beach” and “Days of Our Lives,” in Disney Channel's teen sitcom, “The Jersey,” and the NBC sitcom “One World.” He went on to have guest spots in various television shows such as “Arrest & Trial,” “Boy Meets World,” “Pensacola: Wings of Gold,” “Arli$$” (all 2000), “ The Huntress,” “ Spy TV,” “One on One” (all 2001), “MADtv,” “All That,” “It's a Miracle” (all 2002), “Doggy Fizzle Televizzle” and “Coupling” (both 2003). Molale made his debut appearance in the hit talk show “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in 2000 and would stay with the show until 2008. He also played T.J. Weber in two episodes of “America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back” (2002) and played various characters in “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (2003).

Between 2000 and 2003, Molale also appeared in several films, such as the comedy “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas” (2000), a prequel to 1994's “The Flintstones” based on the hit cartoon series of the same name, “Forbidden Highway” (2001, opposite Francis Cobert, Kira Reed and Mia Zottoli), Russell Gannon's “Knight Club” (2001, starred Lochlyn Munro, Glenn Plummer and Ed Lauter), “The Master of Disguise” (2002, starred Dana Carvey, Jennifer Esposito, Harold Gould, James Brolin and Brent Spiner) and The Rock's action/comedy film, “The Rundown” (2003). He also acted in the short films “Room 302” (2001), “ The Naked Run” (2002), “ Donut Holes” (2002), “ Wrong Turn” (2003) and in the made for television film “Then Came Jones” (2003), starring Melissa Gilbert, Sean Patrick Flanery and Dennis Ambriz.

However, Molale did not gain real notice until he was cast as Kevin Ward, the New York Jets quarterback, on the comedy film “Mr. Deeds,” starring Adam Sandler and Winona Ryder. Directed by Steven Brill, the film received generally negative reviews from critics, but was a box office success. With a budget of $50 million, “Mr. Deeds” grossed $126,293,453 domestically and $44,976,084 internationally for a worldwide total of $171,269,537.

In 2004, Molale received additional attention for his portrayal of Blazer in the sports comedy film “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” which was written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and starred Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller (also produced the film), Christine Taylor, and Rip Torn. The film earned mostly good reviews from critics, and was a financial success. Released on June 18, 2004, “Dodgeball” made over $30 million in its first week and eventually grossed over $114 million domestically and a worldwide total of over $167 million. The same year, Molale also was featured as a limo driver in Michael Mann's crime/thriller movie, “Collateral,” starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, and appeared in the video short “Outpost,” along with Peter Alton, Smith Cho and Bill Chott.

Molale was cast as guard Malloy in the remake “The Longest Yard” (2005), starring Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds and Chris Rock, had an uncredited part as torturer in “Mission: Impossible III” (2006), and appeared as navy guy in the Andrew Davis film “The Guardian” (2006), starring Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Melissa Sagemiller and Clancy Brown. He also made guest appearances in “That '70s Show” (2005, as karate instructor), “Boston Legal” (2005, as Mike), “Reno 911!” (4 episodes, 2005-2009) and “Charmed” (2006, as Rocco). 2007 saw roles in such films as “Reno 911!: Miami,” where he appeared as Kevlar Guy, “Area 57” (TV), Brian Cox's “The Dead One” (starred Wilmer Valderrama, Angie Cepeda and Joel David Moore), “Balls of Fury,” a sports comedy film starring Dan Fogler and Christopher Walken and was directed by Ben Garantand, and Rob Schneiders' comedy, “Big Stan,” where he played the supporting role of Piken. The same year, he also guest starred in “NCIS” (as Army CID Special Agent Jack Reynolds), “Moonlight” and “Chuck.”

From 2008 to 2010, Molale could be seen making guest appearances in television series such as “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Prison Break,” “ iCarly,” “Big Time Rush,” “Better Off Ted,” “Dollhouse,” “Ultradome,” “Important Things with Demetri Martin,” “ The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Nick Swardson's Pretend Time,” “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Desperate Housewives.” In 2010, he landed a recurring role in “The Young and the Restless,” playing Roger. Besides, Molale appeared in a string of films during that period, such as “Meet Dave” (2008, starred Eddie Murphy), “Bar Starz” (2008), Geo Santini's “Hotel California” (2008), “Farmhouse” (2008, starred Steven Weber, William Lee Scott, Jamie Anne Allman, Drew Sidora and Kelly Hu), “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant” (2009), “Magic Man” (2010), a thriller film directed by Roscoe Lever and starring Billy Zane and Alexander Nevsky, “The Dead Undead” (2010), “The Chosen One” (2010) and “Trust” (2010),a drama film directed by David Schwimmer and starring Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis, and Noah Emmerich. Molale also acted in two short films: “ The Temerity of Zim” and “Trunk” (both 2008), and two made for TV films “Street Warrior” (2008) and “Uncle Nigel” (2010).

Recently, in 2011, Molale joined the cast of the HBO supernatural drama “True Blood” in the recurring role of Officer Bucky Featherstone. He made his debut appearance in the episode “She's Not There,” which was aired on June 26, 2011. Molale also made guest appearances in the television shows “Suite 7,” “Men of a Certain Age,” “Glory Daze,” “Working Class” and “Supah Ninjas” (all 2011). Meanwhile, on the big screen, Molale co-starred with Mark Hamill, James Caan and Ving Rhames in the crime movie “Minkow,” which was directed by Bruce Caulk and written by Jonathan Meyers, with

Josh Lucas, Terrence Howard, Lake Bell and Deborah Ann Woll in the supernatural thriller film “Little Murder,” which premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 8, 2011, and with Kat Graham, Seychelle Gabriel and Randy Wayne in the Bille Woodruff directed comedy “Honey 2.”

Awards:
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