Frank Grillo

Frank Grillo (birthname: Frank Anthony Grillo) is a veteran film and television character actor best known for his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones and as Sgt. Leo Barnes in two entries in The Purge franchise. Grillo’s debut role was in director/producer Arne Glimcher’s musical drama, The Mambo Kings (1992), starring Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Cathy Moriarty, and Maruschka Detmers.

Grillo was cast by Steven Spielberg for a small role in his fascinating sci-fi thriller, Minority Report (2002), starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton and grossing $358 million. Grillo landed a supporting role in director/writer/producer/co-star Trish Doolan’s lesbian rom-com, April’s Showers (2006), followed by Grillo being picked by writer-director Gavin O’Connor for his crime drama, Pride and Glory (2008), co-starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich, produced by New Line Pictures and released by Warner Bros.

Frank Grillo reunited with filmmaker Gavin O’Connor for the martial arts drama, Warrior (2011), co-starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Oscar-nominated Nick Nolte, and released to poor business but critical praise by Lionsgate. Grillo got his biggest role to date in a prominent co-starring role opposite Liam Neeson in director/writer/producer Joe Carnahan’s survival thriller, The Grey (2012), with Dermot Mulroney, and released by Open Road Films to an $81 million return.

Grillo played opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera, and David Harbour in director/writer/producer David Ayer’s LAPD drama, End of Watch (2012), grossing over $57 million for Open Road Films. Grillo was then cast by director/producer Kathryn Bigelow for her charged political thriller, Zero Dark Thirty (2012), starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and Joel Edgerton, garnering nearly $133 million worldwide and five Oscar nominations (including picture, actress, and screenplay).

Frank Grillo had his first starring role in the Luc Besson-produced French romantic thriller, Collision (2013), directed and written by David Marconi and co-starring Roschdy Zem, Jaimie Alexander, and Marie-Josee Croze, and released by Besson’s EuropaCorp. Grillo landed two roles in two franchises in 2014—the first as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and continuing in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), and the second as Sgt. Barnes in The Purge: Anarchy (2014) and The Purge: Election Year (2016), as well as the sixth untitled Purge entry (date to be announced).

Grillo co-starred with John Leguizamo, Christopher McDonald, Dianna Agron, Mary McCormack, Minnie Driver, and Maggie Q in the cyber-thriller, The Crash (2017), directed by Aram Rappaport and released in limited pattern by Vertical Entertainment. Grillo then joined the Chinese and English-language cast of director/writer/producer/star Wu Jing’s box-office smash sequel, Wolf Warrior 2 (2017), the first movie to gross over $600 million at the Chinese box office and China’s submission to the Oscar Best Foreign Language Film category.

Frank Grillo co-starred opposite Bruce Willis in the Brian A. Miller-directed action movie, Reprisal (2018), with Johnathan Schaech and Olivia Culpo, and then Grillo joined the fine cast of the Deon Taylor-directed New Orleans cop drama, Black and Blue (2019), starring Naomie Harris, Tyrese Gibson and Mike Colter, and released to modest business by Sony Pictures Releasing.

Grillo took on the twin tasks of producer and co-star in the border drama, No Man’s Land (2021), directed and produced by Conor Allyn along with co-writer/co-producer/co-star Jake Allyn, and which co-starred George Lopez and Andie MacDowell and was released by IFC Films. Grillo joined the colorful cast of the Patrick Hughes-directed sequel, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021), starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman, but failing commercially with a money-losing $70 million return for Lionsgate.

Grillo again produced and co-starred, this time with co-star Gerard Butler in director/writer Joe Carnahan’s thriller, Copshop (2021), with Alexis Louder, released by Open Road Films/Briarcliff Entertainment, and then Grillo led the cast of the Blumhouse-produced drama, This is the Night (2021), with River Alexander, Jonah Hauer-King, Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts and Cliff  “Method Man” Smith Blumhouse and released by Universal Pictures.

Frank Grillo portrayed the legendary Italian car maker Ferruccio Lamborghini in director/writer Robert Moresco’s biopic, Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022), based on Tonino Lamborghini’s memoir and with Gabriel Byrne and Mira Sorvino, and released by Lionsgate. Grillo starred in one of his few horror movies, Werewolves (2024), with Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Lou Diamond Phillips under Steven C. Miller’s direction, which was released by Briarcliff Entertainment.

Grillo appeared as Rick Flag Sr. in DC Studio co-CEO James Gunn’s revival for Warner Bros., Superman (2025), the first movie in the DC Universe’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters series, with David Corenswet (as Superman/Clark Kent), Rachel Brosnahan, Isabela Merced, Edi Gathegi, Nicholas Hoult, Wendell Pierce and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Grillo then co-starred with Harvey Keitel, Peter Stormare, and Tyrese Gibson in director/writer/producer Justin Price’s action thriller, Hard Matter (date to be announced), produced by Powell and Price Productions and Wonderfilm Media.