Tobin Bell Biography

Tobin Bell (born Joseph Henry Tobin Jr.; August 7, 1942) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of John Kramer / Jigsaw in the eight films of the Saw franchise. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning (1988) and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.

A life member of the Actors Studio, Bell also voice acted his Jigsaw character in two video games based on the film series, Saw and its sequel Saw II: Flesh & Blood. Bell's portrayal of Jigsaw has earned him five award nominations and two wins.

Before his breakthrough with Saw, Bell appeared in many notable films, including The Verdict (1982), Tootsie (1982), Mississippi Burning (1988), False Identity (1990), Loose Cannons (1990), Goodfellas (1990), Ruby (1992), The Firm (1993), In the Line of Fire (1993), Malice (1993), The Quick and the Dead (1995), Brown's Requiem (1998), a voice role in The Road to El Dorado (2000), and a narration role in Boiling Point (1993).

Early life

Bell was born in Queens, New York and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts. His English-born mother, Eileen Julia Bell Tobin, is an actress who worked at the Quincy Repertory Company. His American-born father, Joseph H. Tobin, who was of Irish descent, built and established the radio station WJDA in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1947 and once ran for mayor of Gloversville, New York. Bell's maternal grandmother, Julia Gandon Bell, was born in Cork, Ireland. Bell has one sister and one brother. Bell studied liberal arts and journalism in college, with the intention of becoming a writer and entering the broadcasting field. He also has an interest in environmental matters, holding a master's degree in environmental science from Montclair State University as well as having worked for the New York Botanical Garden. He credits hearing a seminar by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy at Boston University with inspiring him to begin an acting career.

Bell later joined the Actors Studio where he studied with Lee Strasberg and Ellen Burstyn, and joined Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse. He played background roles in the late '70s and early '80s in over 30 films, including films by Woody Allen (Manhattan) and Martin Scorsese, while also performing in Broadway. Bell said that other actors at the Actors Studio thought doing stand-in and background work was "stupid or degrading", but he never felt that way.

Career

Early work: 1982-1999

In 1982, Bell had a short uncredited scene in the Sydney Pollack film, Tootsie, playing a waiter at the Russian Tea Room. He told Movieline, "You know, when you're talking about Tootsie, it's the tip of the iceberg, because those other twenty-nine films I did aren't even on the IMDb." He worked on The Verdict (1982) for two weeks as a courtroom reporter in the trial. He recollected it being a "great opportunity" watching Sidney Lumet and Paul Newman, while also learning the technical aspect of acting. For every role he plays, starting with the initial reading of the script to the final shot of a production, he keeps a journal of various questions about and motivations for his character. "I write all kinds of stream-of-consciousness things that help me."

In 1982 Bell landed his first speaking role in the last few moments of the drama Sophie's Choice, starring Meryl Streep. In the mid-1980s, Bell said "I was doing off-Broadway plays three nights a week, working on my craft. And a director at the Actors Studio said, 'You know, Tobin you've been doing that for a while. I think you should go to Hollywood and play bad guys'." Bell moved to Los Angeles and was cast in his first feature film, Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning (1988), as a "tough, street smart, FBI agent". Bell played an assassin called "The Nordic Man" in another Pollack film, The Firm (1993). He went on to appear in an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld titled "The Old Man" playing a record store owner. He appeared in two episodes of NYPD Blue playing different characters.

In 1994, Bell played a hospital administrator in the second episode of the first season of ER and went on to appear in an episode of another medical drama Chicago Hope, playing a terminally ill inmate on death row. That same year, he portrayed the "Unabomber" in the made-for-television film Unabomber: The True Story. In 1997, Bell guest starred in an episode of La Femme Nikita and Nash Bridges. The following year, he guest starred in an episode of Stargate SG-1 and a two-part episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. He also appeared as villain Peter Kingsley during the second season of 24. In 2000, Tobin has a cameo roll as a menacing Morley smoker, "Ashman", in The X-Files, season 7, episode 18 entitled "Brand X".

2004-present

In 2004, Bell was cast as John Kramer, known as Jigsaw, an engineer who wants others to appreciate the value of life via twisted "games", in the horror film Saw. The low-budget film was a box office success, spawning seven sequels: Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008), Saw VI (2009), Saw 3D (2010) and Jigsaw (2017). He provided his voice for the Jigsaw character in the Saw video game (2009) and its sequel, Saw II: Flesh & Blood (2010), to which he provided his likeness. Even though Bell spent three weeks lying on a floor and had very few lines, his role was pivotal to the first film. For his role as "Jigsaw", Bell received MTV Movie Awards nominations in 2006 and 2007 for "Best Villain", won "Best Butcher" in the Fuse/Fangoria Chainsaw Awards and was given the "Best Villain in a Film Series" title at the 2010 Chiller-Eyegore Awards. Although he considers his role in Saw to have been "a great blessing", he hopes to soon have the opportunity to be cast against type. In 2016, he starred as hermit Yo Ling on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, revealed to be John Black's long lost father. He starred as the voices of the villain Doctor Alchemy and the malicious speed god and main antagonist Savitar on the third season of The Flash, in an uncredited role.

Personal life

Bell is married and has two sons. When not acting, he coaches a Little League Baseball team and flag football. His other hobbies include hiking and playing guitar.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Manhattan	Man on Street	Uncredited
1981	Tales of Ordinary Madness	Bar Patron	Uncredited
1982	Sophie's Choice	Reporter	Credited as Joseph Tobin
1982	'	Courtroom Observer	Uncredited
1982	Tootsie	Waiter	Uncredited
1983	Svengali	Waiter	Uncredited
1985	Turk 182!	Sergeant on Bridge	Credited as Joseph Tobin
1988	Mississippi Burning	Agent Stokes
1989	'	Zeke
1990	False Identity	Marshall Errickson
1990	Loose Cannons	Gerber
1990	Goodfellas	Parole Officer
1992	Ruby	David Ferrie
1993	Boiling Point	Roth
1993	'	The Nordic Man
1993	In the Line of Fire	Mendoza
1993	Malice	Earl Leemus
1995	Serial Killer	William Lucian Morrano	Direct-to-video
1995	'	Dog Kelly
1996	Cheyenne	Marshal Toynbee
1998	Brown's Requiem	Stan the Man
1998	Overnight Delivery	John Dwayne Beezly
1998	Best of the Best 4: Without Warning	Lukast Slava
1999	The 4th Floor	The Locksmith
2000	'	Zaragoza (voice)
2001	Good Neighbor	Geoffrey Martin
2002	Power Play	Clemens
2002	Black Mask 2: City of Masks	Moloch
2004	Saw	John Kramer / Jigsaw
2005	Saw II
2006	Saw III
2007	Buried Alive	Lester
2007	Decoys 2: Alien Seduction	Professor Erwin Buckton	Direct-to-video
2007	The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It	The Stranger	Direct-to-video
2007	Boogeyman 2	Dr. Mitchell Allen
2007	Saw IV	John Kramer / Jigsaw
2008	Saw V
2009	Saw VI
2010	Saw 3D
2014	Dark House	Seth
2014	Finders Keepers	Dr. Freeman
2015	Phantom Halo	Smashmouth
2015	Manson Family Vacation	Blackbird
2016	12 Feet Deep	McGradey
2016	Rainbow Time	Peter
2017	Jigsaw	John Kramer / Jigsaw

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	'		Episode: "The Day of the Covenant"
1989	Perfect Witness	Dillon	Television film
1990	Alien Nation	Brian Knox	Episode: "Crossing the Line"
1990	Jake and the Fatman	Vic	Episode: "More Than You Know"
1990	Broken Badges	Martin Valentine	Episode: "Pilot"
1991	Love, Lies and Murder	Al Stutz	Television film
1991	'		Television film
1991	'	Tony Gianini	Episode: "Pilot"
1991	Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride	Barman	Television film
1992	Mann & Machine	Richards	Episode: "No Pain, No Gain"
1992	Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer? The Bambi Bembenek Story		Television film
1992	Silk Stalkings	Emil Rossler	Episode: "Hot Rocks"
1993	Seinfeld	Ron	Episode: "The Old Man"
1993	Sex, Love, and Cold Hard Cash	Mansfield	Television film
1993	NYPD Blue	Donald Selness	2 episodes
1994	Deep Red	Warren Rickman	Television film
1994	Dead Man's Revenge	Bullock	Television film
1994	ER	Hospital Administrator	Episode: "Day One"
1994	Mortal Fear	Dr. Alvin Hayes	Television film
1994	New Eden	Ares	Television film
1995	Under Suspicion	Ron O'Keefe	Episode: "A Haunting Case"
1996	'	Det. Frank O'Keefe	Television film
1996	'		Episode: "Among the Dead"
1996	Murder One	Jerry Albanese	Episode: "Chapter Twenty-Two"
1996	Unabomber: The True Story	Theodore Kaczynski	Television film
1996	Chicago Hope	Luther Evans	Episode: "A Time to Kill"
1997	La Femme Nikita	Perry Bauer	Episode: "Love"
1997	Nash Bridges	William Boyd	Episode: "Payback"
1998	Stargate SG-1	Omoc	Episode: "Enigma"
1998	One Hot Summer Night	Vincent "Coupe" De Ville	Television film
1998	Walker, Texas Ranger	Karl Storm	2 episodes
1998	Vengeance Unlimited	Teddy Hix	Episode: "Bitter End"
1999	Strange World	Owen Sassen	Episode: "Eliza"
1999	'	Mr. White	Episode: "The World's Changing"
2000	'	Darryl Weaver	Episode: "Brand X"
2000	Harsh Realm	Slater	Episode: "Reunion"
2001	Once and Again	Man in Suit	Episode: "Aaron's Getting Better"
2001	'	Maj. Carl Zwingli	Episode: "Army of One"
2001	'		Episode: "The Funnies"
2001	Alias	SD-6 Agent Karl Dreyer	2 episodes
2002	Charmed	Orin	Episode: "The Eyes Have It"
2002	'	Colonel Whitcomb	Episode: "Process Stories"
2003	24	Peter Kingsley	4 episodes
2004	Revelations	Nathan Volk	5 episodes
2007	'	Alan Beck	6 episodes
2014	Criminal Minds	Malachi Lee	Episode: "Blood Relations"
2014	Wilfred	Charles	Episode: "Happiness"
2016	Days of Our Lives	Yo Ling
2016-17	The Flash	Doctor Alchemy, Savitar (voices)	15 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2009	Saw	John Kramer / Jigsaw
2010	Saw II: Flesh & Blood

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2006	Fuse/Fangoria Chainsaw Award	Best Villain	Saw II
2006	MTV Movie Award	MTV Movie Award for Best Villain	Saw II
2006	Scream Award	Scream Award for Best Villain	Saw II
2007	MTV Movie Award	MTV Movie Award for Best Villain	Saw III
2007	Scream Award	Scream Award for Best Villain	Saw III
2008	Scream Award	Scream Award for Best Villain	Saw IV
2009	Chiller-Eyegore Award	Best Villain in a Series Award	Saw series
2017	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series	Days of Our Lives

Further reading