Dean Joseph Norris is an American actor. He is well known for playing Drug Enforcement Administration agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he received critical acclaim for his performance. He also portrayed town councilman James "Big Jim" Rennie on the CBS series Under the Dome and currently plays mob boss Clay "Uncle Daddy" Husser on the TNT series Claws. He reprised his role as Hank Schrader in the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul. Norris has appeared in films such as Lethal Weapon 2, Hard To Kill, Total Recall, , The Firm, Starship Troopers, The Cell, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, Sons of Liberty, and The Book of Henry.
Early life
Dean Joseph Norris was born in South Bend, Indiana on April 8, 1963, the son of Rosemarie and furniture store owner Jack B. Norris. His mother was born in South Bend to Hungarian immigrants, while his father was born in Chicago, where he lived for a year before moving to South Bend. Norris has two sisters, Connie and Nikie. He graduated from Clay High School in 1981, where he says he was a straight-A student and one of the class valedictorians. While in high school, he was a member of the award-winning student-produced comedy showBeyond Our Control, which ran on WNDU-TV. He is a 1985 graduate of Harvard College, where he studied the interdisciplinary concentration of Social Studies and was a member of Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He also earned a diploma from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1987.
Career
Norris starred in Tremors: The Series and the film Without Limits. He has had guest spots in other television series including NYPD Blue, The X-Files, The West Wing, and Lost, and has appeared in films including Gattaca and . He played Drug Enforcement Administration agent Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad, which he played from the show's premiere in 2008 to its final season in 2013. Norris' performance on Breaking Bad has received critical acclaim. Norris also starred in the CBS series Under the Dome, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. He plays selectman James "Big Jim" Rennie, the only town council member in the area which is cut off from the rest of the United States; Rennie initially seems to do the right thing in getting the town accustomed to the separation, but he soon starts to abuse his power. As of June 2017, he plays mob boss Clay "Uncle Daddy" Husser in the TNT series Claws. In 2020, Norris reprised the role of Agent Hank Schrader on-screen in the Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul during the show's fifth season.
Personal life
Norris and his wife, Bridget, a former entertainment attorney, live with their five children in Temecula, California. In 2018, the couple opened the Norris Performing Arts Center in Murrieta. In 2019, he helped launch Schraderbrau, Hank Schrader's in-universe home brewedcraft beer, as an official product.
