Cole began his professional career in 1983 as a stage actor in Chicago, where he joined the ensemble of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. In an early role Cole played accused Army triple-murderer Capt Jeffrey MacDonald in the mini-series Fatal Vision. Cole has also appeared in several off-Broadway productions in New York City. He has done voice work on several animated series and had a recurring role on the drama The West Wing as Vice President Bob Russell. He also starred as Captain Matthew Gideon on the short-lived Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade, and had notable guest appearances on ' and Arrested Development. He also played Joe Maxwell on DCOMCadet Kelly and appeared as real-life astronaut Edgar Mitchell in HBO's recreation of Project Apollo, From the Earth to the Moon. One of his most notable roles in 1991 was as General Custer in the much acclaimed television film Son of the Morning Star. Between 1988 and 1991, Cole became popular on TV for playing the part of Jack "Nighthawk" Killian in the series Midnight Caller. In 1999, Cole starred in the film Office Space, in which he portrayed the sadistic office supervisor Bill Lumbergh. When asked about the oft-quoted character, Cole said: He played The Brady Bunch patriarch Mike Brady in the 1995 filmThe Brady Bunch Movie, the 1996 sequel A Very Brady Sequel, and the 2002 television film The Brady Bunch in the White House. Cole starred as Lieutenant Conrad Rose on the TNT series Wanted, he is also the voice of the title character on the Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and starred as Sheriff Lucas Buck on the one season 1995 show, American Gothic. Cole also appeared in the films ', Forever Strong, and American Pastime. Cole played Katherine Mayfair's ex-husband Wayne on Desperate Housewives and has played the dangerous drug lordTed Jones in Pineapple Express with Seth Rogen and James Franco. He also appeared in an episode from the third season of the USA Network series Psych as S.W.A.T. commander Cameron Luntz. Cole also played Bill Owens, Sy Parrish's boss, in the film One Hour Photo. In 2008, Cole appeared on Chuck as Sarah's con-artist father, a role which he reprised in 2011. He also appeared in the fifth season of HBO's Entourage playing Ari Gold's old pal Andrew Klein for a 3-episode story arc prior to joining the regular cast in the sixth season. Cole had a guest-appearance on the fourth season of the HBO series True Blood, playing Sookie Stackhouse's grandfather. In 2011, Cole joined Fox's comedy pilot Tagged, but the series was not picked up. In 2013, Cole began a recurring role on Suits as Cameron Dennis, the former mentor of Harvey Specter, one of the show's main characters. Also in 2013, Cole began a major recurring role as Kent Davison on the HBO comedy series Veep, joining the main cast at the start of the show's second season. In 2014, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work in season three. Additionally, Cole was nominated with his fellow cast members for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for seasons 2, 3, 4, and 5 before ultimately winning the award in 2017 for season 6. Cole currently provides the voice of Sergeant Boscoe on Bob's Burgers and Principal Shepherd on Family Guy. He appears in triplicate as 10 Minutes, 10 Days and 10 Years in the Future Spokesguy in Kabbage's 2019 commercial campaign.
Personal life
Cole married actress Teddi Siddall on March 8, 1992. Their daughter Mary is pursuing an acting career. On June 19, 2017, the couple announced they were divorcing. Siddall died on February 4, 2018.
