Charles Parnell (actor)

Charles Parnell is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Rear Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates in the film Top Gun: Maverick (2022). He was the second actor to portray Police Chief Derek Frye on All My Children (2004–2008). Other appearances include the role of Master Chief Russ Jeter on the TNT show The Last Ship from 2014 to 2018, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), its sequel Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025), and The Killer (2023).^[1]

Charles Parnell
Parnell at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present

Parnell took over the role of Frye on All My Children, previously played by actor William Christian. He joined the cast of the show on September 8, 2005, and made his final appearance on September 24, 2007. He voices Jefferson Twilight on Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros..

Career

Before taking the role of Derek Frye, Parnell played Achilles in Iphigeneia at Aulis, a play by Euripides translated and adapted by Kenneth Cavander at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, Connecticut.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Mind the Gap	John McCabe
2006	Everyone's Hero	Additional Voices
2007	The Education of Charlie Banks	Asst. DA Worsheck
2008	Diminished Capacity	Merkel Guard #2
2009	Mississippi Damned	Willie Roy
2011	Pariah	Arthur
2014	Transformers: Age of Extinction	CIA Director
2018	A Million Little Pieces	Miles Davis
2022	Top Gun: Maverick	Rear Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates
	Spiderhead	Knowles
2023	Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One	NRO Richards
	The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart	Jefferson Twilight (voice)
	The Killer	Hodges
2025	Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning	NRO Richards

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Sex and the City	Business Guy	Episode: "Old Dogs, New Dicks"
2003	Hack	Officer	Episode: "A Dangerous Game"
2004–2022	Law & Order	Various	3 episodes
2004–2018	The Venture Bros.	Jefferson Twilight, Mister 1, Mandalay (voices)	14 episodes
2005	Without a Trace	Nuru	Episode: "Showdown"
2005–2008	All My Children	Derek Frye	79 episodes
2008	CSI: Miami	FBI Agent Jacobs	Episode: "Gone Baby Gone"
	Crash	Sean Adams	4 episodes
	Bones	Captain Blake	Episode: "The Passenger in the Oven"
2009	90210	Franklin Whitley	Episode: "Hello, Goodbye, Amen"
	Lie to Me	Major Harris	Episode: "Moral Waiver"
	NCIS	Marine Colonel Dick Jestern	Episode: "Reunion"
	CSI: Miami	Gavin Webb	Episode: "Bad Seed"
2010	The Forgotten	Man	Episode: "Designer Jane"
		Dan Freeman	Episode: "Living Doe"
2011	Fringe	Dr. James Falcon	Episode: "Reciprocity"
2012–2016	North Woods Law	Narrator	75 episodes
2013	Longmire	Agent Stanley	Episode: "Unquiet Mind'
2014	Constantine	Nommo	Episode: "A Feast of Friends"
2014–2018	The Last Ship	CMDCM Russ Jeter, USN	46 episodes
2016	Better Things	Ned	Episode: "Duke's Chorus"
2019–2020	Briarpatch	Cyrus	7 episodes
2022	Grand Crew	Franklin	Episode: "Wine & Pie"
	Kindred	Alan	3 episodes
2023	The Mandalorian	Survivor Captain	2 episodes
	Barry	District Attorney Buckner	Recurring (Season 4)

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2005	The Warriors	Masai
2007	Manhunt 2	The Legion
2008	Grand Theft Auto IV	The Crowd of Liberty City
2013	Grand Theft Auto V	The Local Population
2014	Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare	Additional Voices
	The Crew	Harry
2017	Mass Effect: Andromeda	August Bradley
2020	Avengers	Nick Fury, Senator

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Project	Result	Ref.
2012	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Pariah	Nominated	[2]
2024	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Barry	Nominated	[3]