Geoffrey Cantor (actor)

This article is about the American actor. For the British historian, see Geoffrey Cantor (academic).

Geoffrey Paul Cantor is an American actor and acting coach. He is primarily known for his portrayal as Mitchell Ellison on Daredevil and The Punisher.

Geoffrey Cantor
Born	Geoffrey Paul Cantor California
Alma mater	Amherst College
Occupation(s)	Actor, acting coach
Years active	1987–present

Early life and education

Cantor was born on an Air Force base in California. When his father, an Air Force captain and flight surgeon, finished his service, the family moved to Philadelphia. They moved a few more times (Newton Center, Massachusetts and Cherry Hill, New Jersey) as his father completed his internship and residency, and settled in Bergen County. His father was (and is still) involved in community theatre and his mother is a painter. Both of them enjoyed the arts and this resulted in Cantor's appreciation as well, especially the theater. "We were sort of progressive, liberal, Jewish people. I grew up in a time when were sort of at the cutting edge of that." Cantor graduated from Pascack Hills High School.^[1]

While attending Amherst College, Cantor came to find acting the most rewarding and intriguing art form, particularly British theatre which he found the most inspirational.^[2] Cantor graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a degree in theater, and furthered his acting education at Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and then at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London, England.

Career

He made his TV acting debut in Night Network before appearing in a variety of television shows such as The Street, The Kill Point, All My Children, Life on Mars, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Deception and House of Cards^[3] He gained sudden recognition in 2015 for his role in Daredevil as Mitchell Ellison, the editor-in-chief of the New York Bulletin and boss to Ben Urich. A comic book fan, Cantor thinks his knowledge of Daredevil may have helped him get the role, even though his character does not appear in the comic book series. Despite this Cantor found his work on Daredevil the same as any other job, "Daredevil happened while I was about to do a play. For me there is no real difference between the core of the work. The real difference is the end experience."^[2] Cantor would reprise the role in season 2 of Daredevil, which sees Ellison take on a mentor role towards Karen Page,^[4] and as a guest star in The Punisher. He also voiced the paparazzo Beverly Felton in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Filmography

Television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987–1988	Night Network	Axeman / Himself	2 episodes
1997	Law & Order	Mirvis	Episode: "Terminal"
2000–2001	The Street	J.D.	4 episodes
2000	Law & Order	Dr. Luther Wilding	Episode: "Collision"
2001	Third Watch	Lewis	Episode: "Act Brave"
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Ronald Hardin	Episode: "Anti-Thesis"
	Ed	Opposing Lawyer	Episode: "Small Town Guys"
2003	Queens Supreme	Haddad's Lawyer	Episode: "Permanent Markers"
	Rubout	Steve / Raoul	TV movie
	Ed	Jim Adams	Episode: "Partners"
2004	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Will Timmons	Episode: "Pas de Deux"
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Ronald Hardin	Episode: "Blue Wall"
2006	The Bedford Diaries		Episode: "The Passion of the Beaver"
	Law & Order	Adam Stein	Episode: "Fame"
2007	The Sopranos	Eli Kaplan	Episode: "Chasing It"
	The Kill Point	Abe Shelton	8 episodes
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Dukay's Attorney	Episode: "Endgame"
2007–2008	All My Children	Carl	3 episodes
2008	Guiding Light	Mr. Combs	1 episode
	Brotherhood	Milton	Episode: "The Chimes at Midnight"
	Law & Order	Jim Dooley	Episode: "Zero"
2008–2009	Life on Mars	Ed Redlich	2 episodes
2009	Mercy	Dr. Pell	Episode: "Can We Get That Drink Now?"
	The Broadroom	Gus	Episode: "Alice in Imposter Land"
	Bored to Death	Mr. Eaton	Episode: "The Case of the Beautiful Blackmailer"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ed Mangini	Episode: "Crush"
2010	The Stay-At-Home Dad	Gay Dad	webseries
2011	Untitled Jersey City Project	Ed Smith	3 episodes
	Pan Am	Mr. Claymore	Episode: "The Genuine Article"
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Ethan Lowe	Episode: "Cadaver"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Victor	Episode: "Mask"
2012	Smash	Bobby Raskin	Episode: "Chemistry"
	The Big C	Fred Bobick	Episode: "Family Matters"
	Damages	Clark Reinsdorf	2 episodes
	Person of Interest	Sebastian Alta	Episode: "Critical"
2013	Deception	Tom Vanderfield	5 episodes
	Zero Hour	Professor Chalis	Episode: "Sync"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Gene Fierstein	Episode: "Rapist Anonymous"
2014	The Americans	Thane Rosenbloom	Episode: "Arpanet"
	The Following	Detective	Episode: "Silence"
	Good Medicine	Party Clown	Episode: "Tina"
	Believe	Dr. Taussig	2 episodes
	Forever	Alienist	Episode: "Skinny Dipper"
2014–2015	The Blacklist	Phil Ryerson	3 episodes
2014–2016	House of Cards	Ben Goldstein	2 episodes
2015	Karl Manhair, Postal Inspector	Karl Manhair	6 episodes
	Elementary	Maurice Antonov	Episode: "Evidence of Things Not Seen"
2015–2018	Daredevil	Mitchell Ellison	16 episodes
2016	Feed the Beast	Christian	5 episodes
	Sublets	Eddie Falcon	Episode: "No Exit"
	Madam Secretary	Tom Murphy	Episode: "South China Sea"
	The Daily Show	Dr. Jerry Baxter	Episode: "Common"
2017	The Wizard of Lies	SEC Agent Ostrow	TV movie
	The Punisher	Mitchell Ellison	2 episodes
	Civil	Bobby Fletcher	TV movie
2018	The Tick	Agent Adams	3 episodes
	Maniac	Frank	4 episodes
2019	Bumbld	Yosef	Episode: "Adulting"
	The Deuce	Health Commissioner	Episode: "Finish It"
2019-2020	The Resident	Zip Betournay	3 episodes
2021	Foundation	Ambassador Thanwall	3 episodes
2023	Harlan Coben's Shelter	Barry "Mr. V" Vollmer	2 episodes

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Anima	Cam
1999	Speed of Life	Carter
2001	Double Whammy	Maitre'd
2002	Crazy Little Thing	Todd
	Garmento	Fred Macmoudi
2005	One Last Thing...	Raul
	The Notorious Bettie Page	Director at Audition
2007	Suburban Girl	Library Curator
	Heavy Petting	Stefan Roche
2009	Public Enemies	Harry Suydam
2010	When in Rome	Dr. Moscowitz
	Christopher Dispossessed	Stephen	Short
	Fair Game	Ari Fleischer
2012	Man on a Ledge	Gordon Evans
	Men in Black 3	Technician	Uncredited
	Thanks for Sharing	Addict #4
2013	Syrup	Executive #2
	Bert and Arnie's Guide to Friendship	Gerry the Editor
2014	Beach Pillows	Larry Fumuso
	We'll Never Have Paris	Neighbor
	Creamen	Mr.Popivanov (voice)	Short
	Bird People	Allan
	The Longest Week	Intellectual #1 Subway
2015	A Warrior's Tail	Semi-Baron Fafl (English voice)
	Fishbowl	Gerry Saxon
	411	Arthur	Short
2016	Hail, Caesar!	Sid Siegelstein
	Bling	Additional Voices
2017	Ironwood	Professor Gerry Williams
	This isn't happening	Edgar	Short
	On the Way North	The Bearded Man	Short
	Anna & The Asteroid	Homeless Man	Short
2018	Hot Air	Stanley
2019	Telephone	Dr. Rand	Short
2020	Brighton Beach	Miroslav Roach, ESQ
	An American Pickle	David Greenbaum
	Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story	Peter Vecsey

Video game roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Manhunt	Innocent
2010	Alan Wake	Clay Steward, Alvyn Derleth, Mr. Jones
2011	Saints Row: The Third	Radio Voices
2013	Grand Theft Auto V	Beverly Felton