- published: 21 Sep 2015
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Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974 and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. He gained wide public attention in the early 2000s for playing the deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series Six Feet Under. He has since established himself in Hollywood by acquiring lead roles in the films The Visitor and The Cabin in the Woods. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Visitor.
Jenkins was born and raised in DeKalb, Illinois. His mother, Mary Elizabeth (née Wheeler), was a housewife, and his father, Dale Stevens Jenkins, was a dentist. He attended DeKalb High School. Before he was an actor, Jenkins drove a linen truck (his boss was actor John C. Reilly's father). Jenkins earned a degree in drama from Illinois Wesleyan University before relocating to Rhode Island. While attending Illinois Wesleyan, Jenkins was a member of Phi Gamma Delta.