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Personal life

Olyphant was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Katherine Wright, and raised in California. Olyphant attended Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto, California. He was a U.S. National Finalist in the 200 Individual Medley and swam competitively at the University of Southern California in L.A., where he studied fine art and theater. After graduating, Olyphant moved to New York City, where he was acquainted with actress Jennifer Garner, and attended William Esper's acting program. Olyphant has been married to Alexis Knief since 1991 and has three children.

Career

He began acting onstage, and received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance for his performance as "Tim Hapgood" in The Monogamist. Olyphant subsequently appeared in SantaLand Diaries and Plunge on stage. He made his film debut in 1996's The First Wives Club. He followed the role up with parts in the films Scream 2 (1997), Go (1999), The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000) and Gone In Sixty Seconds (2000). During this time, Olyphant also guest starred in an episode of Sex and the City.

He played the lead role of Sheriff Seth Bullock on HBO's Deadwood from March 2004 until the series' end. Olyphant considered it to be one of his first leading roles as a "complicated" and "complex" character. Prior to that he had roles in Rock Star (2001) and Dreamcatcher (2003). He played a porn film producer alongside Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert, in The Girl Next Door in 2004.

In January 2007, Olyphant appeared in the comedy Catch and Release, playing the love interest of Jennifer Garner's character; Olyphant was cast in the role over several other known actors, including Matthew Fox. He next appeared in Live Free or Die Hard, as the villain, a cyber-terrorist and in Hitman, as the title character. His 2008 roles include Stop-Loss, about the Iraq War, playing a Lieutenant Colonel, Bill, a comedy co-starring Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba, and a voice-acting role in Turok (2008) as Cowboy.

Olyphant serves as the sports reporter for Joe Escalante's morning show on LA radio station Indie 103.1, every Monday through Friday. According to www.TimOlyphant.net (November 2, 2007), Olyphant has signed to appear on a recurring basis on ABC's comedy series, Samantha Who, starring Christina Applegate.

In June 2008 it was reported that Olyphant was joining the cast of FX's show DAMAGES, starring Glenn Close.