Paul Sparks
Sparks in 2016
Born	(1971-10-16)October 16, 1971 (age 54) Lawton, Oklahoma, U.S.
Education	New York University (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Annie Parisse
Children	2

Paul Sparks (born October 16, 1971)^[1] is an American actor. He is known for his roles as gangsterMickey Doyle in theHBO period drama seriesBoardwalk Empire, writer Thomas Yates in theNetflix political drama seriesHouse of Cards, mall owner John Breem in theApple TV+ comedy-drama seriesPhysical, attorney David Tellis in theStarz anthology drama seriesThe Girlfriend Experience, and a recurring role in the limited seriesThe Night Of. Sparks has also starred in the filmsDeception (2008),Afterschool (2008),The Missing Person (2008),Mud (2012),Parkland (2013),Stealing Cars (2015),Thoroughbreds (2017), andThe Greatest Showman (2017).

Sparks was born inLawton, Oklahoma,^[2] and grew up in nearbyMarlow.^[3] He attended Marlow High School, where his father coached football,^[4] graduating in 1990. While attending school in Marlow, Paul was a part of the Marlow Outlaw Speech Team (M.O.S.T.) where he was coached by Paula and Gary McConnell.^[5] Sparks earned a scholarship toOklahoma State University to study chemistry, but later transferred toNew York University'sTisch School of the Arts.^[5][6] He graduated with aBachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 1995.^[7]

In 2010, Sparks began portraying the regular role of Mickey Doyle onHBO's drama seriesBoardwalk Empire, which was created byTerence Winter and executive produced byMartin Scorsese andMark Wahlberg.^[8] The series ended in 2014, after completing five seasons.^[9]

Sparks is married to actressAnnie Parisse, after meeting in 2005.^[10] Together they have two children, son Emmett (born 2009),^[5] and daughter Lydia (born 2014).^[11] Sparks hasdiabetes mellitus type 1 and works with theJuvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.^[12] He is good friends with fellow actorMichael Shannon; the two have worked together on a number of projects includingWaco,The Missing Person,Mud,Boardwalk Empire, andMidnight Special andThe Bikeriders.^[13]

• Paul Sparks atIMDb
• Paul Sparks at theInternet Broadway Database
• Paul Sparks at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 1971 births
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• Living people
• Male actors from Oklahoma
• Oklahoma State University alumni
• People from Lawton, Oklahoma
• People from Marlow, Oklahoma
• People with type 1 diabetes
• Tisch School of the Arts alumni

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2015
• Use American English from November 2022
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Articles with hCards
• IBDB name template using Wikidata
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata