You can say Dominic Purcell is a well-travelled actor. He’s an Australian actor who is born in Merseyside, England on February 17, 1970. His father is Norweigan and his mother, Irish. He carries an Irish passport because of his ancestry, and his acting career thrives in the United States. He was a landscaper who initially had a low opinion of performers: he thought that “people in the arts—actors, ballet dancers, musicians, whatever—are weird.” Nevertheless, he decided to try out acting on a whim; he entered the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth, where he graduated in 1996. He later made his screen debut in the Australian television series Raw FM.
After many other roles in Australian television programs, Purcell moved to the United States, where he starred in films such as Mission: Impossible II and Equilibrium. In 2002, he got his first major television role, when he was cast as the title character in the series John Doe. Here, he plays a man with absolutely no memory of who he is or details of his past, but seems to know many different obscure (and not-so-obscure) facts. He got his mainstream break in 2004, when he played the role of Drake in the comic book film Blade: Trinity.
In 2005, Purcell was cast as one of the antagonists of the television series Prison Break. He is Lincoln Burrows, the legal guardian of his brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), who lives a life of crime to be able to support the two of them. He was accused of murdering the vice president’s brother and thus, provides the impetus for the series’ premise: of Michael’s plan to help Lincoln escape his death sentence. His performance earned him an Australian Film Institute Award in 2007 for, quite ironically, Best International Actor.
Exclusive Video Interview: Dominic Purcell, from 'Prison Break'