DYLAN BRUNO to re-vist BLACKMAT MMA to speak, grapple and sign autographs on APRIL 9th 2011.
A former model and college sports star, actor Dylan Bruno made a name for himself in the late 1990s and 2000s with a string of supporting roles in features like “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and “The One” (2001). Television offered him more substantial work in movies of the week like “The Pennsylvania Miners Story” (2002), but he found his biggest audience as gung-ho FBI agent Colby Granger on the CBS action-drama “Num3ers” (2005- ). His gravely voice made him a natural for voice-over work for commercials and television documentaries, and he also served as producer for a pair of independent features in 2001 and 2004.
Born Sept. 6, 1972, Bruno came from an acting family; brother Chris made a name for himself on the television series “The Dead Zone” (USA, 2002- ), and father Scott had minor film credits in the seventies. Bruno’s high school years were marked by success in sports; he was a nationally ranked wrestler and competed in the AAU Junior Olympic Games. After high school, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a degree in environmental engineering and further displayed his physical skills as a lineback for the MIT football team.
Bruno reportedly made his television debut as a contestant on the original run of the nationally syndicated game show “American Gladiators” (1989-1996) in 1989 and worked for a stint as a model for Calvin Klein. His debut as an actor came in the popular video game “Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom” (1995). Episodic turns preceded a more substantial role in the WWII TV drama, “When Trumpets Fade” (1998). That same year, Bruno landed a supporting role in Stephen Spielberg’s WWII epic “Saving Private Ryan.” The high-profile project opened more doors for the actor, leading to roles in “The Rage: Carrie 2” (1999) as a loutish footballer who triggers outcast Emily Bergl’s psychic revenge; “Where the Heart Is” (2000), as the self-absorbed, would-be musician who abandons pregnant Natalie Portman; and the Jet Li science fiction picture “The One” (2001). Bruno also made his debut as producer in the college comedy “Going Greek” (2001), starring as a reluctant pledge who discovers the fun of fraternity life.
More supporting roles followed into the new millennium. He was the outsider who throws a mild-mannered commune into chaos in “The Anarchist Cookbook” (2003) and Blaine Mayhugh, one of the nine real-life miners trapped by a 2002 mine collapse in “The Pennsylvania Miners’ Story” (2002). A bit role opposite Johnny Knoxville in the little-seen “Grand Theft Parsons” (2003) preceded his first shot at a series lead for Brian Grazer and John Stockwell – the pilot for “The One” (Fox, 2003), which cast Bruno as a Hawaii native who returns to the islands to join the police force. Unfortunately, the program was not picked up by the network.
In 2004, Bruno could be heard briefly as the narrator of the Discovery Channel series “Rides” (2004- ), which focused on custom cars and their creators. The following year, Bruno replaced Sabrina Lloyd as a member of FBI agent Don Epps’ (Rob Morrow) team on Ridley and Tony Scott’s hit series “Numb3rs.” As former Army vet Colby Granger, Bruno handled the lion’s share of the show’s action scenes, though he received an intriguing character wrinkle in the show’s third season conclusion in 2006, when it was revealed that he had been a spy for the Chinese. However, Granger’s double agent status was an elaborate ruse concocted by the FBI to help ferret out spies within the agency, and after several arduous adventures, he was reunited with Epps and his team by the fourth season.
Since joining “Numb3rs,” Bruno lent his voice to several high-profile ad campaigns, including Coors and Sony, and served as special correspondent for “Entertainment Tonight” (CBS, 1981- ). He has also appeared opposite his brother on “The Dead Zone,” and the siblings shot a feature with their father titled “Last of the Romantics” in 2007. Bruno also found time to marry Emmeli Hultquist in Sweden in 2006, with the couple welcoming a son, Demian, a year later.