Don Swayze was born on August 10, 1958 in Houston, Texas, USA as Donald Carl Swayze. He is the son of Patsy Swayze (née Yvonne Helen Karnes; 1927-2013), a choreographer, dance instructor, and dancer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze (1925-1982), an engineering draftsman. He has two brothers, Patrick Swayze (1952-2009) and Sean Swayze (b. 1962), and two sisters, Vickie Lynn (1949-1994) and Bambi Swayze. He began his career in the 1980’s appearing in TV shows and TV movies. His earlier roles include in Street Hawk (1985), The Fall Guy (1981), L.A. Law (1986), and in Matlock (1986) as a mentally handicapped murder suspect. His first movie role was in Andrey Konchalovskiy’s Shy People (1987) as Mark, opposite Barbara Hershey, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Mare Winningham.
During the 1990’s, he guest starred for example in Columbo (1971), Renegade (1992), Murder, She Wrote (1984), NYPD Blue (1993), The New Adventures of Superman (1993) as Jesse James, Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), and Profiler (1996). In the 1990’s, he also worked as a stunt man. For example in his brother’s movie, Letters from a Killer (1998), he was a stunt player. In Movie Stars (1999), he played a fictional version of himself. During the 2000’s, he guest starred for example in The X Files (1993), The Division (2001), NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003), CSI: Miami (2002), and Without a Trace (2002). He also had recurring roles in HBO’s Carnivàle (2003) as Tattooed Man, in True Blood (2008) as Gus, a werewolf, and in The Bridge (2013) as Tampa Tim. He also played a serial killer, Charles Hankel in two episodes of Criminal Minds (2005).
In 2012, he starred in two westerns, Heathens and Thieves (2012), playing Col. Sherman Rutherford, and in Dark Canyon (2012) as Chale Lord. He also appeared in horror movies, in Lizzie (2012) as Daniel Allen and in The Appearing (2014) as Sheriff Hendricks. He has also appeared on stage: in 2001, as Pedro in ‘Man of La Mancha’, in 2005, as Roy in the comedy ‘Lone Star’, and in 2011, as Sgt. Don Simpson, opposite ‘Anne Archer’ in Jane Fonda: In the Court of Public Opinion. He was married to Marcia Swayze (1985-1993), with whom he has a daughter, Danielle. Since 2014, he has been married to Charlene Swayze.
