Chris Bylsma movie list
Chris is known for his roles in Paul Greengrass' "News of the World" (alongside Tom Hanks), as SEAN in Vince Gilligan's "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story" (with Aaron Paul), PASTOR GARRET MOORE in the 3x Emmy-winning NETFLIX Original "Godless" (with Merritt Wever, written/directed by Scott Frank and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh) and as Billy the Kid's ill-fated gang member CHARLIE BOWDRE in Vincent D'Onofrio's "The Kid" (with Ethan Hawke & Dane DeHaan).
Chris was born on February 25th in Topeka, KS, where he was also raised. His father moved from the West Coast to the Midwest and started his own business, which he successfully ran for over forty years. His mother got her degree in education and raised a family over a twenty year range. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Holland to the United States, while his maternal grandparents made their home in many small towns throughout the Midwest.
While working as an editor for a Fortune 500 company, Chris discovered the indie film & commercial scene in Kansas City, and received a part in the first film he auditioned for. When he wasn't acting & learning on set, he was studying the craft and as many details as possible of each crew position. In just two and a half years he'd brought characters to life in over twenty films & been involved behind the scenes in nearly every facet in at least that many more, before resigning his job and moving to pursue acting full-time.
By the time another three years had passed, he had appeared in nearly one hundred twenty-five films (features or shorts), TV shows, webisodes, and commercials all over the country; over twenty of which won awards, including Regional Emmys and four individual Best Acting awards. He'd also worked behind the camera as director, producer, editor, and in casting - winning seven awards for films directed, and receiving the 2014 Emerging Filmmaker Award from the Kansas City Film Fest.
This culminated in more career moves, & the goal of joining the episodic storytelling movement. The following years saw him quickly turn SAG-AFTRA and add eight episodic roles to his resume, before expanding his big-budget feature horizons with D'Onofrio's directorial debut "The Kid", joining the Breaking Bad universe in "El Camino" as SEAN LIEBOLD, & working with Tom Hanks in "News of the World".
He's also made episodic appearances in CW's "Roswell, New Mexico", Little Marvin & Lena Waithe's "Them" (Amazon Prime), CBS's "Interrogation" (with Kyle Gallner), Brad Pitt's PLAN B ENTERTAINMENT-produced TNT pilot "Monsters of God" (with Lauren Ambrose & Brian Geraghty), NBC'S "The Night Shift" (with Ken Leung), Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Til Dawn", and EPIX'S "Graves" (with Chris Lowell). In addition, Chris has now totaled over two hundred other roles, as well as producing or directing over seventy independent narrative works.
His passion for bringing roles to life with authenticity and empathy is only rivaled by his extreme work ethic, as he continues to refine his art and craft intriguing characters from his home base in LA.
