# Fred Weller
**Fred Weller** (Frederick Weller) is an American stage, film, and television actor best known for playing Marshal Marshall Mann for five seasons on the [USA Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/usa-network) series *[In Plain Sight](https://www.edgepedia.org/in-plain-sight)*.[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about) Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he built his career primarily in New York theater, appearing in eight Broadway plays and twelve [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) plays, and has won a Drama Desk Award and an Obie Award.[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | New Orleans, Louisiana; sources give 1966 (IMDb, TVInsider, Playbill) or 1970 (IBDB)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919867/) • [3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) |
| Signature TV role | Marshal Marshall Mann, *In Plain Sight* (USA Network), 5 seasons, 61 episodes, 2008–2012[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919867/) |
| Broadway count | Major roles in 8 Broadway plays, including *Take Me Out*, *Glengarry Glen Ross*, *Seascape*, *Mothers and Sons*, and *To Kill a Mockingbird*[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about) • [3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) |
| Awards | Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble Performance, *Glengarry Glen Ross* (2005); Obie Award, Best Ensemble, *Curtains*; two further Drama Desk and two Lucille Lortel nominations[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) • [4](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/) |
| Notable films | *Stonewall* (1995), *The Shape of Things*, *Coyote Ugly*, *BlacKkKlansman* (2018)[4](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/) |
| Other TV | HBO's *Mosaic* opposite Sharon Stone, directed by Steven Soderbergh; guest roles on *Odd Mom Out* and *Banshee*[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about) • [4](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/) |
| Training | Juilliard[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) |
## Early career in New York theater
Weller's first New York stage job was understudying four characters in John Guare's *Six Degrees of Separation*; near the end of the run he went on for everyone, according to a 2003 Playbill interview.[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) IBDB credits him on that production as an understudy and replacement.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) In 1996, a week and a half before previews of Stephen Bill's Off-Broadway play *Curtains*, he took over for an actor who lost his voice; the production earned the cast a shared Obie Award.[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) • [4](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/)
His early Broadway roles came quickly: Villebosse in the Roundabout's 1996 revival of [Jean Anouilh](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-anouilh)'s *The Rehearsal*, then Leo Hubbard opposite [Stockard Channing](https://www.edgepedia.org/stockard-channing) in the 1997 [Lincoln Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/lincoln-center) revival of Lillian Hellman's *The Little Foxes*.[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) • [3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462)
## Breakthrough: Take Me Out
Weller originated the role of Shane Mungitt, a narrow-minded baseball pitcher, in Richard Greenberg's *Take Me Out*, which opened on Broadway on February 27, 2003 and ran to January 4, 2004.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) The play had started in London, moved Off-Broadway, and then to Broadway, a progression Weller described in interviews as "quite a wild ride."[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) • [6](https://eclipsemagazine.com/hollywood-insider-in-plain-sights-fred-weller-talks-marshal-marshall-season-two/) He called Mungitt his most interesting role, saying he worked on the character's sympathetic side and his "intense, emotional need."[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for the performance.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462)
Two years later he starred as John Williamson in the 2005 Broadway revival of *Glengarry Glen Ross*, sharing the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance with the cast.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) A third Drama Desk nomination followed in 2007 for *Some Men*.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462)
## Later stage work
Weller continued in high-profile revivals and new plays. He played Leslie in [Edward Albee](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-albee)'s *Seascape* on Broadway in 2005, a role that required him to perform as a lizard; he prepared by studying a garden-variety lizard during a vacation in [South Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-carolina).[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) • [7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Scaling-New-Heights-With-Frederick-Weller-A-visit-with-one-of-the-stars-of-Edward-Albees-SEASCAPE-20051211) In 2014 he played Cal Porter in [Terrence McNally](https://www.edgepedia.org/terrence-mcnally)'s *Mothers and Sons*, and from 2018 to 2019 he played Bob Ewell in Aaron Sorkin's Broadway adaptation of Harper Lee's *To Kill a Mockingbird*.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462) • [8](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Frederick-Weller/)
Off-Broadway, his credits include *Fulfillment Center*, *Money Shot*, *Reasons to Be Happy* (Lucille Lortel nomination), *Some Men*, *Mother Courage*, *The Shape of Things* (Lucille Lortel nomination, also London), *The Country Club*, and *Plunge*.[4](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/) He has also played leads in regional productions, including *A View from the Bridge* at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the Kennedy Center.[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about)
## Television and film
Weller's early screen work included guest appearances on *I'll Fly Away* and *Law & Order*, a role as [Eliot Ness](https://www.edgepedia.org/eliot-ness)'s supposed roommate in *The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles*, and a lead as Chicago cop Johnny Sandowski in the ABC series *Missing Persons* (1993–94), which did not find an audience.[9](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/frederick-weller/) His feature debut was the lead in *Stonewall* (1995), a fictionalized account of the 1969 police raid on a Manhattan gay bar; later 1990s film roles were mostly small parts, including *Basquiat* (1996) and *Armageddon* (1998).[9](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/frederick-weller/) His part in *Coyote Ugly* (2000) was cut from the film.[9](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/frederick-weller/)
Television brought his widest exposure. As Marshal Marshall Mann on *In Plain Sight*, a drama about the federal witness protection program, he appeared in 61 episodes from 2008 to 2012.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919867/) In interviews he described the character as unusually written for television, "a bad ass and a dork at the same time," and said the show's tone, drama with humor, felt closer to theater than to a standard procedural.[10](https://www.fanbolt.com/5917/interview-fred-weller-from-in-plain-sight/) He prepared for the role partly by talking with the show's technical advisor, a former head of the witness protection program.[10](https://www.fanbolt.com/5917/interview-fred-weller-from-in-plain-sight/)
Later screen work includes the HBO miniseries *Mosaic* (2018), directed by [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-soderbergh), in which he starred opposite [Sharon Stone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sharon-stone), and [Spike Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/spike-lee)'s *BlacKkKlansman* (2018).[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about) • [4](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/) His own website credits him with about 50 film and television projects, including portraying Brian Wilson in *The Beach Boys: A Family Story*.[1](https://www.frederickweller.com/about)
## Personal life
Weller met the actress Ali Marsh during the run of *The Little Foxes*, when her friend Jennifer Dundas introduced them; the two married.[5](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241) He is a cousin of the actor [Peter Weller](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-weller), their fathers being brothers.[11](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919867/bio)
## References
1. [Frederick Weller, Actor – About](https://www.frederickweller.com/about)
2. [Frederick Weller – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919867/)
3. [Frederick Weller – Broadway Cast & Staff, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frederick-weller-71462)
4. [Frederick Weller Biography – Broadway Buzz, Broadway.com](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/frederick-weller/profile/)
5. [Stage to Screens: Chats with Jeffrey Tambor and Frederick Weller – Playbill](https://playbill.com/article/stage-to-screens-chats-with-jeffrey-tambor-and-frederick-weller-com-127241)
6. [In Plain Sight's Fred Weller Talks Marshal Marshall & Season Two – EclipseMagazine](https://eclipsemagazine.com/hollywood-insider-in-plain-sights-fred-weller-talks-marshal-marshall-season-two/)
7. [Scaling New Heights With Frederick Weller – BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Scaling-New-Heights-With-Frederick-Weller-A-visit-with-one-of-the-stars-of-Edward-Albees-SEASCAPE-20051211)
8. [Frederick Weller – BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Frederick-Weller/)
9. [Frederick Weller – TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/frederick-weller/)
10. [Interview: Fred Weller from In Plain Sight – FanBolt](https://www.fanbolt.com/5917/interview-fred-weller-from-in-plain-sight/)
11. [Frederick Weller – Biography – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919867/bio)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames U to We*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license