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Barry Del Sherman

Barry Del Sherman is an American actor whose work spans film, television and the stage. Born on November 10, 1962, in Fontana, he has built a career around characters who often enter a story at moments of conflict, pressure or change. One of his best-known film roles is Brad Dupree in American Beauty, the executive who fires Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey. It is a pointed part in a film filled with strained conversations and shifting power, and Sherman’s character helps set its central upheaval in motion. He also appears in There Will Be Blood as H. Ailman, the business partner of Daniel Plainview, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The role places him within the business dealings surrounding Plainview and the film’s severe world of ambition. His film work also includes a role in Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions. Sherman has been equally at home in television guest roles. His credits include appearances on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: NY and The Bridge. Those appearances reflect a career that moves easily between feature films and episodic television without depending on a single recurring character or format. His work has also extended to the stage on both coasts. In New York, he appeared in Marlane Meyer’s The Mystery of Attraction at Tribeca Playhouse. In Los Angeles, he performed in Pierre Marivaux’s The False Servant at Odyssey Theater. Across these roles, Sherman’s career is marked by steady movement between different kinds of performance: major films, television guest appearances and theatre productions. Whether playing an executive delivering life-changing news or a figure inside a tense business partnership, he brings his part into focus without needing to dominate the entire story.