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Saw

I want to play a game. Explore the Saw movies, cast, characters and twisted legacy of Jigsaw, from the original bathroom trap to the ever-expanding mythology of John Kramer and his apprentices.

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Cast Directory

Meet the Cast

The actors behind the Saw movies — from the faces that defined the series to the supporting players who helped bring the world to life.

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Cast Member

5 Films

Tobin Bell

Queens, New York, USA

Tobin Bell’s screen presence thrives on patience. With his measured delivery and ability to make silence feel threatening, he spent years building a career from small parts before finding the role that would make those qualities impossible to overlook. Born on August 7, 1942, in Queens and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Bell initially studied liberal arts and journalism with plans to enter writing and broadcasting. He also earned a master’s degree in environmental science from Montclair State University and worked for the New York Botanical Garden. A Boston University seminar by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy helped steer him toward acting. He later trained at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Ellen Burstyn and attended Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse. Bell took background and stand-in work seriously, appearing in more than 30 films during the late 1970s and early 1980s while performing off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. He used sets as classrooms, observing filmmakers and actors while learning the technical demands of screen performance. That methodical streak continued into his character preparation: Bell keeps a journal for each role, filling it with questions, motivations and stream-of-consciousness notes. After moving to Los Angeles, he appeared in Mississippi Burning, The Firm and In the Line of Fire, along with television roles in Seinfeld, ER, NYPD Blue, The Sopranos and 24. These parts made good use of his controlled intensity, whether he was playing an authority figure, an assassin or a villain operating several steps ahead. His breakthrough came as John Kramer, also known as Jigsaw, in 2004’s Saw. Bell had few lines in the first film, but his presence was pivotal, and he returned throughout the series as the character’s history and philosophy expanded. He reprised the role in Jigsaw and returned as the central figure in Saw X. Across those films, Bell made Kramer more than a familiar horror voice: calm, deliberate and disturbing precisely because he rarely needs to raise the volume.

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Cast Member

3 Films

Costas Mandylor

Melbourne

Costas Mandylor has built a screen career around characters who carry authority, danger or some uneasy combination of the two. Born Costas Theodosopoulos in Melbourne on 3 September 1965, he grew up in St Kilda and South Melbourne as the son of Greek immigrants. He later adopted a version of his mother’s maiden name, feeling that his Greek surname was too long for his acting career. Mandylor moved to the United States in 1987 and began taking acting lessons, though work did not come immediately. His first major film role arrived in Triumph of the Spirit in 1989, playing a European Jew in a production filmed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. He followed it with an appearance as an Italian count in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, then stepped into the gangster genre as Mafia boss Frank Costello in Mobsters. Mandylor had long been interested in that world, and later recalled that a teenage job washing dishes in a Melbourne nightclub had brought him into contact with dangerous figures from the city’s underground. Television gave him one of his longest-running roles. From 1992 until 1996, he played Officer Kenny Lacos in the CBS drama Picket Fences, establishing a steady presence across the show’s run. The part also demonstrated a quality that would recur in his work: Mandylor is particularly at home playing men whose professional control can sit alongside more complicated instincts. For horror audiences, he is most closely associated with Detective Mark Hoffman in the Saw series. After appearing in Saw III, he returned for Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D, becoming a central figure in the franchise’s increasingly tangled machinery. More than a decade later, he made a cameo appearance in Saw X. Across film and television, Mandylor’s career has been shaped by cops, criminals and men moving through morally pressurized situations—a durable screen lane built on his direct, hard-edged presence.

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Cast Member

2 Films

Betsy Russell

San Diego

Betsy Russell is an American film and television actor whose career stretches from early-1980s comedy and genre pictures to a prominent place in the Saw series. Born in San Diego on September 6, 1963, Russell attended Mission Bay High School, where she appeared in a locally taped Pepsi commercial before graduating in 1981. Her first film role came in the 1982 comedy Let’s Do It! That same year, she began appearing on television, with roles in Family Ties and The Powers of Matthew Star. Her breakout arrived in 1983 when she played Jordan Leigh-Jensen in Private School, a performance that helped establish the confident, lively screen presence she brought to much of her early work. Russell became a familiar face in 1980s B movies, moving between comedy, action and horror rather than settling into one lane. She appeared in Avenging Angel, starred in the sports comedy Tomboy and entered slasher territory with Cheerleader Camp. Her television work during this period included appearances on The A-Team, Murder, She Wrote, 1st & Ten and Superboy. After retiring from acting for 15 years to focus on family, Russell returned in Saw III as Jill Tuck, the ex-wife of John Kramer. What began as a small role grew across Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D, giving her a sustained presence in one of modern horror’s major sequel-driven stories. Jill is closely tied to the series’ increasingly tangled mythology, and Russell’s return became the defining later chapter of her screen career. She subsequently appeared in the 2010 horror film Chain Letter, the SyFy film Mandrake and My Trip Back to the Dark Side. Across comedies, slashers, television guest roles and the elaborate machinery of Saw, Russell’s filmography reflects a career with a firm footing in genre cinema.

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Cast Member

1 Film

Cary Elwes

Westminster

Cary Elwes has built a career on an unusually useful combination of sincerity, comic timing and an ability to turn polished charm in darker directions. Born in Westminster, London, in 1962, the British actor trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before moving to the United States to study acting at Sarah Lawrence College, the Actors Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. After making his acting debut in Another Country in 1984, Elwes played Guilford Dudley opposite Helena Bonham Carter in Lady Jane. His defining early role arrived as Westley, the stable boy turned swashbuckler at the heart of Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride. The film grew into a cult favourite through television and home video, while Elwes’s straight-faced romantic confidence proved essential to its mix of fantasy, adventure and comedy. He continued to move easily between leading and supporting parts. Elwes played Robin Hood in Mel Brooks’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights and appeared in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Days of Thunder, Twister, Liar Liar and Kiss the Girls. In Saw, he took on one of his sharpest changes of register as Dr. Lawrence Gordon, later returning to the role in Saw 3D. His film work has also included The Cat’s Meow, Ella Enchanted and Shadow of the Vampire. Television has given Elwes another wide field to work in. He portrayed astronaut Michael Collins in From the Earth to the Moon, held a recurring role as FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer in The X-Files and repeatedly appeared as art thief Pierre Despereaux in Psych. Later roles included Mayor Larry Kline in Stranger Things and Gavin Hawk in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Alongside film, television and stage acting, Elwes has worked as a voice actor, screenwriter and producer. He voiced characters across animation and games, played five roles in A Christmas Carol, co-wrote the screenplay for Elvis & Nixon and revisited his best-known production in the memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. It is a varied body of work, held together by an actor equally comfortable with adventure, parody, period drama and horror.

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Cast Member

3 Films

Donnie Wahlberg

Boston

Donnie Wahlberg has built a screen career around intensity, vulnerability and a distinctly grounded presence. Born on August 17, 1969, in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, he first entered entertainment as an original member and leader of New Kids on the Block. The group became a major part of late-1980s and early-1990s pop, disbanded in 1994 and reunited in 2008. Wahlberg remained a member as of 2024, balancing music with an increasingly substantial acting career. His first film role came in 1996’s Bullet, alongside Mickey Rourke and Tupac Shakur. That year he also appeared as a kidnapper in Ransom, then returned to his hometown for the South Boston-set Southie. His brief but unsettling appearance in the opening sequence of The Sixth Sense brought particular attention in 1999, showing how much unease he could create with limited screen time. Wahlberg’s television work gave him room to develop that force over longer stories. He played Second Lieutenant C. Carwood Lipton in the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, then starred as Los Angeles detective Joel Stevens in Boomtown. Executive producer Graham Yost, who had worked with Wahlberg on Band of Brothers, wrote the Boomtown role specifically for him. Film roles continued across horror, crime and drama. Wahlberg played Duddits in the Stephen King adaptation Dreamcatcher and Detective Eric Matthews in several Saw films, beginning with Saw II. He also appeared in Annapolis, Righteous Kill and What Doesn’t Kill You. His defining television role became Detective Danny Reagan in the New York police drama Blue Bloods, and he also directed an episode during its fourth season. Wahlberg has described himself as a character actor rather than a movie star, a distinction that fits his work: he often plays men whose authority is complicated by pressure, damage or uncertainty. Beyond acting and music, his career has also included producing, composing, screenwriting and hosting the documentary series Very Scary People.

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Cast Member

2 Films

Dina Meyer

New York City

Dina Meyer is an American actress whose screen career has moved comfortably between science fiction, horror, action and television drama. Born in Queens, New York, in 1968, she earned a bachelor of business administration degree from Long Island University before spending three years training at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Meyer moved to Los Angeles in 1993 for a recurring role as Lucinda Nicholson on Beverly Hills, 90210. Film work followed quickly: she played the female lead opposite Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic, appeared in Rob Cohen’s Dragonheart and joined Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers as Dizzy Flores. Although Starship Troopers underperformed on its original release, its later cult status helped make it one of the defining genre films in her career. That career has often made good use of Meyer’s direct, self-possessed presence. She played Romulan Commander Donatra in Star Trek: Nemesis and Detective Allison Kerry across the first four Saw films, bringing authority to stories built around danger, pressure and shifting loyalties. Other film credits include Poodle Springs with James Caan, Bats, D-Tox, Piranha 3D, The Evil Within and the Western Dead in Tombstone. Television has given Meyer an equally varied set of roles. She starred as Barbara Gordon—Oracle and Batgirl—in Birds of Prey, later returning to the part for The Flash’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover in 2019. Her series work also includes Secret Agent Man, Point Pleasant, Sequestered and recurring appearances on Scoundrels, 90210, The Magicians, The Affair and All American. Along the way, she has guest-starred on shows ranging from Friends and Ally McBeal to Six Feet Under, The Mentalist, Castle, NCIS and American Horror Story. Across those roles, Meyer has become a dependable presence in genre storytelling: equally at home facing futuristic warfare, elaborate horror traps, superhero complications or the tensions of a television drama.

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Cast Member

2 Films

Bahar Soomekh

Veracruz

Bahar Soomekh is a Mexican-born Iranian American actor whose screen career took shape through tense dramas, large-scale thrillers and horror. Born in Veracruz on March 30, 1975, she moved with her parents and sister to Los Angeles in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution. She attended Sinai Akiba Academy and Beverly Hills High School before earning a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1997. Acting did not immediately become her full-time profession. After college, Soomekh worked in motivational sales while taking acting classes, then began appearing as a guest performer on television shows including JAG and 24. Once she left her day job to concentrate on acting, the change came quickly: less than three months later, she secured the role of Dorri in Crash. That part became her breakthrough when Crash went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Soomekh followed it with roles in Syriana and Mission: Impossible III, placing her in a run of ambitious, high-pressure studio films. In 2006, she moved into horror with a leading role as Dr. Lynn Denlon in Saw III, playing a doctor forced into the machinery of the series’ brutal moral tests. Her television work continued alongside those films. Soomekh had a recurring role as Margo in Day Break and made guest appearances on Ghost Whisperer and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Her last film role came in Just Like a Woman, released in 2012. Soomekh’s filmography is relatively compact, but it includes several of the most widely discussed dramas, thrillers and horror releases of the mid-2000s. After her screen career, she pursued work in real estate with a focus on upscale housing, marking a distinct second chapter beyond acting.

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Cast Member

2 Films

Angus Macfadyen

Glasgow

Scottish actor Angus Macfadyen has built a career around characters who carry history, danger or contradiction with them. Born in Glasgow on September 21, 1963, he was brought up in the Philippines, Africa, Singapore and France while his father worked as a doctor for the World Health Organization. He later attended the University of Edinburgh and London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. Macfadyen’s first screen role came in the television film The Lost Language of Cranes, in which he played Philip, a young man preparing to tell his parents that he is gay. Work in Soldier Soldier, 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight and Takin’ Over the Asylum followed before he took on Robert the Bruce in Braveheart. It became one of the roles most closely associated with his screen career and established his knack for playing men caught between authority, ambition and uncertainty. That quality has served him across an unusually varied collection of historical and literary figures. He portrayed Richard Burton in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story, Peter Lawford in The Rat Pack and Orson Welles in Tim Robbins’s Cradle Will Rock. In Julie Taymor’s Titus, he appeared as Lucius opposite Anthony Hopkins, while later television work included Marcus Crassus in Spartacus, Robert Rogers in Turn: Washington’s Spies and Allan Pinkerton in The Pinkertons. Macfadyen has also moved comfortably into more heightened genre territory. He played Vice-Counsel Dupont in the dystopian thriller Equilibrium, the title pirate in the Blackbeard miniseries and the revenge-driven Jeff Denlon in Saw III and Saw IV. His interest in Shakespeare continued with Falstaff in the modern adaptation H4 and Macbeth: Unhinged, a feature adaptation in which he both starred and directed. Later roles have included biologist James Murray in The Lost City of Z and Jor-El in Superman & Lois. Across film, television and stage work, Macfadyen’s career has remained difficult to pin to one type—a fitting shape for an actor equally at home with Shakespeare, historical drama, horror and comic-book mythology.

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Cast Member

1 Film

Beverley Mitchell

Arcadia

Beverley Mitchell’s screen career is anchored by Lucy Camden, the role she landed after first auditioning for Lucy’s sister Mary in the family drama 7th Heaven. That change of direction proved important: Lucy gave Mitchell a substantial television role and established the warm, approachable presence that would remain a natural part of her work. Born Beverley Ann Mitchell on January 22, 1981, in Arcadia, California, she found an early major film part at 15 as Grace, a teenage drug addict, in The Crow: City of Angels. The role sits in sharp contrast to her work on 7th Heaven and points to a career that has often moved between family television and darker genre material. During a break from filming the series in 2005, she played Laura Hunter in the horror sequel Saw II. Mitchell also took the lead as drag racer Erica Enders in the 2003 Disney Channel movie Right on Track, based on the early careers of Erica and Courtney Enders. Other television work has included a small appearance in The Amanda Show, the Lifetime movie I Know What I Saw and a third-season role as school counselor Katelyn O’Malley in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She later appeared alongside Jodie Sweetin and Christine Lakin in Hollywood Darlings, which premiered in 2017. Her interests have extended beyond acting. After graduating from Chaminade College Preparatory School in 1999, Mitchell studied film production at Loyola Marymount University. She is also a singer, film producer and screenwriter. In 2006, she released a self-titled country album and co-wrote eight of its songs, including the deeply personal “Angel.” Mitchell returned to the world of 7th Heaven in a different format when a rewatch podcast, Catching Up with the Camdens, was announced in 2024 with former co-stars Mackenzie Rosman and David Gallagher. It is a fitting extension of the role most closely woven through her screen career.

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Cast Member

1 Film

Carlo Rota

London

Carlo Rota took a less conventional route to the screen than most. A British-born Canadian actor, he was born in London on April 17, 1961, to Italian parents and grew up in Osterley. His family later lived in Italy, Hong Kong, the Bahamas and the United Kingdom before settling in Toronto—a well-travelled background that seems fitting for a performer whose career has moved easily between Canadian, British and American television. Before acting, Rota spent years in the culinary industry, operating and owning several Toronto restaurants. He decided to change careers at 30 and almost immediately found roles in the Canadian series Street Legal and the independent film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. His restaurant experience also led to hosting CBC’s Great Canadian Food Show, which was nominated for a James Beard Award for Excellence in Culinary Journalism. Rota has become especially familiar through television characters who arrive with confidence, wit or a suggestion that they know more than they are saying. On 24, he played Morris O’Brian, the arrogant but highly capable computer scientist married to Chloe O’Brian. La Femme Nikita gave him an even more slippery assignment: Mick Schtoppel, an informant whose identity becomes entangled in a succession of elaborate revelations. He found a warmer comic register as Yasir Hamoudi, the Lebanese-Canadian construction contractor in CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie. Elsewhere, he has appeared in Queer as Folk, Castle, Relic Hunter, Traders, Stargate Universe, White Collar, CSI: NY, The Mentalist, Bones, Grimm, NCIS: Los Angeles and Breaking Bad. His film work includes Saw V, in which he played Herald journalist Charles. In 2024, Rota joined General Hospital as Jenz Sidwell. It is another role in a career shaped less by one fixed screen persona than by adaptability: comedy, conspiracy drama, crime television, horror and soap opera all sit comfortably within his range.

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Cast Member

1 Film

Danny Glover

San Francisco

Danny Glover has built a screen career around authority, emotional weight and an understated warmth that can surface even in his toughest roles. Born in San Francisco on July 22, 1946, he worked in city administration and community development before leaving that path for the stage. He trained at the Black Actors’ Workshop of the American Conservatory Theater and with Jean Shelton at the Shelton Actors Lab, then moved to Los Angeles in search of acting opportunities. Glover made his film debut in Escape from Alcatraz in 1979, with early work including Hill Street Blues and Places in the Heart. His range became especially clear in 1985, when he appeared in The Color Purple, Witness and Silverado—three very different films that established him as a substantial dramatic presence. For many viewers, Glover remains closely associated with Roger Murtaugh, the Los Angeles police sergeant he played across four Lethal Weapon films between 1987 and 1998. The role made fine use of his ability to balance action, exasperated humor and a convincing sense of responsibility. But it represents only one part of a remarkably varied body of work. He played Nelson Mandela in the HBO film Mandela, Joshua Deets in Lonesome Dove and the enigmatic Harry Mention in Charles Burnett’s To Sleep with Anger, winning an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for the latter performance. His filmography moves comfortably between studio pictures and independent cinema, including Predator 2, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, Saw, Dreamgirls, Sorry to Bother You and The Last Black Man in San Francisco. He has also worked extensively in television and voice acting, with animated credits including The Prince of Egypt, Antz and Barnyard. Beyond acting, Glover has worked as a producer and director. In 1994, he and Ben Guillory founded Los Angeles’ Robey Theatre Company to focus on theatre by and about Black people. His career also reflects a sustained commitment to peace activism, giving his public work a reach well beyond the screen.

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1 Film

Emmanuelle Vaugier

Vancouver

Emmanuelle Vaugier is a Canadian actress and model whose screen career moves easily between science fiction, crime drama, comedy and horror. Born in Vancouver on June 23, 1976, she is the daughter of French immigrants and grew up in a French-speaking Roman Catholic household. She attended Crofton House School for 10 years before transferring to Magee Secondary School for her final two years of high school. Vaugier’s television work has given her a particularly strong connection to genre storytelling. After appearing as Maria Alcobar in a 1995 episode of Highlander: The Series, she played Dr. Helen Bryce on Smallville in 2002 and 2003. She later took on recurring roles as Detective Jessica Angell in CSI: NY and the Morrigan, leader of the Dark Fae, in Lost Girl. Her other television characters include Nicki in the first two seasons of One Tree Hill and Mia, a ballet teacher who appeared across 12 episodes of Two and a Half Men between 2005 and 2015. Guest appearances on Supernatural, Veronica Mars, Charmed, Andromeda and The Outer Limits further show the range of series she has stepped into. Her film work has often leaned toward thrillers and horror. Vaugier played Addison in Saw II and Saw IV, appeared in the romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights, and starred as a small-town sheriff in the Canadian film Unearthed. She also had starring roles in Suddenly Naked, the science-fiction thriller Mindstorm and the psychological thriller Ripper, and appeared in the sequel to Mirrors. Vaugier has worked beyond film and television as well, playing Nikki in the 2006 video game Need for Speed: Carbon. Across those roles, she has built a varied career around characters operating in heightened worlds, whether surrounded by police investigations, supernatural power struggles or the machinery of a horror franchise.

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Cast Member

1 Film

Erik Knudsen

Toronto

Erik Knudsen is a Canadian actor whose screen career has moved easily between horror, science fiction, comedy and television drama. Born in Toronto on March 25, 1988, he made his film debut in the 2000 release Tribulation. An early guest role on The Guardian brought him a Young Artist Award nomination, followed by a starring part in the 2003 television series Mental Block. Knudsen soon began building a filmography filled with troubled worlds and characters caught in unusual circumstances. He co-starred in Saw II in 2005, entering one of the defining horror franchises of its period, and later played Robbie in Scream 4. In Youth in Revolt, he appeared as Leroy “Lefty,” while Scott Pilgrim vs. the World gave him the wonderfully specific role of Lucas “Crash” Wilson, lead singer of the fictional band Crash and the Boys. Television has provided some of his most substantial work. From 2006 to 2008, Knudsen was a series regular on Jericho as Dale Turner. He later portrayed teenage technology prodigy Alec Sadler in the Canadian science-fiction series Continuum, appearing alongside Rachel Nichols and Victor Webster. His performance earned consecutive Saturn Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. That mix of genre projects and character parts continued with The Barrens, in which he played Ryan opposite Stephen Moyer, as well as appearances in Bon Cop, Bad Cop 2 and the horror feature Darker Than Night. His television work also includes the Stephen King-based science-fiction series The Mist and the space adventure drama Killjoys. Across those roles, Knudsen has developed a screen identity particularly suited to stories where danger, technology and dark humor overlap.

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Cast Member

1 Film

Julie Benz

Pittsburgh, USA

Julie Benz has built a career around characters who rarely stay comfortable for long. Whether working in horror, science fiction, crime drama or comedy, the Pittsburgh-born American actress brings an alert, grounded quality to stories driven by danger and uncertainty. Before acting, Benz was a figure skater. She began skating at three and continued until a stress fracture interrupted that path when she was 14. Local theatre followed, including a role in Street Law, and she made her film debut with a small speaking part in the “The Black Cat” segment of Two Evil Eyes. After graduating from New York University in 1993, she moved to Los Angeles and began assembling a varied run of television work. Her breakthrough came through a role she hadn't originally pursued. Benz auditioned to play Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then was cast as the vampire Darla in the pilot. The part expanded beyond its initial scope, and she later reprised Darla throughout the spin-off Angel. It became an early demonstration of her ability to give genre characters more emotional weight than their plot function might suggest. Benz found another defining television role as Rita Bennett, Dexter Morgan’s girlfriend and eventual wife, in Dexter. Rita’s comparative warmth gave the series a vital connection to ordinary domestic life, while the character’s vulnerability placed Benz at the centre of some of its darkest turns. Her television work also includes Robin Gallagher in Desperate Housewives, Stephanie Powell in No Ordinary Family, Mayor Amanda Rosewater in Defiance and Abby Dunn in Hawaii Five-O. Her film roles have kept her close to similarly tough terrain. She played Brit, one of Jigsaw’s five victims, in Saw V; Angela in Punisher: War Zone; and appeared opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rambo. Across those projects and her extensive television career, Benz has shown a particular knack for playing people forced to find their footing inside unstable worlds.

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