Cole began his professional career in 1983 as a stage actor in
Chicago, where he joined the ensemble of the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. He has also appeared in several
off-Broadway productions in
New York City. Some of Cole's early roles included playing accused Army triple-murderer Capt
Jeffrey MacDonald in the mini-series
Fatal Vision (1984), and an assistant football coach in the film
Lucas (1986). Between 1988 and 1991, Cole became popular on TV for playing the part of Jack "Nighthawk" Killian in the series
Midnight Caller. One of his most notable roles in 1991 was as Lt. Col. George A. Custer in the much acclaimed television film
Son of the Morning Star. Cole played Secret Service Agent Bill Watts in the film
In the Line of Fire (1993). He then played
The Brady Bunch patriarch
Mike Brady in the film
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), the sequel
A Very Brady Sequel (1996), and the television film
The Brady Bunch in the White House (2002). Cole starred in the film
Office Space (1999), in which he portrayed the micromanaging office supervisor
Bill Lumbergh. When asked about the oft-quoted character, Cole said: Cole has done voice work on several animated series (
Family Guy;
Kim Possible;
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated;
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law;
Archer) and had a recurring role on the drama
The West Wing as Vice President
Bob Russell. He also starred as
Captain Matthew Gideon on the short-lived
Babylon 5 spin-off
Crusade, and had notable guest appearances on
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and
Arrested Development. He also played Joe Maxwell on
DCOM Cadet Kelly and appeared as real-life astronaut
Edgar Mitchell in HBO's recreation of
Project Apollo,
From the Earth to the Moon. Cole starred as Lieutenant Conrad Rose on the
TNT series
Wanted, he is also the voice of the
title character on the
Adult Swim series
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and starred as Sheriff Lucas Buck on the one season 1995 show,
American Gothic. Cole also played Bill Owens, Sy Parrish's (
Robin Williams) boss, in the film
One Hour Photo (2002). He also appeared in the films
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004),
The Ring Two (2005),
Talladega Nights (2006),
American Pastime (2007), and
Forever Strong (2008). Cole played
Katherine Mayfair's ex-husband Wayne on
Desperate Housewives and also played the dangerous drug lord Ted Jones in
Pineapple Express (2008) with
Seth Rogen and
James Franco. He also appeared in an episode from the third season of the
USA Network series
Psych as S.W.A.T. commander Cameron Luntz. In 2008, Cole appeared on
Chuck as
Sarah's con-artist father (in "
Chuck Versus the DeLorean"), a role which he reprised in 2011 (in "
Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner"). He also appeared in the fifth season of HBO's
Entourage playing Ari Gold's old pal Andrew Klein for a three-episode story arc prior to joining the regular cast in the sixth season. He played ballistics expert Kurt McVeigh on
The Good Wife and on
The Good Fight. On both shows, he played opposite Christine Baranski, who portrayed lawyer Diane Lockhart. Cole had a guest-appearance on the fourth season of the
HBO series
True Blood, playing
Sookie Stackhouse's grandfather. In 2011, Cole joined Fox's comedy pilot
Tagged, but the series was not picked up. That same year, he played Henry O'Hare in the Easter comedy film
Hop. In 2013, Cole began a recurring role on
Suits as Cameron Dennis, the former mentor of
Harvey Specter, one of the show's main characters. Also in 2013, Cole began a major recurring role as Kent Davison on the
HBO comedy series
Veep, joining the main cast at the start of the show's second season. In 2014, he was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work in season three. Additionally, Cole was nominated with his fellow cast members for the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for seasons 2, 3, 4, and 5 before ultimately winning the award in 2017 for season 6. Cole currently portrays Supervisory Special Agent
Alden Parker on
NCIS, and provides the voices of Sergeant Boscoe on ''
Bob's Burgers and Principal Shepherd on Family Guy''. He appears in triplicate as 10 Minutes, 10 Days, and 10 Years in the Future Spokesguy in
Kabbage's 2019
commercial campaign. ==Personal life==