In 1987, Krause made his first feature film appearance in an American slasher film,
Blood Harvest. After earning an
M.F.A. degree from the
New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 1990, he moved to
Los Angeles and made his first television appearance, playing various roles in
Carol Burnett's comedy anthology series
Carol & Company from 1990 to 1991. In the early 1990s, he appeared in TV shows such as
Seinfeld,
Beverly Hills, 90210 and
Ellen. Starting in 1996, Krause appeared in a recurring role as
Cybill Shepherd's son-in-law Kevin on her sitcom
Cybill for four seasons. From 1998 to 2000, Krause also portrayed the character
Casey McCall on the ABC network's comedy
Sports Night. Although the show received considerable critical acclaim, it struggled to find an audience and was canceled after two seasons. Krause starred in the critically acclaimed HBO drama series
Six Feet Under from 2001 to 2005. He received seven award nominations (including three
Emmy nominations) for his portrayal of funeral director
Nate Fisher. Krause appeared on Broadway in the summer of 2004 in a revival of Arthur Miller's
After the Fall. In December 2006, he played the lead role, Detective Joe Miller, in the
Sci Fi Channel miniseries
The Lost Room. From 2007 to 2009, Krause portrayed young lawyer Nick George in ABC's drama
Dirty Sexy Money alongside veteran actor
Donald Sutherland. He had initially turned down the role three times. He also served as a series producer. From 2010 to 2015, he played
Adam Braverman in the NBC comedy-drama
Parenthood. He directed three episodes for the show. Krause appeared in the 2011 fantasy film
Beastly, based on
Alex Flinn's 2007
novel of the same name. From 2016 to 2017, he starred opposite
Mireille Enos in the ABC crime drama series
The Catch, produced by
Shonda Rhimes. In August 2017, Krause was cast in the
Ryan Murphy-produced drama
9-1-1, which focuses on the lives of
first responders. He played one of the show's central characters, a fire captain named Bobby Nash, and served as the executive producer of the series. In 2025, his character was written out in Season 8 as part of the show's creative direction. He is the
narrator of
Citizen Hearst, an
Insignia Films documentary about
William Randolph Hearst which originally aired as an
American Experience two-part series on September 27 and 28, 2021. ==Personal life==