Jay Karnes: From Shakespearean to Super Cop and Back Again

You may know him as Detective Holland “Dutch” Wagenbach on The Shield, the award-winning police drama from FX. Or you may know him as Josh Kohn, the out of control ATF agent on FX’s Sons of Anarchy. Or you just may know him because you went to school with him at Brownell-Talbot School in Omaha, where Jay Karnes caught the acting bug.

The Nebraska native made a name for himself as a Shakespearean actor for many years, especially with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he played major roles in Love’s Labours Lost , among other plays.

He has also made guest-star appearances on a number of television shows, including Frasier, Judging Amy, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, Start Trek: Voyager, House, and Burn Notice. His most recent work is as Brutus in the Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar and in Donkey Punch, a short film that premiered at the HollyShorts Film Festival this month.

The film, produced by Emmy-winning director Anthony Russo and directed by Kenneth Hughes and written by John Hlavin, is getting a great deal of good buzz from audiences and critics alike. Though hard to describe without spoilers, if it were a reality TV series, Donkey Punch would be called "When Good Dates Go Wrong--Terribly, Terribly Wrong."

Karnes attended the University of Kansas and lives in California. He is married to actress Julia Campbell, with whom he has twin girls.