Jonathan Edward Bernthal, better known by his screen name, Jon Bernthal is an American film and TV actor who is best known for portraying the role of Shale Walsh in the popular AMC series The Walking Dead and in successful films like The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Fury (2014) and Sicario (2015).

Early Life
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Bernthal is the son of Joan Lurie and Eric Lawrence `Rick` Bernthal, a lawyer with Latham & Watkins LLP. The actor has two brothers named Nicholas and Thomas. After completing his high school, Jon Bernthal attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs and later went to The School of Moscow Art Theatre in Russia. While studying at the theater school, the actor played as a catcher in the semi-professional baseball team.

Personal Life
Jon Bernthal married Erin Angle, the niece of the popular professional wrestler, Kurt Angle on September 25, 2010, in Potomac, Maryland. The couple has two sons named Henry and Billy who were born in August 2011 and February 2013 and a daughter named Adeline who was born in February 2015.

Movie Career
Jon Bernthal made his debut on the silver screen in 2002 with the Joseph H and Biancaniello directed film Mary/Mary where he had only a minor role. With Bernthal garnering no attention, Bernthal next starred in Tony n` Tina`s Wedding, a comedy film directed by Roger Paradiso. In the same year, Bernthal starred in an American drama film titled Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, which was directed by Sheldon Larry. But none of the films performed well at the box office.

After a forgettable start to his career, the actor got a major breakthrough in 2006 as he starred in World Trade Center directed by Oliver Stone. The film featuring Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the lead roles opened to highly positive reviews and emerged to be a commercial hit. It grossed more than 160 million USD at the box office. In 2008, the actor had one of the worst years of his career as both his films, The Air I Breathe and Day Zero got mostly negative reviews.

Jon Bernthal ended the draught of a commercially successful movie with Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in 2009. The film directed by Shawn Levy and co-starring Ben Stiller, Amy Adams and Owen Wilson in the lead roles was the last film in the Night At the Museum series. Although the film got mixed critical reviews it emerged to be a box office hit, grossing more than 410 million USD. In 2010, the actor had two releases to his name, viz. The Ghost Writer and Date Night, which were met with contrasting results. Whilst The Ghost Writer, a Franco-German-British political thriller film directed by Roman Polanski won numerous Awards and emerged to be a commercial hit, Date Night co-starring Steve Carell, Tina fey, and Mark Wahlberg received mostly mixed reviews from the critics.

The actor got his next major breakthrough in 2013 as he starred in the critically acclaimed film The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Jonah Hill in the lead roles. The film directed by the acclaimed director Martin Scorsese won wide positive reviews from the critics as well as won several nominations at various prestigious film award functions. Following the success of Wolf of Wall Street, Bernthal appeared in the sports comedy film titled Grudge Match. The film co-starring Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, and Kevin Hart garnered mostly negative reviews and emerged to be a box office flop. For his solitary release in 2014, director David Ayer cast Jon Bernthal in the American war film Fury alongside Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, and Michael Pena. The film received mostly positive reviews and emerged to be a box office hit.

The year 2015 turned out to be one of the most successful years in Jon Bernthal`s movie as he started the year on a high; his first release of the year Me and Earl and the Dying Girl directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon won the U.S Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Audience for U.S. Drama awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. The film featuring Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, Rj Cyler, Nick Offerman and Molly Shannon in the lead roles garnered highly positive reviews from the critics. Later in the year, Bernthal featured in yet another critically acclaimed film titled Sicario. The film directed, which was based on an FBI agent who is enlisted by a government task for to bring down a dangerous Mexican drug cartel was selected to compete at the Palme d`Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film, which won three Academy Awards nominations and three nominations at the BAFTA awards grossed more than 84 million USD worldwide.

In his first release of the year in 2016, Jon Bernthal starred in the Sam Liu directed superhero animated film, Justice League vs Teen Titans. The direct-to-video film released through digital download in March 2016 and got mostly positive reviews. Bernthal`s other release of 2016 includes The Accountant, an American action thriller film directed by Gavin O`Connor. His other movie credits includes Baby Driver (2017), First Man (2018), Peanut Butter Falcon (2019), Ford v Ferrari (2019), Many Saints Of Newark (2020) and Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)..

Television Career
Jon Bernthal started his TV career in 2002 with Law & Order: Criminal Intent where he appeared in a single episode and played the role of Lane Ruddock. Two years later in 2004, the actor juggled between his work on the big screen and on TV as he appeared in three series` viz. Without a Trace, Dr. Vegas and the popular legal drama series Boston Legal. After appearing in a single episode of various series` like Jonny Zero, CSI: Miami and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2005, Bernthal got a major breakthrough in his TV career as the starred in The Class, which was created by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik`s. The series which ran between 2006 and 2007 had Bernthal playing the role of Duncan Carmello.

The actor got rose to fame in the TV series industry with his role as Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead, an American horror drama series, which was based on the comic book series of the same name. The actor starred as one of the leads in the season 1 and season of the series and starred as a special guest star in the season 3. For his outstanding performance in the series, Bernthal won a nomination for Breakout at the Scream Award in 2011.

In 2012, Jon Bernthal appeared in single episodes of Harry` Law, a legal comedy-drama series and Robot Chicken, stop-motion sketch comedy series, which was created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Robot Chicken won five Emmy Awards as well as an Annie Award. The following year, Jon Bernthal starred as one of the main cast in the American neo-noir crime drama series, Mob City. The series, which was based on the real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D offers and gangsters in 1940s garnered mostly positive reviews from the critics as well as the audience. After the success of Mob City, the actor took a break for one year from TV series and made a comeback in 2015 with Show Me a Hero, a miniseries where he appeared in four episodes. The actor`s 2016 TV series appearance include Daredevil, an American web television series created by Netflix based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name.