Chris Vance

Chris Vance is best known for his lead role as Frank Martin, in Transporter: The Series, which started airing worldwide in 2012. He is also known for his lead role as Dr. Jack Gallagher in the FOX series, Mental, and as James Whistler in the Emmy-nominated FOX series, Prison Break.Born in London, Vance was raised in the UK. He signed youth football contracts with 'West Bromwich Albion' and 'Bristol Rovers,' donned his skimpy shorts and tromped his way round more muddy pitches in mid-winter than he should have. This did, however, develop athletic abilities that turned out to be particularly useful when many years later he found himself to be a leading-man in the action film genre.Vance graduated from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with an honors degree in Civil Engineering, and a blurry recollection that he played for an England Students football team somewhere along the way.Vance began acting at 25, and was breathtakingly awful in his first role, that of Paris in a production of Romeo and Juliet in Oxford. Vance then passionately butchered numerous roles on the London Fringe and in small Repertory Theatres for several years, grasping experience where it was badly needed. During this time, he also launched his own theatre company, writing, directing and producing plays.Vance landed his first gig at the Royal National Theatre in a touring version of the play Closer. After treading the back-stages of Europe and Russia for several months, Vance returned to London with a role in Speer, a play by David Edgar, once again at the Royal National Theatre, under the ever-treasured guidance of Sir Trevor Nunn.Sometime around then, Vance made his British television debut in Kavanagh QC. Vance also made guest appearances in the British television shows Peak Practice, The Bill, Doctors and Family Affairs.At about age 30, Vance moved to Australia and performed in several television series there, including Stingers, Blue Heelers and The Secret Life of Us. His first series-regular role in television was Dr. Sean Everleigh in the medical drama All Saints, in which Vance performed from 2005 to 2007.Vance also relished a small role in the feature, Macbeth, directed by Jeffery Wright.In 2007 Vance moved to the U.S. when he booked a regular role for the third and fourth seasons of the hit TV series Prison Break, for 20th Century Fox in which he played James Whistler.The following year, Vance landed his first leading role in TV, playing Dr. Jack Gallagher in Mental, for FOX. And, yes, it was filmed in Bogota, Colombia, which regrettably did not help improve Vance's proficiency in the Spanish language, but did provide him with enough antibodies to withstand any shooting conditions, in any location, for the rest of his life.Vance has also guest-starred on Fairly Legal, Burn-Notice and Dexter, and currently plays the recurring-character of Lt. Casey Jones in the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles.In 2011 Vance was approached to play Frank Martin in the television series based on the Transporter films created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Not one to turn down a challenge, especially one filled with fast cars, pretty women and snappy one-liners, Vance embarked on the adventure and brought his own take on the character of Frank to the fast-paced action series.Vance performed all of his own fight scenes in Transporter: The Series.When not shooting in exotic locations around the world, Vance lives in Los Angeles and drives a perfectly normal car, in a very responsible and safe fashion. Show less «