Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1954, Michael Emerson trained in the theatre before television turned him into one of its most singular villains. His slippery, whispering Benjamin Linus on Lost (2006) earned him an Emmy and rewrote what a network antagonist could be. He led the tech-noir Person of Interest (2011) as the reclusive Harold Finch, and returned to unsettling form as the demonic Leland Townsend on Evil (2019). A stage actor at heart, he moves through a scene with unnerving stillness. Few American character actors of his generation have owned prime-time creepiness so completely. Read more