inmate profiles: Patrick Bergin & Yancy Butler

With only a few days before Shark Week makes its World Premiere on Syfy - this Saturday night, 9 p.m. - it's high time we take a closer look at the actors who bring the film to life. And who better to start with than our two leads, Patrick Bergin and Yancy Butler? Ladies first:

Yancy Butler was born and raised in American Bohemian paradise, Greenwich Village in New York City. She began studying acting in her early teens, and made her debut in her early 20s on an episode of Law & Order, which got the attention of network execs who quickly signed her to their new sci-fi show Mann & Machine in which she played, and I'm quoting, a "voluptuous robot partner" to a brash cop. The series lasted only nine episodes, but a star was born. 

Once she invigorated the big screen in John Woo's Hard Target opposite JCVD, Ms. Butler's status as a sexy tough gal was cemented. From there she went on to star in such movies as Drop Zone with Wesley Snipes, Fast Money, Ravager, Doomsday Man, Striking Range with Lou Diamond Phillips, and more recently Kick-Ass with Nicholas Cage and both Lake Placid 3 & 4. And of course there's her work in television, which included Brooklyn South, a gritty cop show spearheaded by David "Deadwood" Milch, and Witchblade, the role for which she is perhaps best remembered. All in all, Ms. Butler has made a steady career for 20 years playing as one badass lady; Shark Week should prove no exception.

Then there's the venerable Patrick Bergin, a son of Dublin and a veritable star on both sides of the Atlantic. After starring on stage in screen abroad, Bergin first came to the attention of American audiences via the Julia-Roberts thriller Sleeping With the Enemy, in which he was the Enemy. His other big U.S. role came opposite Harrison Ford in Patriot Games

Beyond these roles, Bergin has appeared in near 100 productions, including roles as Robin Hood, Dr. Frankenstein, St. Patrick, King Arthur, Dracula, Casanova and now Tiburon, maniacal shark fetishist. 

And now the fates have aligned and at last these two talents shall share the same screen as the devious duo behind Shark Week, on SyFy this Saturday night at 9 p.m., then on DVD a few weeks later on August 28th. Written by me, H. Perry Horton, and directed by Chrisopher Olen Ray, for whom the film marks a shark hat trick, after Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus and 2 Headed Shark Attack, the latter of which I also penned. Just so you know your in good hands. Or fins.*


*sorry, I had to.

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