Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell play incarcerated brothers on the hit Fox series Prison Break.
The show’s zany plots captivated millions of viewers between 2005 and 2009, and it returned for a fifth and final season in 2017.
But what happened to Wentworth, Dominic, and their merry band of men after Fox River Penitentiary closed its doors? Let’s catch up with some of television’s most wanted characters…
Dominic Purcell – Then
British-born Australian actor Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt Purcell co-starred in Prison Break as Lincoln Burrows. The series’ inciting incident is his wrongful conviction and imprisonment for killing Terence Steadman, the Vice President’s brother. Surprisingly, Dominic was hired just three days before cameras rolled, making him the last actor to join the cast. When he arrived on set on the first day with a shaved head, showrunner Paul Scheuring was struck by how much Purcell resembled his on-screen brother Michael Scofield, played by Wentworth Miller.
Dominic Purcell – Now
If you recognized Dominic when he showed up in prison, it’s because you may have seen him playing Drake / Dracula in Blade: Trinity. His middle name comes from his father’s Norwegian heritage. Following the end of the Fox series, Purcell went on to play Mick Rory / Heat Wave on The Flash and The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow. While filming Prison Break in Morocco in 2016, an iron bar fell on his head, breaking his nose. He was airlifted to the hospital. In 2023, he married Miley Cyrus’s mother, Tish.
Amaury Nolasco – Then
Handsome Puerto Rican actor Amaury Nolasco Garrido was born to Dominican parents in 1970. He appeared in minor roles on CSI and ER, and his first feature film role was in Takeshi Kitano’s Brother, before starring as ‘Orange Julius’ in 2 Fast 2 Furious. In Prison Break, he played Michael’s cellmate, Fernando Sucre, who wants to escape to reunite with his fiancée. Amaury thought the pilot script was “one of those failed pilots that the network didn’t really want,” but thought it was a “great page-turner.”
Amaury Nolasco – Now
In addition to playing Fernando Sucre, Amaury Nolasco also played ACWO Jorge “Fig” Figueroa in Transformers. Director Michael Bay invited him back for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but he had scheduling conflicts with Prison Break. He guest-starred as Detective René Cordero in three episodes of Southland, and co-starred in the NBC series Chase, Burn Notice, Rizzoli & Isles, Justified, Power, and Hightown. In his personal life, he has dated actresses Jennifer Morrison, Andrea Pambechy, and Dayanara Torres, but—good news, ladies—he’s currently single!
Sarah Wayne Callies – Then
Sarah Wayne Callies was born in La Grange, Illinois, in 1977. However, her parents lived in a much sunnier place, as they were both professors at the University of Hawaii. Sarah’s first acting roles were in Queens Supreme, Tarzan, Law & Order: SUV, Dragnet, and NUMB3RS. In Prison Break, she played Sara Tancredi, the daughter of Governor Frank Tancredi and prison doctor. She met Michael Scofield in the first season, discovered he was no ordinary inmate, fell in love with him, and eventually assisted in the escape of the Fox River Eight.
Sarah Wayne Callies – Now
After hanging up her stethoscope, Callies played Rick Grimes’ doomed wife in AMC’s post-apocalyptic drama series The Walking Dead. She played Lori from the series’ pilot until she was eaten by zombies in the third season. She has also appeared in Whisper, the Nigerian film Black Gold, the Canadian thriller Faces in the Crowd, and played Katie Bowman in Colony. In real life, Sarah is married to martial arts instructor Josh Winterhalt, and they have two children: a daughter and an adopted son.
Robert Knepper – Then
Ohio native Robert Knepper has been acting since the 1980s, appearing in films such as The Wild Thing, Young Guns II, and the Percy Jackson and Hunger Games franchises. He often plays brilliantly creepy characters, from The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, ER, and The West Wing, to his unsettling portrayal of Tommy Dolan in HBO’s brilliantly bizarre Carnivàle. Knepper played the cunning, violent, and manipulative psychopath and white supremacist leader Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell in all five seasons of Prison Break. “T-Bag” was one of the show’s most compelling characters.
Robert Knepper – Now
Since escaping from prison as one of the Fox River Eight, Robert Knepper has portrayed Samuel Sullivan in the final season of NBC’s Heroes, Angus McDonough in The CW’s iZombie, and Rodney Mitchum in Showtime’s revival of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Knepper has also appeared in films such as Hitman, Transporter 3, and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Since 2017, several women have come forward, making allegations of assault against Knepper. He denies the allegations. The CW found no wrongdoing, and he continues to act.
Rockmond Dunbar – Then
Rockmond Dunbar rose to fame on Soul Food in the early 1990s and posed for the November 2003 issue of Playgirl magazine. He traced his DNA to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and, when he visited their ancestral homeland, was given the name Omobowale, which means “our son has come home.” Dunbar played Benjamin Miles “C-Note” Franklin in seasons one, two, four, and five. C-Note blackmailed Michael Scofield into joining his escape team and ended up as one of the Fox River Eight.
Rockmond Dunbar – Now
Since escaping from prison through the underground tunnel beneath the prison, Rockman has gone on to bigger and better things. He appeared alongside Robert Downey Jr. in Shane Black’s wonderful Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, played Sheriff Eli Roosevelt in three seasons of Sons of Anarchy, and had leading roles in The Mentalist, The Path, Scorpion, and 9-1-1. There’s a good reason Rockman is always smiling. The lucky guy married the gorgeous Banshee actress Maya Gilbert in Jamaica in 2013, and they have four beautiful children.
Paul Adelstein – Then
Chicago native Paul Adelstein’s first film role was in 1990’s The Grifters. He went on to star in Cupid, ER, Without a Trace, Scrubs, and films such as Bedazzled, Intolerable Cruelty, and Memoirs of a Geisha. He played Paul Kellerman, a Secret Service agent working for the Vice President to ensure that the Lincoln Burrows conspiracy never came to light and that Lincoln went to the electric chair. Over the course of the series, he became Congressman Paul Kellerman.
Paul Adelstein – Now
Adelstein took a break from Prison Break in 2007 to play Cooper Freedman on Private Practice. He returned as Congressman Paul Kellerman in seasons four and five. Since the series ended, he has played Leo Bergen on Scandal, Raymond Blackstone on the Hulu series Chance, opposite Hugh Laurie, and Seamus Murphy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Since the 1990s, Adelstein has been the singer and guitarist in a rock band called Doris. He married actress Liza Weil in 2006 and they had a daughter together, but they separated in 2016.
Jodi Lyn O’Keefe – Then
Actress, model, and fashion designer Jodi Lyn O’Keefe began her modeling career at the age of eight. She rose to fame playing Cassidy Bridges on Nash Bridges and appeared in Halloween H20 and She’s All That. While in prison, Jodi played one of the series’ supervillains, Gretchen Morgan. The despicable Gretchen appears in the third season, working for The Company, and arranges for James Whistler’s escape. In doing so, Gretchen makes Michael’s life nearly impossible in every way imaginable, including kidnapping Lincoln’s son.
Jodi Lyn O’Keefe – Now
Since then, Jodi Lyn has appeared on The Big Bang Theory, played Jo Laughlin on The Vampire Diaries, and played Lionel Davenport on Hit the Floor. The raven-haired actress previously dated her on-screen father, Nash Bridges—aka Don Johnson—and actor John Cusack. She’s been dating Los Angeles-based artist and perfumer Douglas Little since 2015. But O’Keefe isn’t just a pretty face. In fact, in 2011, she created her own clothing line called Queen George Clothing. The following year, she launched her own jewelry line, .
Michael Rapaport – Then
New Yorker Michael Rapaport was a famous actor and comedian long before Prison Break. The son of two radio personalities, he brilliantly played Brad Pitt’s roommate, the aspiring (terrible) actor Dick Richie, in the crime thriller True Romance, written by Quentin Tarantino. He has also appeared in Higher Learning, Deep Blue Sea, Friends, and My Name Is Earl. Introduced in the fourth season, Michael Rapaport played Donald Self, a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security who teams up with Michael’s gang to take down The Company.
Michael Rapaport – Now
Since PB, Rapaport directed the 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, played the villain Daryl Crowe Jr. on Justified, is a Fox Sports pundit, appeared as Pickle on The Masked Singer, and married Kebe Dunn. He kicked Natasha Lyonne off his property and can be found ranting about politics on his I Am Rapaport: Stereo Podcast. But Michael is a hero. In 2018, he prevented a passenger from opening the door on an American Airlines flight, saving everyone on board.
Peter Stormare – Then
You probably knew Swedish actor Rolf Peter Ingvar Stormare, better known as Peter Stormare, before he went to prison. He played Gaear Grimsrud in Fargo, the hilarious Russian cosmonaut trapped on the International Space Station in Armageddon, and played one of the nihilists in The Big Lebowski. Stormare played John Abruzzi, a Chicago mob boss and a leading figure in the Fox River State Pen. He facilitated a jet plane for Michael’s escape in exchange for locating Otto Fibonacci, an eyewitness to his crimes.
Peter Stormare – Now
Did you know that when U2 singer Bono heard Stormare sing, he convinced the Swede to release an album? Well, now you do. Since Prison Break, Stormare has starred in the pop comedy Swedish Dicks, the short-lived Fox comedy LA to Vegas, and has lent his impressive acting skills to several films and television series. These include John Wick: Chapter 2, Longmire, Briarpatch, and playing the Slavic god Czernobog in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. He is married to Toshimi Murakami, and they have one son.
Robin Tunney – Then
The stunning Robin Tunney made her film debut in 1992’s Encino Man, starring Brendan Fraser as a caveman resurrected from a block of ice. She appeared in Empire Records, The Craft, End of Days, Supernova, Vertical Limit, and House before landing a role on Prison Break. Tunney played Veronica, Michael and Lincoln’s childhood friend who, luckily for her, turns out to be a lawyer reviewing Lincoln’s case. She takes on Lincoln as a client and becomes one of the main protagonists of the first season.
Robin Tunney – Now
Following Prison Break, Tunney starred alongside Simon Baker as Teresa Lisbon in The Mentalist, which earned her two People’s Choice Award nominations. She also appeared in The Fix and Horse Girl, and guest-starred on the Netflix series Love and Insatiable. The Chicago native was previously married to director Bob Gosse and engaged to Australian director Andrew Dominik. She now has two children, Oscar and Colette, with Nicky Marmet, who proposed to her in Rio de Janeiro on Christmas Day 2012. Here are Mom and Colette making their “aspirational vacation faces!”
Wade Williams – Then
Oklahoma native Wade Williams began his acting career starring alongside Morgan Freeman in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Denzel Washington in Richard III. He gained fame as Father Cronin on The Bernie Mac Show before being cast as Brad Bellick, the captain of the prison guards at Fox River State Pen. Wade turned down the role of Bellick because the character was “horrible and despicable,” and he was the father of a four-year-old daughter. However, his agent convinced him to audition, and he landed the role.
Wade Williams – Now
Williams played Brad Bellick for the first four seasons before his character was killed off at the end of the series. After Prison Break, Wade has appeared on all the usual shows, including Criminal Minds, Bones, The Mentalist, NCIS, and Westworld. We can only assume CSI and The Mentalist are elephant graveyards for the Prison Break alum. Williams voiced Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the animated Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and then landed a typecast as a prison guard in Venom.
Danay García – Then
Danay García, a Cuban-born actress and model, rose to fame at 17 playing the lead role in a Havana theater production of María Antonia. She learned English, moved to New York, and landed roles on CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and the feature film From Mexico with Love before landing her big break as a series regular on Prison Break. Danay García appeared in the third season as Whistler’s girlfriend, Sofía Lugo, and played the role until the fourth season, by which time she was dating Lincoln Burrows.
Danay García – Now
While playing Sofía Lugo, Danay was close to playing Camille Montes in Daniel Craig’s disappointing second outing as James Bond, Quantum of Solace. However, her contract with Fox prevented her from portraying a Bond girl. She went on to play Anna in the A&E series The Cleaner, the feature film Rehab, Liz in September, and Hawaii Five-O. However, Danay’s biggest role was playing Luciana Gálvez for six seasons on Fear the Walking Dead. Here she is with her jailer!
William Fichtner – Then
William Fichtner has one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, but he’s one of those actors who’s hard to name what he’s been in. Well, he’s been in a ton of huge movies like Heat, Contact, Armageddon, The Perfect Storm, Go, Crash, and Black Hawk Down. In Prison Break, he played FBI agent Alexander Mahone, who is assigned to track down the fugitives. However, the cunning Mahone ends up incarcerated with Michael in Sona Prison and is forced to become his ally throughout the fourth season.
