Benjamin Koldyke
Born: 1968-03-27 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Known For: Acting
Biography
Benjamin Koldyke (born March 27, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Don Frank on How I Met Your Mother (2009–2010), Lee Standish in Work It (2012), and Greg Gibbon on Gortimer Gibbon's Life On Normal Street (2014–2016). Koldyke was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Kenilworth. His father, Martin J. "Mike" Koldyke, is a former investment banker who founded Frontenac Company in Chicago and is a life trustee of Northwestern University; through his mother, Patricia Blunt Koldyke, he is a member of the family that controls Laird Norton Company, an investment company with roots in the timber industry of the Pacific Northwest. After graduating from high school, he did a post-graduate year at Choate Rosemary Hall. He graduated in 1991 from Dartmouth College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English and was a quarterback for the football team. Koldyke worked as a high school English teacher and football coach in Chicago. His acting career received a jump start after a chance encounter with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator-star, Rob McElhenney. Regulars at the same Venice cafe, he covered Rob's tab with a note that said he "thought his show was fantastic," and this exchange led to Koldyke's first TV pilot, Boldly Going Nowhere for Fox, a few years later. After Boldly was not picked up, Koldyke went on to recur as Dale Tomasson in the HBO series Big Love and as Don Frank in How I Met Your Mother for CBS. n 2012, Koldyke starred as the lead character in the short-lived ABC comedy series Work It and later guest starred in HBO's The Newsroom 2013 saw him star in another ABC sitcom, Back in the Game, opposite James Caan and Maggie Lawson. He had a significant arc on Showtime's Masters of Sex as teacher and football coach Paul Edley, and played male chauvinist Brent throughout the final season of The Good Place. In 2021 he had a recurring role on season 1 of Peacock sitcom Rutherford Falls Koldyke was seen on the big screen in 2016 in a supporting role for Disney's The Finest Hours alongside Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana, and Ben Foster.
Filmography
2025
- Paradise as Jack Barnes
2021
- Rutherford Falls as Lawrence 'Duz' Rutherford
2019
- Carol's Second Act as Coach Dean
2016
- The Good Place as Brent Norwalk
- The Finest Hours as Donald Bangs
2015
- Mr. Robinson as Jimmy Hooper
2014
- Silicon Valley as Ben Burkhardt
- Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street as Greg Gibbon
2013
- Masters of Sex as Paul Edley
- The Michael J. Fox Show as Brandon
- Back in the Game as Dick Slingbaugh
2012
- The Newsroom as Cyrus West
- Work It as Lee Standish
2010
- This Little Piggy as Henry
2008
- Boldly Going Nowhere as Ronald Teague
2006
- Big Love as Dale Tomasson
2005
- How I Met Your Mother as Don Frank
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Sean
2004
- The Assassination of Richard Nixon ... (Security)
2003
- Stuck on You as Officer Johnson
- Say I Do as Ben
2001
- 24 as LAPD Officer
2000
- Curb Your Enthusiasm as Dave
- The Next Best Thing as Kelly's Boyfriend
- Thirteen Days as RF-8 Pilot
1999
- Jack & Jill as Andrew Bower