Tobin Bell

07 Aug, 1942 | Queens, New York

Actor

Biography

Tobin Bell (born Joseph Tobin) is an American film and television actor. He is best and widely known as John Kramer, a.k.a. Jigsaw/Billy the Puppet in the Saw franchise. Bell was born in Queens, New York and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts. His mother, Eileen Bell Tobin, is a British-born actress. Bell often plays the role of a villain and serial killer, and is distinguished in all his roles by a very soft, dead-pan voice; he was cast as a hitman in Sydney Pollack's The Firm and as Unabomber Theodore John Kaczynski in the made-for-TV movie Unabomber: The True Story; and most recently has played the role of the nefarious "Jigsaw", a serial killer who wants others to appreciate the value of life via twisted "games" in the 2004 film Saw and its sequels, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, and Saw V. Currently, Bell has signed on for five sequels in the Saw series, allowing for his appearance in Saw VI. He received a 2006 MTV Movie Award nomination for "Best Villain", a 2007 MTV Movie Awards nomination for "Best Villain" again, and a winning nomination for "Best Butcher" in the Fuse/Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. Aside from appearing in made-for-TV movies, Bell has guest starred in many TV shows such as Charmed, Seinfeld, La Femme Nikita, The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, Alias, The West Wing, The Pretender, The Sopranos, NYPD Blue, 24, ER, and Walker Texas Ranger. On October 03, 2009, Bell became the Best Villain in a Film Series title of the Chiller-Eyegore Awards.