Charles Parnell (actor)


Charles Parnell is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Rear Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates in the film Top Gun: Maverick. He was the second actor to portray Police Chief Derek Frye on All My Children.
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Early life

Parnell was born and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. He attended high school at the Kenwood Academy, and trained as an actor at the Piven Theatre Workshop in nearby Evanston. He relocated to New York in 1994 before eventually settling in Los Angeles.

Career

Before taking the role of Derek Frye, Parnell played Achilles in Iphigeneia at Aulis, a play by Euripides translated and adapted by Kenneth Cavander at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, Connecticut.
Parnell took over the role of Frye on All My Children, previously played by actor William Christian. He joined the cast of the show on September 8, 2005, and made his final appearance on September 24, 2007. He voices Jefferson Twilight on Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros..
Other appearances include the role of Master Chief Russell "Russ" Jeter on the TNT show The Last Ship from 2014 to 2018, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, its sequel Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and The Killer.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2004Mind the GapJohn McCabe
2006Everyone's HeroAdditional Voices
2007The Education of Charlie BanksAsst. DA Worsheck
2008Diminished CapacityMerkel Guard #2
2009Mississippi DamnedWillie Roy
2011PariahArthur
2014Transformers: Age of ExtinctionCIA Director
2018A Million Little PiecesMiles Davis
2022Top Gun: MaverickRear Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates
2022SpiderheadKnowles
2023Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part OneNRO Richards
2023The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon HeartJefferson Twilight
2023The KillerHodges
2025Mission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningNRO Richards