William McNamara

Actor / Writer / Director / Producer

WILLIAM MCNAMARA

William McNamara is an actor and writer-director by day, acting teacher on occasion, and this is his website. He lives in Los Angeles and has a great dog named Twinkie and likes virgin piña coladas (and gettin’ caught in the rain) and saving animals around the world.

Billy’s current magnificent obsession is being a showrunner for his in- development TV series “The Trouble with Billy”.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Billy McNamara is the son of a Ford Motor Company employee and an interior designer. He attended Salisbury School, Columbia University, and studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City.

His first feature film role was in the slasher classic Opera by acclaimed cult horror director Dario Argento. He appeared in the feature films “Texasville”, “Stella”, “Surviving the Game”, and “Stealing Home”, among others. On television, he portrayed Montgomery Clift in “Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story” and Ricky Nelson in “Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King”, and he had a regular role on the Showtime series “Beggars and Choosers”, was featured in the television movies “Doing Time on Maple Drive” and “Wildflower” (CableACE Award nomination), and he has also appeared in “NYPD Blue” and “Law & Order: SVU”, among other television series.

His most prized – and chilling – role, though, is that of Peter Foley the copycat serial killer in the psychological thriller “Copycat” (1995). The film also starred Sigourney Weaver, Dermot Mulroney, and jazz musician Harry Connick Jr.. He appeared with Andrew McCarthy and John Stockwell in “Stag” (1997), and made his way towards the millennium opposite Gabriel Byrne in the World War II drama “The Brylcreem Boys” (1998).

He is also an animal rights activist who got his start rescuing cats, dogs, and horses and, when not acting, travels the world advocating animal rights. He’s produced several documentaries that you might have seen, including the National Geographic Wild Network: Animal Intervention, an exposé of the exotic animal industry in the United States. He is a special friend to dolphins and small whales off of the shores of Japan.

Learn more about William McNamara on his Wikipedia or IMDb pages. Check out the shop, subscribe, or support Billy’s work on Patreon!