Accomplished stage actor Paul Sparks was born in Oklahoma and studied chemical engineering at Oklahoma State University before graduating with a BFA in acting and a minor in philosophy from New York University. A seasoned stage actor, having been nominated for four Drama Desk Awards and appearing in the 2003 Broadway production of Take Me Out. Sparks earned his first Drama Desk nomination as Best Actor for the play Coyote on a Fence in 2000, and went on to earn nominations in 2004 for originating the role of Baylis in Adam Rapp’s Blackbird in 2005 for an appearance in Craig Wright’s Orange Water Flower and in 2007 for Rapp’s Essential Self-Defense. His performance in the 2004 off-Broadway production of Rapp’s Finer Noble Gases was called “mesmerizing” by the New York Times, and he went on to perform the play in 2006 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he won The Stage Award for Acting Excellence. He is also in the upcoming HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce.