Paul Sparks (born October 16, 1971)^[1] is an American actor. He is known for his roles as gangster Mickey Doyle in the HBO period drama series Boardwalk Empire, writer Thomas Yates in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards, mall owner John Breem in the Apple TV+ comedy-drama series Physical, attorney David Tellis in the Starz anthology drama series The Girlfriend Experience, and a recurring role in the limited series The Night Of. Sparks has also starred in the films Deception (2008), Afterschool (2008), The Missing Person (2008), Mud (2012), Parkland (2013), Stealing Cars (2015), Thoroughbreds (2017), and The Greatest Showman (2017).

Sparks was born in Lawton, Oklahoma,^[2] and grew up in nearby Marlow.^[3] He attended Marlow High School, where his father coached football,^[4] graduating in 1990. While attending school in Marlow, Paul was a part of the Marlow Outlaw Speech Team (M.O.S.T.) where he was coached by Paula and Gary McConnell.^[5] Sparks earned a scholarship to Oklahoma State University to study chemistry, but later transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.^[5][6] He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 1995.^[7]

In 2010, Sparks began portraying the regular role of Mickey Doyle on HBO's drama series Boardwalk Empire, which was created by Terence Winter and executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg.^[8] The series ended in 2014, after completing five seasons.^[9]

Sparks is married to actress Annie Parisse, after meeting in 2005.^[10] Together they have two children, son Emmett (born 2009),^[5] and daughter Lydia (born 2014).^[11] Sparks has diabetes mellitus type 1 and works with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.^[12] He is good friends with fellow actor Michael Shannon; the two have worked together on a number of projects including Waco, The Missing Person, Mud, Boardwalk Empire, and Midnight Special.^[13]