John Henry Cox was born December 18, 1951. He is an actor, known for West New York (1996), My Own Love Song (2010), and House of Cards (2014). His parents, Lois and Henry Cox, were a teacher and a Southern Baptist minister, descended from generations of Irish and Danish farmers. While attending high school in Casa Grande, Arizona, Cox played football and acted in nearly every play the school put on. At University of Arizona in Tucson, he started in pre-med, majoring in Biology, but he went to see Mourning Becomes Electra at the university theater, and a week later he changed his major to Theater/Performance Option. Classical training ensued. While at U of A, he was hired by Leonard Katzman to play a Comanchero in an episode of "Gunsmoke" being shot at Old Tucson. The SAG card from that made him eligible to audition for Lee Phillips, who cast him as The Lieutenant in the film for television of "The Red Badge of Courage" with Richard Thomas as The Youth. That was followed by several guest star roles on the series "Petrocelli" produced by Leonard Katzman. After two years in California performing in plays at Company of Angels and doing roles in episodics and miniseries, Cox moved to New York in the late 1970s. He has done many theater productions, including Shakespeare plays on Broadway and in Central Park, and continues to work in television and film.