

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

Actor Jonathan Ray Banks (born 31 January 1947; age 73) played Golin Shel-la in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine first season episode "Battle Lines". Rick Berman was impressed with Banks' performance in the episode, commenting that he "did a nice job". David Livingston thought that Banks "did a terrific job" in the episode. (The Deep Space Log Book: A First Season Companion, p. 75 & 76)

He is best known for his Emmy-nominated role in the TV series Wiseguy from 1987 through 1990 and as Mike Ehrmantraut on AMC's Breaking Bad and its spinoff, Better Call Saul, also featuring Raymond Cruz, Patrick Fabian, Mark Margolis, Ann Cusack, Ethan Phillips, Ed Begley, Jr., and Michael McKean. Banks' first appearance on Breaking Bad was in the 2009 episode "ABQ", when his character is sent to "clean up" evidence after the girlfriend of one of the main characters overdoses. The girl's father was played by John de Lancie. Audience response was so strong that Banks' role was expanded to that of supporting character. In 2011, Breaking Bad was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category.

On 16 July 2015, Banks received an Emmy Award nomination for his role as Ehrmantraut in Better Call Saul. [1]

In 2014, Banks had a recurring role as Buzz Hickey in the fifth season of the sitcom Community, starring alongside Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi.

Banks also appeared in the films Airplane! (1980, with Gregory Itzin, Kenneth Tobey and Jason Wingreen), 48 Hrs (1982, with Denise Crosby and Margot Rose), Gremlins (1984, with Zach Galligan, Dick Miller, Keye Luke, and William Schallert, and music by Jerry Goldsmith), Beverly Hills Cop (also 1984, with Steven Berkoff, Michael Champion, Ronny Cox and Douglas Warhit), Freejack (1992, with Mike Starr) and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001, with John Billingsley, Kaitlin Hopkins, and Matt Winston). Due to his appearance in Beverly Hills Cop, Banks once again worked for producer Jerry Bruckheimer on the series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation playing mobster Bobby Jensen in 2004 and 2006 in the fifth and sixth seasons respectively appearing in the episodes "Formalities" and "Kiss Kiss Bye Bye," both times working with Star Trek: Voyager guest star Wallace Langham.

Banks had a starring role in the short-lived 1985 science fiction series Otherworld. This show had guest contributions from many Star Trek performers (Michael Rider, Ray Walston, Kevin Scott Allen, Mark Lenard, Michael McGrady, Robert O'Reilly, Brian Thompson, Ian Abercrombie, John D. Gowans, Michael Ensign, Warren Munson, Estee Chandler, Vincent Schiavelli, Ivy Bethune, Earl Boen, Dennis Howard, Susan Powell, Barbara Townsend, Merritt Yohnka, Larry Cedar, Alex Daniels, Byron Morrow, Carolyn Seymour, and Douglas Alan Shanklin) and included direction by Corey Allen and Richard Compton despite only lasting eight episodes. He also was a regular on the sitcom Fired Up with Sharon Lawrence for two seasons, which was executive produced by TNG guest star Kelsey Grammer.

Banks more recently appeared in two episodes of J.J. Abrams' hit series Alias (working with Terry O'Quinn and Jimmie F. Skaggs) and had recurring roles on the shows E-Ring (co-starring with Alan Dale, James MacDonald and Robert Picardo) and Day Break (with Michael McGrady, Clayton Rohner, Jim Beaver, John Rubinstein and Michael Buchman Silver and directed by Rob Bowman and also starring John de Lancie). He appeared in Columbia Pictures drama Reign Over Me (also with de Lancie).

Banks provided the voice of Commissioner Gordon for the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight, also featuring Robin Atkin Downes, James Horan, Loren Lester, Nolan North, Mark Rolston, Dwight Schultz, Keith Szarabajka, Tasia Valenza, and Marc Worden.