Animal Kingdom
Season 2 e.tv (*194) 22:00 Drama
Pope Cody is such a vicious and mean character on drama series Animal Kingdom (2016-now) that Shawn Hatosy is forbidden from talking about his role on the show. “It’s so funny, everyone talks about their year at Thanksgiving and I just sit there laughing. My family love that I’m successful, but they hate Pope because of the things that he does, the crimes that he commits and how deeply troubled he is,” says 45-year-old Shawn, who adds that he has never been arrested before.
1 He has been to jail and in the back of a cop car – but for work. Shawn played officer Sammy Bryant in gritty cop drama Southland (2009-2013) and spent six months training with cops and going on ride-along drives.
2 His surname might look easy to pronounce, but there’s a slight twist: it’s said Hat-ah-see.
3 Shawn got his break in acting when he was cast in TV adverts as a 10-year-old on public TV in his home state of Maryland. “It was cool because if it was a commercial for candy, I’d get a lot of candy. If it was for toys, I’d get toys. I loved the work,” he says.
4 He’s been married to actress Kelly Albanese (Dr Lizer in a 2019 episode of action show SEAL Team, 2017-now) since 2010 and they prefer to keep their family life private – they have three sons: Cassius (14), Leo (8) and Finn Jones (3).
5 Despite being typecast for playing violent and aggressive sociopathlike characters, Shawn says he’s a gentle soul: “I love playing guitar and painting. I’m nothing like Pope.” NB! See p19.