Why you recognize Bokeem Woodbine depends on how long you feel like you've known him.

If your screen relationship with Woodbine feels new, you likely know him from the ensemble cast of the buzzy new sci-fi adaptation "Halo" on Paramount . He plays a privateer and former member of the Spartan program who was on the run and now lives on the fringes of society.

If you feel like you've known Woodbine at least a few years, though, you probably know him as Mike Milligan from the second season of FX's "Fargo." That's the season set in the late '70s, depicting a gang war between the local Gerhardt crime family and a larger one moving in from Kansas City.

Woodbine's character is a sort of enforcer for the Kansas City mob who brings a little brain with his brawn and ends up more deeply entangled with the local goings-on than he intended.

Though Woodbine had been a working screen actor for more than 15 years by the time he popped up in "Fargo," that was very much his breakout role. He got excellent reviews for his performance — some called him a "standout" in a season that also featured seasoned stars such as Ted Danson ("Cheers") and Kirsten Dunst ("The Power of the Dog," 2021).

Those are the two roles you most likely know him from. But there are certainly more. He had a role in 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming," playing one of the salvage guys who become super-powered thanks to finding alien weapons in New York. He also played Uncle Earl in the politically charged 2019 drama "Queen & Slim."

You'll probably note that all the things you might know him from came after "Fargo." Woodbine has said (in the multiple high-profile interviews that followed his "Fargo" role) that even though he'd been working steadily since the '90s, "Fargo" was really his career turning point.

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