Sean Blakemore cast in Close Up
Credit: Image: Jill Johnson/JPI

General Hospital’s former mob enforcer plays a cop in new hour-long drama.

Sean Blakemore, who played Shawn Butler on General Hospital, continues to expand his acting resume. Soaps.com has news on his most recent casting, which places him in Peter Nowalk (How to Get Away With Murder) and Mary Rohlich’s (Atypical) latest television project, Close Up. The pilot, ordered by Freeform, is an hourlong drama set in Centreville, New Jersey where a high school student sets out to expose the truth about her “normal” hometown. With Nowalk’s signature twists expected, per a press release, Close Up is about, “the strength behind one young woman’s act of rebellion and its impact on changing the world.” Blakemore will play Sheriff Griff who must decide between his obligations to his town and his job. The pilot for Close Up is written by Keith Staskiewicz (Three Delivery), with Alex Kalymnios (The 100) set to direct and Natalie Chaidez (Queen of the South) tapped as the showrunner. With production having recently begun in Vancouver, the show stars Yaani King Mondschein (The Haves and Have Nots), Fivel Stewart (Atypical), Megan Charpentier (It Chapter Two) and, as first reported by Deadline, Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), a deaf actress who will be communicating through American Sign Language.

More: John Stamos to Disney+’s Big Shot

In addition to Close Up, the General Hospital actor can be seen in the current season of Greenleaf as the character Phil. The series, about the scandalous Greenleaf family who runs a Memphis megachurch, also stars soap opera alum Lamman Rucker (Garret Williams, All My Children; Marshall Travers, As the World Turns) as Jacob Greenleaf. The OWN series has featured Sean Dominic (Nate Hastings, The Young and the Restless) and Richard Grant (Dr. Russell Ford, General Hospital, General Hospital: Night Shift) as recurring characters. Sean Blakemore starred in Ad Astra, the recent sci-fi movie starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones, and has guest-starred on the TV series Lethal Weapon, 13 Reasons Why and American Crime. Blakemore has had recurring roles on Devious Maids, CSI: Cyber and Bosch as well. Eagle-eyed soap opera fans might remember he was in a couple of Days of our Lives episodes as characters named Barney Bateman and Peter in 2008 and 2009, as well as on The Young and the Restless as Ben in 2004.