Brandon Sklenar brings a useful solidity to stoic leading men, and 1923 gives that restraint something to express. We are less persuaded when a thinly written part asks him to make decency interesting by itself.
Fi1m perspective
In the opening stretch of The Housemaid (2025), Brandon Sklenar’s Andrew Winchester is kind, reasonable and well dressed. He is often cast as a rugged or stoic leading man, particularly in period or action stories. The reservation is that he has not always made the men he plays interesting beyond their outward decency.
The important turn came with Spencer Dutton in Taylor Sheridan’s 1923 (2022), after supporting parts in Mapplethorpe (2018) and Vice (2018). His contained manner and grounded physical presence suit Spencer’s stoicism, with enough hurt beneath it to keep the character from becoming merely stern. It was the role that established him as a leading man. The series is worth watching chiefly for Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, despite its scattered storytelling. Sklenar benefits from a character whose reserve has a reason.
It Ends with Us (2024), directed by Justin Baldoni, exposes the limitation. Atlas Corrigan is the first love who returns as a restaurant owner, written as a good man and not much else. We were frustrated by Sklenar here because he never made that goodness feel particular to Atlas. There is warmth in the performance, but warmth alone cannot make such a thinly written character hold our attention. Blake Lively is better than the film around her; Sklenar does not find a similar way past the writing.
The subsequent film work has included Henry in the thriller Drop (2025) and Andrew for director Paul Feig in The Housemaid. Feig’s film is more entertaining than It Ends with Us, although its first hour drifts and Amanda Seyfried supplies the chief reason to persist. We would like to see him given more characters with Spencer’s inward trouble, and scripts that let him do something with it. For an introduction to him, choose 1923 rather than It Ends with Us.
Biography
Brandon Sklenar is an American actor. Born Brandon Tyler Feakins on 26 June 1990 in Dover, New Jersey, he was raised in northern New Jersey and later adopted his mother’s maiden name professionally.
He began his career in the early 2010s with small roles in film and television. Sklenar is known for his performances in Vice (2018), Midway (2019), Emily the Criminal (2022), the series 1923 (2022–2025) as Spencer Dutton, It Ends with Us (2024) as Atlas Corrigan, Drop (2025) and The Housemaid (2025) as Andrew Winchester.
