Luke Kleintank Bio
Luke Kleintank (born May 18, 1990) is an American actor known for his versatility across film and television. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he spent part of his youth in Mexico before growing up in Maryland. He began acting at age five and later built a steady career in daytime and primetime series, with appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Gossip Girl, and The Young and the Restless. Kleintank rose to prominence as Finn Abernathy on Bones and as Nazi agent Joe Blake on The Man in the High Castle. He has since starred in films such as Crown Vic, The Goldfinch, and Midway, all released in 2019, and led the CBS series FBI: International. He announced his departure from the series in 2024 to spend more time with his family.
Kleintank first gained national attention playing Finn Abernathy on the Fox series Bones, starring Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. He then spent four seasons as Joe Blake on Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, which won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series in its first season. That role became a defining chapter in his career, showcasing both his dramatic range and his willingness to learn German for the part.
Early Life and Background
Luke Kleintank was born on May 18, 1990, in Cincinnati, Ohio, as one of six children with five older siblings. When he was two years old, his family moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, where they lived for three years. During those years, he learned to speak both English and Spanish, growing up in a bilingual household before returning to the United States. After coming back from Mexico, Kleintank and his family settled in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, where he spent the next twelve years of his childhood and adolescence.
Kleintank is of Dutch and German descent on his paternal grandfather’s side. His second great-grandfather, Antonius Klein Tank, was born in 1827 in the municipality of Lichtenvoorde, Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States in 1846, settling in Cincinnati, and married Catharina Adelheides Messink from Nordhorn in 1854. The family name was later changed from Klein Tank to Kleintank.
His mother introduced him to acting when he was five years old. She placed him in his first stage production, Carnival, and created a part specifically for him. That early experience ignited a lasting passion for performance, and Kleintank continued to pursue theater throughout his adolescence, taking part in numerous stage productions while attending high school in Maryland.
Path to Actor
After finishing high school, Kleintank moved to New York City to pursue acting professionally. His first television role came in 2009, when he appeared as Greg in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The following year, he landed a recurring role as Elliot Leichter on Gossip Girl, playing a bisexual love interest for Eric van der Woodsen. That exposure helped establish him as a working television actor and gave him the confidence to take on larger opportunities.
Kleintank then relocated to Los Angeles, where he made his daytime television debut as Noah Newman on The Young and the Restless, first appearing on September 21, 2010. He left the role after less than six months, choosing to pursue other projects rather than remain in the soap opera format. That decision reflected his desire to grow as a performer and take on more varied roles across television and film.
Luke Kleintank Career
Early Career (2009–2013)
Kleintank’s early career began in New York with his 2009 television debut on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He quickly followed that with a recurring role on Gossip Girl in 2010, appearing as Elliot Leichter in several episodes and gaining visibility on one of the most talked-about teen dramas of the era. He then moved to Los Angeles and joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Noah Newman, marking his first experience in daytime television. He departed the series after less than six months, a move that opened the door to more substantial work in primetime television.
Breakthrough (2011–2018)
Bones (2011–2013)
Kleintank’s first major career breakthrough came in 2011, when he joined the cast of the Fox crime drama Bones as Finn Abernathy. The series followed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan and FBI agent Seeley Booth as they solved crimes using bone analysis. Kleintank’s portrayal of Abernathy, a young man with a complex and troubled past, gave him his first sustained opportunity to develop a character over multiple episodes and seasons. The show ran for twelve seasons and had a loyal audience, and his time on Bones introduced him to a broader national viewership and proved that he could carry a meaningful arc within a long-running series.
The Man in the High Castle (2015–2018)
Kleintank’s defining role arrived in 2015, when he was cast as Joe Blake in Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle. The series, based on Philip K. Dick’s acclaimed novel, imagined an alternate history in which the Axis powers won World War II and divided the United States into occupied territories. Kleintank played a Nazi agent stationed in San Francisco, a character whose inner conflicts and shifting loyalties made him one of the show’s most compelling figures. The series ran for four seasons, and in its first year it won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series. Kleintank’s performance required him to learn German and inhabit a morally ambiguous character caught between duty and conscience, work that drew widespread praise from critics and audiences alike.
Notable Works and Milestones
The year 2019 was a landmark in Kleintank’s film career, as he appeared in three theatrical releases within the same twelve-month span. He played Nick Holland in Crown Vic, a gritty police drama co-starring Forest Whitaker that examined the realities of law enforcement in Los Angeles. He then appeared as Platt Barbour in The Goldfinch, an adaptation of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel starring Ansel Elgort and Nicole Kidman. He also joined the ensemble cast of Midway, Roland Emmerich’s World War II epic, playing Clarence Dickinson alongside Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, and Luke Evans. These roles demonstrated his range across genres and his ability to work alongside established names in major studio productions.
From 2021 to 2024, Kleintank led the CBS crime drama FBI: International as FBI Special Agent Scott Forrester, the head of an International Fly Team based in Budapest. The series, created by Dick Wolf, followed the team as they investigated crimes and terrorist threats that endangered American interests around the world. Kleintank appeared in all three seasons. In April 2024, he announced that he was leaving the series to spend more time with his family. His final episode, titled Touts, aired in Season 3.
Luke Kleintank Family
Luke Kleintank is one of six children, with five older siblings. He was born to parents who moved the family to Mexico during his early childhood and then settled in Maryland for the remainder of his upbringing. Through his paternal grandfather’s lineage, Kleintank is descended from Antonius Klein Tank, who emigrated from the Netherlands to Cincinnati in 1846, linking his family history to the American Midwest.
Personal Life
Kleintank has been engaged to Christina Vignaud since December 2018. Vignaud is the daughter of Argentine diplomat Juan Carlos Vignaud. The couple has one child together. In April 2024, Kleintank announced that he would be leaving FBI: International to spend more time with his family, underscoring how central his personal life had become to his decision-making about work and career direction.