‘Six Feet Under’ Ended 20 Years Ago: Where’s the Cast Now?
Six Feet Under was a hard act to follow — it’s often cited as one of the greatest TV shows of all time, with one of the best series finales of all time — but its cast members have nevertheless given other TV shows a shot.
Created by Alan Ball, Six Feet Under debuted in 2001 on HBO, following family members behind the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home as they tried to make the most of their lives before they themselves gave up the ghost.
Six Feet Under ended up airing five seasons before venturing to TV’s great beyond 20 years ago, on August 21, 2005. And it’s no surprise that many of its stars found other work shortly thereafter. Here’s what they’ve been up to lately.
Peter Krause (Nate Fisher)
Krause has been lucky enough to enjoy near-consecutive series-regular roles since Six Feet Under— on the TV shows Dirty Sexy Money, Parenthood, The Catch, and 9-1-1.
“I love Six Feet Under,” Krause told Remind Magazine last year. “You don’t get to make those all the time. I think that before then, the only meditations on life and death were wartime or hospitals shows, M*A*S*H or ER.”
Michael C. Hall (David Fisher)
These days, Hall is best known for playing the namesake serial killer in Dexter, in a performance that earned him a SAG Award and a Golden Globe. He has also reprised the role in all three spinoffs so far: Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection.
“I can’t believe [Six Feet Under‘s 20th anniversary celebration] was four years ago, let alone that it was 24 years ago that we started making it,” he remarked to Remind this June. “It was an amazing time.”
Frances Conroy (Ruth Fisher)
Conroy ranks as one of the most-employed actors on American Horror Story, appearing in 58 episodes across eight seasons so far. (“Balenciaga!”) In other recent roles, she appeared in the films Joker and The Power of the Dog, recurred on Dead to Me, and voiced a character in Nimona.
Lauren Ambrose (Claire Fisher)
Ambrose has kept busy lately, going from one psychological thriller to another: After wrapping up a four-season run on Servant, she started playing the adult Van Palmer in Yellowjackets. Previously, she played Eliza Doolittle in a 2018 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady and earned an Outer Circle Critics Award and a Grammy nomination for her performance.
Freddy Rodriguez (Federico Diaz)
After Six Feet Under, Rodriguez starred in the TV shows CHAOS, The Night Shift, and Bull, the third of which he exited following an internal investigation. Rodriguez recently starred in the horror film V/H/S/85 and voiced a character in Scavengers Reign, and he now hosts the podcast Dos Amigoswith Wilmer Valderrama.
Mathew St. Patrick (Keith Charles)
St. Patrick hasn’t appeared in film or on TV since 2019, but before that drop-off, he starred in the TV drama Reunion and guest-starred in shows like Private Practice, Saving Grace, NCIS, and Hawaii Five-0. He also recurred as bodyguard Moses Cartwright in Sons of Anarchy’s seventh season (as pictured above).
Rachel Griffiths (Brenda Chenowith)
Griffiths, who went from Six Feet Under to Brothers & Sisters, has been working in her native Australia of late. Since 2018, she has starred in the Aussie TV shows Dead Lucky, Aftertaste, Bali 2002, and Total Control. She did appear in the 2023 American rom-com film Anyone But You… perhaps because it filmed in, yes, Australia.
Jeremy Sisto (Billy Chenowith)
Sisto is another actor who has hardly been out of work since Six Feet Under, having starred in the TV shows Kidnapped, Law & Order, Suburgatory, The Returned, Wicked City, and Ice. Since 2018, he has starred as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine in FBI.
James Cromwell (George Sibley)
Like Conroy, Cromwell is another American Horror Story alum — in fact, he earned an Emmy Award for playing Arthur Arden in the show’s Asylum season. He has earned three more Emmy nominations since, all for his performance as Ewan Roy in Succession. More recently, you’ve seen him play Jonathan Siegel in Sugar.
Justina Machado (Vanessa Diaz)
Machado has gone from Six Feet Under supporting player to top-billed star: She recently took the lead in the One Day at a Time reboot and the series The Horror of Dolores Roach. And so far this year, Machado has starred in the medical drama Pulse and earned a Tony nomination for her part in the Broadway musical Real Women Have Curves.
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