Boris McGiver is an American actor born in Upstate New York to second generation Ukranian and Irish parents (Shmigelsky and McGiver). He is best known at the moment for Tom Hammerschmidt in "House of Cards", Hersh in "Person of Interest", Marimow in "The Wire", "Lincoln", "Turn", "Taxi", "John Adams", as well as a slew of others. He came to acting later than most, since his main goal in his youth was to attend the U.S. Airforce Academy. Though accepted to the Academy's class of 1984, he was, at the last minute before attending, let go, due to minor knee problems that left him less than the perfect physical specimen the U.S. academies demand of their incoming cadets. That heartbreak, however, lead him circuitously back to his nascent attraction to the field of acting. He is a graduate of NYU's Graduate Acting Program, and he credits Ron Van Lieu, the great acting teacher, with helping him begin to understand this beautiful art of acting. Spending a year in Sweden also turned him into a socialist, a label he wears with pride--compassion being its major tenet.