He brought shudders to audiences worldwide as Jamie Gumb, the cross-dressing serial killer in "Silence of the Lambs" (1991) but the stage-trained Ted Levine has proven himself as a character player with range, portraying outlaws, jilted husbands, cops, drunks, and the like. Levine left Marlboro College in Vermont to pursue the stage, joining the Burlington (VT) Shakespeare Festival. He later toured as Sgt. Toomey in the national company of "Biloxi Blues." Dedication to theatre led Levine to turn to directing as well as acting and he established the Dratman Theatre Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before moving to Chicago to join first The Remains Ensemble and later the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He has worked extensively at Steppenwolf, including a 1995 appearance in Sam Shepard's "Buried Child" directed by Gary Sinise.
Levine first began appearing on TV with bit parts in "Through Naked Eyes" (ABC, 1983), and "The Killing Floor" for "American Playhouse" (PBS, 1984). He was a regular on "Crime Story" a 1986 NBC series produced by Michael Mann. Levine's first break in features came with "Ironweed" (1987) in which he played Pocano Pete. He appeared in Costa-Gavras' "Betrayed" (1988) and "Love at Large" (1990) before gaining notice as serial killer Jamie Gumb in "Silence of the Lambs" (1991). Levine subsequently has alternated between stage, film and TV with apparent ease. He co-starring with Mickey Rourke in "The Last Outlaw" (HBO, 1993) and opposite Cheryl Ladd twice in "The Fulfillment of Mary Gray" (CBS, 1989) and "Broken Promises" (CBS, 1993). Levine was in three films in 1995: Tobe Hooper's thriller "The Mangler", "Georgia" (as Mare Winningham's supportive husband), and "Heat" which reteamed him with Michael Mann.