Who is John Turturro? Meet the actor playing Mr. Bailiff in the Severance TV series

Severance debuted its first season between February 18, 2022, and April 8, 2022, on Apple TV+. The workplace thriller series returned for its second season on January 17, 2025, and will air its season finale episode on March 21, 2025. Dan Erickson has created the dystopian thriller series, which is primarily directed by Ben Stiller.

Severance features a talented cast led by Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, and John Turturro. The latter is a veteran actor who has worked extensively with Spike Lee and the Coen brothers (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) in his long and successful career.

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Severance star John Turturro began acting in the 1980s

John Turturro as seen at the screening of The Room Next Door in December 2024 (Image via Getty)

John Turturro is an American actor of Italian heritage who was born on February 28, 1957, in New York City. He started his acting career with an uncredited role in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull in 1980.

In his decades-long career, he has frequently worked with the Coen brothers and starred in their films Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, among others. John has also had a long association with director Spike Lee. The two have collaborated on films like Mo' Better Blues, Clockers, He Got Game, Jungle Fever, She Hate Me, Miracle at St. Anna, etc.

John played Seymour Simmons in the Transformers film franchise from 2007 to 2017. His most recent film role was Carmine Falcone in The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson in 2022. Furthermore, he has also turned director for the films Romance and Cigarettes, Mac, Illuminata, The Jesus Rolls, and Fading Gigolo.

In addition to Severance, John's notable television credits include The Bronx Is Burning, The Night Of, The Name of the Rose, The Plot Against America, etc. He won an Emmy Award for 'Guest Actor' for playing the protagonist's older brother Ambrose Monk in the drama series, Monk.

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Who is Irving Bailiff in Severance?

In Severance, Irving Bailiff is one of the severed employees working in the Macrodata Refinement Division at Lumon. He is a stickler for following rules and often chastises his co-workers Mark S., Helly R., and Dylan G. for not following company protocol. In season 1, he falls in love with Burt Goodman from the Optics and Design Division and is left heartbroken when he retires.

The overtime contingency gives Irving's innie a chance to learn about his outie's life. When the innie Irving awakens in his outie's body, he discovers that his outie is an army veteran who lives alone with his pet dog, Radar. He obsessively paints a dark hallway leading to an elevator at Lumon. When he finds directions to Burt's house, Irving drives over and knocks on Burt's door, but the overtime contingency ends at that moment and he snaps back to his outie.

In the second season of Severance, Irving B. is the first to realize that Helly's outie is pretending to be her to spy on the innies. He exposes her truth during the outdoor excursion in episode 4 and gets fired at the end of the trip, ending the innie's existence forever. Before departing, however, he leaves a note with directions to the export hall for his co-workers to find.

Irving and Burt's outies meet in the outside world and figure out that their innies were in love at Lumon. Despite meeting Burt's husband Fields, Irving cannot help but fall in love with Burt again. In episode 9, he expresses his desire to stay with Burt, but the latter turns him down. Instead, Burt drives him to the train station, asking him to leave the town forever for his own safety.

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All episodes of Severance seasons 1 and 2 can be streamed on Apple TV+.