Paul Sparks (born October 16, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as gangster Mickey Doyle in the HBO period drama series Boardwalk Empire, writer Thomas Yates in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards, mall owner John Breem in the Apple TV+ comedy-drama series Physical, attorney David Tellis in the Starz anthology drama series The Girlfriend Experience, and a recurring role in the limited series The Night Of. Sparks has also starred in the films Deception (2008), Afterschool (2008), The Missing Person (2008), Mud (2012), Parkland (2013), Stealing Cars (2015), Thoroughbreds (2017), and The Greatest Showman (2017).