John Wesley Shipp (born January 22, 1955) is an American actor. He portrayed Barry Allen/The Flash and Pollux in CBS's The Flash and Henry Allen and Jay Garrick/The Flash in The CW's The Flash. He reprised the role of Barry Allen/The Flash in Elseworlds and Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Credits[]
The Flash (CBS)[]
Actor[]
The Flash (The CW)[]
Actor[]
Supergirl[]
Actor[]
Season 4[]
- "Bunker Hill" The Flash (uncredited)
Arrow[]
Actor[]
Season 7[]
- "Unmasked" The Flash (uncredited)
- "Elseworlds, Part 2" The Flash
Trivia[]
- Shipp has also worked on other projects related to DC properties:
- Garner St. John in Human Target.
- Eobard Thawne/Professor Zoom in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
- Jay Garrick/The Flash in Stargirl.
- Shipp portraying Barry Allen in the 1990 The Flash series, while having portrayed the same character's father in the 2014 The Flash series is parallel to how Helen Slater portrayed Kara Zor-El/Supergirl in the 1984 film of the same name, but currently plays Supergirl's mother in the current Supergirl series, which is linked to the current Flash series via the Arrowverse.
- Ironically, both actors' character's direct relation, as well as their role and involvement in their superhero children's' lives, are quite opposite. Henry Allen is Barry Allen's biological father and was wrongfully arrested when Barry was a child, which led to Barry growing up without him and could never see him outside of visits to his prison, until he was finally released. Eliza Danvers, on the other hand, is Kara Danvers's adoptive mother who Kara spent most of her life with (if one doesn't count the 24 years she spent sleeping in the Phantom Zone), and heavily influenced Kara's upbringing and blending into the human lifestyle.
- Shipp is one of three actors to have appeared in every season of The CW's The Flash who are not series regulars alongside Patrick Sabongui and David Ramsey.
- Along with the Arrow actors Colton Haynes, JR Bourne, Superman & Lois actors Tyler Hoechlin and Ian Bohen, and Batwoman's Meagan Tandy, Shipp appeared in the TV show Teen Wolf.
- Shipp reprised his role of Jay Garrick/The Flash in Stargirl, appearing in flashbacks in the Season 2 episode, "Summer School: Chapter Nine," as well as in the final scene of the series finale, "Chapter Thirteen: The Reckoning." Shipp has stated that, as he understands it, this is the same version of his character who appears in The Flash.[1]