Who was Damon Herriman in Mindhunter? Character explored in depth

Australian actor Damon Herriman played the role of the infamous cult leader Charles Manson in Mindhunter. The Netflix show dealt with the initiation of serial killer profiling so that the killers can be understood and stopped before they commit such violent crimes. The official synopsis of Mindhunter, as mentioned by Rotten Tomatoes, reads,

“Catching a criminal often requires the authorities to get inside the villain's mind to figure out how he thinks. That's the job of FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench. They attempt to understand and catch serial killers by studying their damaged psyches.”

The synopsis further mentions,

“Along the way, the agents pioneer the development of modern serial-killer profiling. The crime drama has a strong pedigree behind the camera, with Oscar-nominated director David Fincher and Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron among the show's executive producers.”

Besides Charles Manson, Mindhinter followed the cases of several serial killers like Edmund Kemper, David Berkowitz, Dennis Rader, Wayne Williams, etc.

Damon Herriman played Charles Manson in Mindhunter

One interesting fact about Damon Herriman is that he played the complicated character of Charles Manson not once but twice. Mindhunter was the second project where he landed the role, as previously he had played the same character in Quintin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Manson was a criminal and a cult leader who led the Manson Family, a cult that was based in California during the 1960s and early 1970s. He was also a musician, and in July and August 1969, some of his cult members committed a series of 9 murders at various locations.

He was also involved with the murder of Sharon Tate, the actress, and the prosecution opined that while Manson never ordered the murders directly, he was behind the ideology that prompted the group members to carry out the murders.

In both pieces, Herriman shone, and his makeup and physical attributes further added more of the menace that was required to play the infamous character. Talking about the experience, the actor said to Variety,

“From an acting perspective, just in terms of playing a character, it was an incredible challenge, in a good way. You want to push yourself as an actor as much as possible, and playing a very well-known person in a very big show that a lot of people are going to see, and a lot of time and money is going to be put into, you want to do it right. I was thrilled to get that opportunity.”

Herriman guest-starred in Mindhunter and, in the second season, in which he played Manson’s character, came out later than Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; he was cast in the Netflix show before signing Tarantino’s film.

In the same interview with Variety, Herriman further talked about what the role meant to him as an actor and said,

“As an actor, you almost never get the opportunity to transform in such a dramatic way. And getting to look at myself in the mirror, become Charles Manson, was really invaluable. It was an extraordinary experience to sit in a chair for a few hours watching yourself transform like that.”

Mindhunter can be streamed on Netflix.

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