Background
Hephner was born in Madison, Michigan, to Tom and Patti Hephner, and grew up in the small town of Sand Creek, Michigan, located in southern Michigan near Adrian.
Hephner was born in Madison, Michigan, to Tom and Patti Hephner, and grew up in the small town of Sand Creek, Michigan, located in southern Michigan near Adrian.
Hephner was athletic growing up, playing basketball and football, and he graduated from Sand Creek High School. He attended and played basketball for Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan for two years before transferring to Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan for two years.
He played the recurring role of football coach Red Raymond on The CW series Hellcats and co-starred in the Starz series Boss (2011-2012), opposite Kelsey Grammer. In 2015 he began starring in the TNT series Agent X.
Hephner was named to the academic all-state team for Class C-Doctorate for the 1993-1994 season. Hephner began his Hollywood career with small roles in two feature films: in Tigerland (2000), starring Colin Farrell, and Maid in Manhattan (2002), starring Jennifer Lopez, in which he played a waiter.
Also in 2002, he had starring roles in two small films, The Outlands and So How Do You Feel About Your Watch.
After appearing in 10 episodes of The Jury as Keenan O"Brien, he appeared in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "The Unblinking Eye" (2005), as Michael Pike. Hephner starred as author Pat Conroy in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie The Water Is Wide (2006) with Alfre Woodard, based on Conroy"s book and a remake of the feature motion picture Conrack (1974), starring Jon Voight.
He played the lead role of Morgan Stanley Buffkin in The CW television series Easy Money. The show aired for four episodes in October 2008 before cancellation, and the other four episodes already filmed aired the following summer (July–August 2009).
Following the cancellation of Easy Money, Hephner has appeared in guest roles on Private Practice, Computer Society of India: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Castle, and in four episodes of Mercy as firefighter Pete Boswick, romantically linked to Michelle Trachtenberg"s character Chloe Payne.
In 2010, Hephner replaced Ben Browder in the recurring role of football coach Red Raymond in The CW"s comedy-drama series Hellcats, playing the former flame of Hellcats" coach Vanessa Lodge. BuddyTV ranked Hephner #86 on its list of "television"s Sexiest Men of 2011". Hephner was cast in a lead role in the failed television series The Playboy Club but was replaced by Eddie Cibrian before filming began.
Hephner starred in season two of National Broadcasting Company"s Chicago Fire as Jeff Clarke, a former United States Marine.
He played Ben Zajac on the television series Boss.