Who Plays Sterling Frost Sr. on ‘Poker Face’?

Rian Johnson’s highly-anticipated Peacock series, Poker Face, introduces and neatly solves a new mystery over the course of each hour-long episode. But there’s one ongoing case viewers will struggle to crack: Who the heck plays Sterling Frost Sr.?

If you have yet to watch the Poker Face pilot, “Dead Man’s Hand,” and you want to avoid spoilers, this is your chance to stop reading. But those who’ve seen the first episode of the series, which premiered alongside three others on January 26, already know a bit about Sterling Frost Sr. Just not enough. 

So who is Sterling Frost Sr. on Poker Face? Why is his character so crucial to the story? And who plays Sterling Frost Sr. in the mystery-of-the-week series?

Here’s everything you need to know about the Mysterious Casino Mogul Daddy.

Who Is Sterling Frost Sr. on Poker Face?

Sterling Frost Sr. is the father of Sterling Frost Jr., Adrien Brody’s character on Poker Face. Though we don’t physically lay eyes on Sterling Frost Sr. in the pilot (or the other five episodes out for review), his presence definitely looms throughout the series. And in the closing moments of Episode 1, we even get to hear his voice over the phone.

Sterling Frost Sr. put his son in charge of running Frost Casino, where Poker Face‘s protagonist Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) works as a cocktail waitress. When Jr. calls Charlie into his office and proposes she use her special human lie detector abilities to help him fleece a wealthy “whale” at the casino, we learn Sterling Frost Sr. has a long history with her. Essentially, Lyonne’s character used to use her unusual gift to be expert cardsharp, and Sterling Frost Sr. busted her, got her blackballed, and hired her at the casino to keep an eye on her.

When Sterling Frost Jr. asks Charlie why she isn’t more upset that his father stopped her from using her gift, she explains, “He didn’t break my fingers. And you know how scared I was when he had me brought into that back room? Your dad can be a scary guy.”

After realizing that Sterling Frost Jr. ordered the murder of her best friend, Charlie gets revenge by outing his plan to play dirty to the gambling community and getting him blackballed, too. After Jr. realizes the casino’s reputation is ruined, he gets a call from his dad. But instead of answering it, he walks out to the balcony and jumps to his death. Charlie flees the casino in fear, and later gets a call from an unknown number. “Long time, no time. You know who this is?” the voice at the other end of the line asks. “Mr Sterling. It’s been a while,” she replies.

“My god, kid. It’s a mess, isn’t it. I just spoke to the medical examiner. There wasn’t enough of my son for me to even identify. It’s a fuckin’ mess, kid. I let you off once, Charlie. Gave you a life. A pretty good life, right?” the man continues. “You tell me where you are. I mean, you might as well tell me where you are, cause there’s not a corner in this country small enough for you to hide in. There’s no off the grid that’s off the grid enough for you to hide from me. I’m a tough old bastard and I’ve got some years left. And I’m gonna spend them finding you. And I’m gonna hit you where it hurts. And when I do kill you, finally, you’re gonna thank me.”

Sterling Frost Sr. is the reason Charlie is forced to go on the run, so whose voice was that on the phone? We channeled our inner detective and did some digging.

Who plays Sterling Frost Sr. on Poker Face?

While the pilot doesn’t reveal Sterling Frost Sr.’s identity, we do get to hear his voice, so we have a pretty solid idea of who portrays the intimidating Poker Face character. In the original Poker Face trailer actor Ron Perlman is shown sitting in a casino looking like an absolute boss, which is a hint. But crucially, he also shares a scene with Benjamin Bratt, who plays Cliff Legrand, the casino security heavy tasked with tracking Charlie down.

Over the clip of Bratt and Perlman, a voiceover says, “You’re gonna find Charlie Cale, and you’re gonna bring her to me.” We compared that voice to the voice on the phone with Charlie at the end of the pilot, and they sound the same! So all signs point to Perlman as Sterling Frost Sr. A second trailer also shows Perlman and Bratt alongside each other, with Cliff saying “she’s here” to Perlman’s character. Uh oh, Charlie. Things aren’t looking too good.

In an interview with Bratt, the Poker Face star told Decider, “any questions that remain unanswered from the pilot — I promise you will be answered by Episode 10.” So I think it’s safe to assume all of our burning questions about Daddy Sterling’s identity will be resolved in the Season 1 finale.

The first four episodes of Poker Face are now streaming on Peacock. New episodes premiere weekly on Thursdays.