<Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Annie Parisse (?--present) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 (2010--2014), writer Thomas Yates, the love interest of Claire Underwood, in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards (2015--2017), attorney David Tellis in the Starz anthology drama series The Girlfriend Experience (2016) and in the films Deception (2008), Afterschool (2008), The Missing Person (2008), Mud (2012), Parkland (2013), and Stealing Cars (2015). </P> <P> Sparks was born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma, to Mike Sparks, a high school football coach, and an elementary school teacher mother . He attended Marlow High School, where his father coached, graduating in 1990 . Sparks earned a scholarship to Oklahoma State University to study chemistry, but later transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts . He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 1995 . </P>

Who plays the author in house of cards