Marcus Paul Blucas (born January 11, 1972) is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Matthew Donnelly in Necessary Roughness and recently, abolitionist John Hawkes in Underground. Prior to his acting career, he was known for playing college basketball with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Marcus Paul Blucas was born on January 11, 1972 in Butler, Pennsylvania, two years after his sister, Kristen. His parents, Walter Joseph Blucas and Mary Catherine (née Gordon), married on January 10, 1970, shortly before both graduated in education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). They are divorced. "A self-confessed square who earned good grades," Blucas was, like his father, a skilled sportsman. Wally was the quarterback on the undefeated 1968 Big Indians team, competed in the Boardwalk Bowl, and in 1999 was inducted into the IUP Athletics Hall of Fame. The family moved to Girard in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1974, where Blucas' father rose from teacher to school principal and ultimately to Superintendent of Schools for the District. Blucas became the star player on the Girard High School basketball team, leading them to the Pennsylvania Boys AA State Championship, in the process earning all-state honors and a sports scholarship to Wake Forest University. He played in the Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team and graduated in 1994 after one season playing on the same court as Tim Duncan. He was also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.