In a move that underscores just how far he has come since leaving a successful legal career, actor and producer Don Worley has signed on to share the screen with Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage in the upcoming post-apocalyptic action thriller Parish. The casting news, announced today, adds another high-profile credit to Worley’s rapidly expanding Hollywood resume.
Written and directed by Adam Sigal, Parish unfolds three decades after a nuclear apocalypse. Cage portrays the title character, a hardened survivor who has managed to stay alive by sealing himself inside a fortified compound with his highly trained attack dogs. His survival hinges on one rigid rule: never let anyone through the gate.
That rule is shattered when a desperate woman carrying an infant arrives begging for sanctuary. Parish’s decision to help her puts the refuge he has spent decades building at risk, and it places him directly in the path of a violent group of cannibals stalking the wasteland.
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The film also features Dane DeHaan and Alexandra Shipp in key roles.
For Worley, joining Parish is another opportunity to work alongside established filmmakers and performers as he continues building a career that increasingly moves between acting, producing, and financing projects across both independent and commercial cinema.
“Working with Nicolas Cage is incredibly exciting for me as an actor,” Worley said. “He has created some of the most memorable characters in modern film, and I have tremendous respect for the fearlessness he brings to every performance. Parish has a great premise, a fascinating world and the kind of heightened circumstances that give actors an opportunity to really explore their characters.”
Worley’s role in Parish comes during a particularly active period in his entertainment career. Through Second Chance Pictures, he has been steadily expanding his involvement in feature films, streaming projects and vertical entertainment while simultaneously putting greater emphasis on his work in front of the camera.
His recent acting credits include Tangled Up in Blue, filmmaker Jamie Adams’ improvisational feature that also stars Quentin Tarantino and Kylie Minogue, as well as Barracuda, directed by Neil Burger and starring Anthony Mackie and Dafne Keen. Worley has also been involved in projects including The Tempering, starring Angie Harmon and David A.R. White; The Mystery of the Golden Spear, part of the Miranda Green mystery franchise starring Mischa Barton; and ManDate, an ensemble comedy featuring Jon Lovitz.
On the producing side, Worley recently served as an Executive Producer on Christmas at the Kringles, the upcoming holiday feature starring Ron Livingston, Rachel Bilson, Rob Riggle, Thomas Lennon, Donald Faison and Beverly D’Angelo, which is scheduled for a wide theatrical release through Briarcliff Entertainment.
His growing slate reflects an unusual path into Hollywood. Worley began acting when he was younger, studying theater and appearing in projects including D.O.A. before eventually pursuing a career in law. He went on to build a nationally recognized legal practice before returning to entertainment and establishing Second Chance Pictures — a company whose name reflects what Worley describes as his own “second chance” at pursuing the creative career he began years earlier.
Rather than choosing between his roles as businessman, producer and performer, Worley has increasingly combined them.
“Producing allows me to help get movies made, but acting is something I have always loved,” Worley said. “At this point in my life, I want to work with talented people, take chances and play characters that challenge me. Every set teaches you something, and getting to work alongside artists at this level is exactly why I came back to acting.”
Worley’s recent projects have taken him across genres ranging from thrillers and action films to comedy, faith-based drama and the rapidly expanding vertical entertainment market. His production company, Second Chance Pictures, has likewise continued broadening its slate across traditional feature films and emerging formats.
Parish further extends that trajectory, placing Worley within a high-concept survival thriller centered on one of contemporary cinema’s most recognizable actors. For Worley, however, the goal remains less about the size of a project than the opportunity to continue developing as a performer.
“I spent years building businesses and practicing law, and I’m proud of that part of my life,” Worley said. “But there is something completely different about walking onto a movie set and becoming somebody else for a while. I’m having more fun acting now than ever, and I feel like I’m just getting started.”
With Parish joining an increasingly diverse slate of projects, Worley continues to establish a distinctive position in Hollywood as both a producer helping bring projects to the screen and an actor actively pursuing increasingly ambitious roles.
ABOUT PARISH
Parish is a post-apocalyptic action thriller written and directed by Adam Sigal and starring Nicolas Cage, with Dane DeHaan and Alexandra Shipp among the cast. Set 30 years after a nuclear apocalypse, the film follows a hardened survivor whose carefully protected existence is threatened after he allows a woman and infant into his sanctuary, putting him in the path of a dangerous band of cannibals.
ABOUT DON WORLEY
Don Worley is an actor, producer, entrepreneur and attorney whose career spans film, television and independent production. After studying theater and beginning his acting career as a young man, Worley went on to establish a nationally recognized legal career before returning to entertainment and founding Second Chance Pictures. As both an actor and producer, Worley has built an expanding slate encompassing theatrical features, independent films, streaming projects and vertical entertainment. His recent work includes A Time for Sunset, Barracuda, Christmas at the Kringles, The Tempering, The Mystery of the Golden Spear, ManDate, Tangled Up in Blue and additional film and television projects currently in development. Through Second Chance Pictures, Worley continues to develop, finance and produce projects while expanding his work as an actor alongside established filmmakers and performers.
Keri Ann Kimball
Kimball Entertainment
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Why it matters: Worley’s casting in a Nicolas Cage-led survival thriller signals that his second-act Hollywood career is gaining real traction. For audiences, it means a fresh face entering a genre that thrives on high stakes and intense performances, and for the industry, it underscores how nontraditional paths — from law to producing to acting — can still yield serious on-screen opportunities.
