Richard William Burgi is an American film and television actor best known for the roles of Det. Jim Ellison on The Sentinel and as Karl Mayer on Desperate Housewives. He also portrayed Paul Hornsby in the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital, and Ashland Locke in the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless.

The Sentinel is an action crime drama series that aired on UPN in the United States from March 20, 1996, to May 24, 1999. It ran for 65 episodes over four seasons. The series later re-aired on Syfy.