"[2] After obtaining a Bachelor of Science from the USC Price School of Public Policy,[3] he worked as a petrochemical engineer, but later decided to become a bodybuilder and actor.

[6] After that music video, Birmingham began to pursue acting as his primary career, studying with Larry Moss and Charles Conrad.

In 2018, he began portraying Chief Thomas Rainwater of the fictional Broken Rock Indian Reservation in Paramount Network's Yellowstone.

He has appeared in a number of other television series, including Animal Kingdom, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, 10 Items or Less, Nip/Tuck, Castle, The Mentalist, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Siren.

In 2022, Birmingham was cast as Detective Bill Taba, a Paiute man and non-Latter-day Saint, in the mini-series Under the Banner of Heaven.

[citation needed] He played the partnering Texas Ranger to Jeff Bridges' character in the 2016 bank robbery film Hell or High Water.