Jack Coleman
ALL ABOUT JACK COLEMAN
Full Name: Jack Coleman
Date of Birth: 21 February 1958
Place of Birth: Easton, Pennsylvania, USA
Spouse: Beth Toussaint, (21 June 1996 - present)
Family: Mother - Agnes Agar Coleman, Daughter - Tess
Bio:
With his good looks and everyman air, this always-employed but often-anonymous character actor has book-ended his career with a pair of enigmatic, villainous TV turns. After studying acting at Duke University, Coleman honed his skills on stage. While performing in a Long Island stage production of Grease, he made his small-screen debut on the soap Days of our Lives as Jake Kositchek, the Salem Strangler. A quarter of a century later, his subtle but striking work on the sci-fi smash Heroes as a bespectacled and morally ambiguous character simply referred to as HRG (short for Horn-Rimmed Glasses) garnered him the most mainstream attention he’d had in 25 years in showbiz. Coleman kept busy in between, both on stage and on the small screen, notably with a six-season stint on Dynasty as the twice-married but gay Steve Carrington. The second actor to play the part after Al Corley left the series, Coleman was, to some fans, less believable in the part, which was one of the first homosexual characters on a prime-time drama. In the ’80s and ’90s, Coleman popped up all over the tube, usually playing white-collar types, on everything from Diagnosis Murder to Entourage. Although his Heroes role was initially a small one, the mysteriousness of the character — a ferociously loving father who happened to be an agent for a shady company — turned him into one of the series’ breakout stars.
Trivia:
A direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin.
Graduated from Duke University in 1980, where he studied acting.
A direct, sixth-generation descendant of Benjamin Franklin.
While performing in a Long Island stage production of Grease, he received his first television break, the role of Jake Kositchek, The Salem Strangler on the soap Days of our Lives.
Received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in 1986’s Bouncers; also earned a nomination in 1990 for his work in Stand-up Tragedy.
Although he works consistently as a character actor, he is best known for his turns as the second Steven Carrington on Dynasty, and the villainous (and first-nameless) Mr. Bennet on Heroes.
Quotes:
“I always thought invisibility would be cool, but then I was invisible for most of the ’90s.”
(Heroes and it’s following success) “I attribute the success of the show entirely to Milo’s hair. Actually, I believe it’s the combination of epic storytelling set against realistic human consequences. What might it be like to wake up with these abilities? It has to be more complicated than finding a cool uniform. And it is.”
“I would love to do a movie like All the President’s Men. A really smart, crisp political thriller.”
“A television series grind can wear you down into dust, too, because it’s a million more hours than the theater”
“After a hit show is over, you soon realize this is a very tough business brutally tough. But I’m a better actor and I have more gravitas than I had at 24 with bleached-blonde hair.”
Filmography:
Jack Coleman Filmography as an Actor:
2006 Heroes [TV Series]
2006 Cow Belles
2004 Kingdom Hospital
1998 Last Rites
1996 Beneath the Bermuda Triangle
1995 Trapped in Space
1994 Foreign Student
1993 Rubdown
1991 The Return of Eliot Ness
1990 Children of the Bride
1990 Daughter of Darkness
1989 Bridesmaids
1987 Dynasty: Season 08
1987 The Pursuit of Happiness
1986 Dynasty: Season 07
1985 Dynasty: Season 06
1984 Dynasty: Season 05
1983 Dynasty: Season 04
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