Denis Leary Biography

DENIS LEARY

Date of Birth: August 18, 1957

"What do you want from me?," says this motor-mouth comedian who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. "I live in New York. If I didn't have this outlet I'd probably open fire on the guy with the pierced nostril who's trying to sell me a friggin' frapachino instead of a real cup of coffee. But I'm lucky. I get paid big bucks to get up on stage and blow off about the stuff that's making everyone crazy."

Leary's stage career began at Emerson College in Boston where he started writing and acting. After graduation, he taught at the college for five years while also dabbling in stand-up comedy. The dabbling soon to into a serious endeavor and his show, No Cure for Cancer, performed first at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival in Scotland in 1990, made some considerable waves, moving to America the following year and on to being broadcast on Showtime in 1992. The show also spawned a book, CD, cassette, and a videotape. It also spawned Leary's movie career.

His take on Hollywood: "What I've found is that the more you get involved in the Hollywood process the harder it is to pull off something good," he says. "Because the more money there is involved, the more people there are who show up on the set to slip notes to the director. It gets harder and harder to make something funny."

In addition to all his other work, Leary starred as a firefighter in the FX Network's series Rescue Me, which he also co-created. The series ran for seven seasons, ending in 2011. The following year, he appeared in the highly-anticipated reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man (2011), in which he played the part of Captain Stacy. He also voiced the character of Diego in the 2012 animated flick Ice Age: Continental Drift. Leary has voiced the character for all three of the series' previous films. More recently, he starred in Draft Day (2014) and Freaks of Nature (2015), as well as reprised his role as Diego in the animated sequel Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).

Filmography:

Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
Freaks of Nature (2015)
Draft Day (2014)
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) (voice)
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006) (voice)
The Secret Lives of Dentists (2003)
Ice Age (2002) (voice)
Bad Boy (2001)
Double Whammy (2001)
Final (2001)
Blow (2001)
Sand (2000)
Company Man (2000)
Lakeboat (2000)
Do Not Disturb (1999)
True Crime (1999)
Jesus' Son (1999)
Lakeboat (1999)
Sand (1999)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Small Soldiers (1998)
Wide Awake (1998)
Love Walked In (1998)
A Bug's Life (1998) (voice)
Small Soldiers (1998)
Wide Awake (1998)
Love Walked In (1998)
Talk of the Town (1998)
Wag the Dog (1997)
The MatchMaker (1997)
Underworld (1997)
The Real Blonde (1997)
Suicide Kings (1997)
Two if by Sea (1996)
The Neon Bible (1995)
Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)
National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins (1995)
Natural Born Killers (1994) (uncredited)
The Ref (1994)
Gunmen (1994)
Demolition Man (1993)
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)
Judgment Night (1993)
The Sandlot (1993)
Who's the Man? (1993)
Strictly Business (1991)