Dylan McDermott Biography

DYLAN McDERMOTT

Date of Birth: October 26, 1961

When Dylan was five, his mother died, so he was raised by his grandmother in Waterbury, Connecticutt. During his teen years he moved to Greewich Villiage to live with his father. He came into contact with the theatre through his step-mother who was a successful playwright. She wrote the 17-year-old into her play Believe It, See It, Survival and after performing in the play, he was hooked to the world of acting. Convinced that he had enough talent to seriously pursue a career in acting, Dylan majored in drama at Fordham University and enrolled at the Neighborhood playhouse.

In 1985, McDermott was spotted by an agent in his debut performance in Biloxi Blues on Broadway. Along with other unknown actors, Dylan went through months of military training before shooting Hamburger Hill (1987), about the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

His following films, The Blue Iguana (1988) and Twister (1989) put a damper on his career and his work in television faired no better.

In 1989 McDermott began to date his female lead Julia Roberts from the film Steel Magnolias. This romance was short lived though. After the success of this film, his career spiraled downwards again until 1993, when he landed a small role in In the Line of Fire.

A few more disappointing movies and McDermott wisely took a respite from films to direct his first stage production, a play called Short Eyes.

The following year he was cast in the dysfunctional-family comedy, Home for the Holidays but it was his role as defense lawyer Bobby Donnell in the hour-long TV drama, The Practice, that his second-class status finally changed. He held the role for the duration of the series, seven years, and then did a few more films before taking on a recurring role in two more TV shows back-to-back, Big Shots from 2007 to 2008 and Dark Blue from 2009 to 2010. Things were definitely starting too look up because McDermott then landed a spot on the popular FX series American Horror Story. Although it was only for the first season, it helped to put his name back out there. He appears in not one, but two, big films in 2012: The Campaign alongside Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis and The Perks of Being a Wallflower with Emma Watson and Logan Lerman.

McDermott lives in Los Angeles with his actress wife, Shiva Afshar, and their two young daughters.

Filmography

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
The Campaign (2012)
Nobody Walks (2012)
Burning Palms (2010)
Mercy (2009)
Have Dreams, Will Travel (2007)
A West Texas Children's Story (2007)
The Messengers (2007)
Unbeatable Harold (2006)
The Tenants (2006)
Edison (2005)
Mistress of Spices (2005)
Edison (2005)
The Tenants (2005)
Runaway Jury (2003)
Wonderland (2003)
Texas Rangers (2001)
Three to Tango (1999)
'Til There Was You (1997)
Home for the Holidays (1995)
Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995)
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
The Cowboy Way (1994)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Jersey Girl (1992)
Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1992)
Hardware (1990)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
The Blue Iguana (1988)
Twister (1989)
Hamburger Hill (1987)