Rob Morrow Biography

Date of Birth: September 21, 1962

Born in New Rochelle, NY, Rob Morrow moved to New York City at age 17 to pursue a career in acting. He took acting classes at the HB Studio and worked behind the scenes of various New York productions before beginning to land roles in off-Broadway plays. He also dabbled in background (extra) work, playing a jury member in a Saturday Night Live skit in March, 1980.

It was while working as a production assistant for the late director-choreographer Michael Bennett in 1982 that he met his future wife, actress Debbon Ayer, who was Bennett's receptionist at the time. Morrow also got a big break through Bennett when he cast the young actor in a major role in the play Third Street at the Circle Repertory Theater.

In 1985 Morrow made his television debut on the hit series Fame, playing a guest role. His film debut came the same year, when he co-starred with Johnny Depp in the teen comedy Private Resort. Morrow landed a recurring role on the short-lived series Tattingers (1989) before getting the role that would make him a household name. In 1990, after more than 35 stage performances, various guest-star spots on television and numerous commercials, he landed the role of Dr. Joel Fleischman on Northern Exposure. The role was that of a hotshot Columbia Medical School graduate and devoted New Yorker who had to relocate to a remote Alaskan town filled with eccentric characters, to pay off his medical school loan. The show was a critical and commercial success, lasting five seasons.

Morrow left the show in 1994 to pursue a career in film, and landed a major supporting role in Robert Redford's Quiz Show (1994) as an attorney who uncovers the deception behind a rigged television game show of the 1950s. He next acquired the lead in the capital punishment drama Last Dance (1996), co-starring Sharon Stone. A variety of other roles followed, both in TV movies and feature films.

In 2000, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in Maze, in which he played painter and sculptor Lyle Maze, who suffers from Tourette's syndrome.

An advocate of healthy eating, Morrow opened the dairy-free Josie's Restaurant and Juice Bar with his childhood friend and chef, Louis Lanza, in the Upper West Side of New York City. He lives in New York with his wife, Debbon Ayer, and their daughter Tu Simone Ayer Morrow, born on April 25, 2001.

Morrow is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theater, The New York Stage and Film Company and a founding member of the Naked Angels Theatre Company. His hobbies include photography and golf.

Filmography:

The Emperor's Club (2002)
The Guru (2002)
Street Time (2002)
Labor Pains (2000)
Sam the Man (2000)
Maze (2000)
Other Voices (2000)
Nearly Yours (1999)
Into My Heart (1998)
Mother (1996)
Last Dance (1996)
Quiz Show (1994)
Private Resort (1985)