Dylan McDermott (Actor)

Dylan McDermott attends the Grand Opening of An Original Penguin (Photo: Thos Robinson / Getty Images)

Predominately best known as a television actor, Dylan McDermott was pretty much the whole leading man package – movie star good looking, but with substantial acting chops to match. Despite seemingly hitting the jackpot in so many different ways, things did not always come easily to the actor. After surviving a depressing and tragic childhood, McDermott weathered a string of underwhelming feature film roles before finally landing his Golden Globe-winning role as Bobby Donnell, the criminal defense attorney heading up a struggling Boston law firm on “The Practice” (ABC 1997-2004).

Born Mark Anthony McDermott in Waterbury, CT on Oct. 26, 1961, McDermott’s childhood was rocky from the beginning. The eldest of two children, McDermott’s mother Diane was only 15 years old when she had her son. At age 17, McDermott’s factory worker father, Richard McDermott, was not anymore more prepared for marriage and children than McDermott’s mother. Nonetheless the couple stayed married long enough to have a second child, a daughter, Robin McDermott, five years her brother’s junior. By early 1967, the young couple could no longer hold it together and separated. McDermott’s father moved to Manhattan, gaining work as a bartender, while Diane stayed behind in Connecticut to raise her two children, with the help of her mother, Avis. Things took a turn from difficult to tragic in February of 1967 when Diane McDermott was shot and killed at the age of 20 – presumably accidentally by her boyfriend while he was cleaning his gun – though he denied it at that time, saying that she shot herself. It was ruled a suicide, but 40 years later, her death still remained shrouded in mystery with no clear answers. McDermott was just five years old at the time and his sister, Robin a mere six months old.

Not unexpectedly, the overwhelming responsibility of raising two children was too much for McDermott’s 22-year-old father. Fortunately maternal grandmother, Avis Marino was there to step in and raise her grandchildren. Despite having the love of his grandmother, the loss of his mother at such a young age made McDermott a lonely and isolated child, who later said he felt virtually invisible. By the time he hit adolescence, McDermott was angry, acting out, drinking heavily and getting into fights whenever possible. Things were looking grim for his future, when luck finally smiled on the 15-year-old delinquent when his father married playwright Eve Ensler, the writer behind the hit play “Vagina Monologues” (1996-2001) Though she was only nine years older than her new stepson, Ensler took young Mark under her wing, eventually adopting the troubled youth when he was nineteen. Acting as McDermott’s personal cheerleader, life-coach, and mentor, Ensler saw potential in McDermott’s talent, giving him his first acting role in her play “Believe It, See It” when he was only 15 years old (c. 1980). With Ensler’s help, McDermott began to channel his anger into acting and away from self-destructive behavior. Unfortunately, Ensler’s marriage to McDermott’s father did not survive, but his beloved stepmother and the young actor had formed a lasting bond which would continue post-divorce. In fact, when Ensler miscarried a baby she intended to name Dylan, her stepson changed his name to perhaps bring her some happiness. Thus, the actor known as Dylan McDermott was born.

With a newfound ambition, McDermott renounced his wild ways and enrolled at New York City’s Fordham University to study drama and to get immersed in the world of theater. In 1985, he appeared in Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues.” It was during one of his stage performances, that an agent spotted the handsome actor with the piercing blue eyes and sent McDermott packing for Hollywood. He was off to a solid start, making his feature film debut in the Vietnam drama “Hamburger Hill” (1987) as Sergeant Frantz. He followed that up with two consecutively disappointing roles in box office underachievers: “The Blue Iguana” (1988) and “Twister” (1989).

Fortunately his next film was a major hit. He portrayed Julia Roberts supportive husband in the southern tearjerker “Steel Magnolias” (1989) alongside an all-star cast that included Sally Field, Daryl Hannah and Shirley MacLaine. In real life, he was playing boyfriend to his co-star and serial monogamist Roberts – that is, until she met Kiefer Sutherland on the set of her next film, “Flatliners” (1990), and unceremoniously dumped him. Apparently not one to hold a grudge, McDermott later teamed with Sutherland – who at that point had also been dumped by Roberts as well – in the 1994 feature flop, “The Cowboy Way.”

After his successful turn in Steel Magnolias,” McDermott suffered through several box office disappointments like “Hardware” (1990), and “Jersey Girl” co-starring Jami Gertz (1992) before having the good fortune of starring as a secret service agent opposite Clint Eastwood in the critically praised box office success, “In the Line of Fire” (1993). His career was not the only thing improving. McDermott’s personal life was heating up as well. That same year he met his future wife, Shiva Rose in a Santa Monica coffee house. It was love at first sight for McDermott. Oddly enough, Rose was not immediately taken with the actor, but eventually he won her over. The couple wed Nov. 19, 1995 and soon became a red carpet staple. A year later Rose gave birth to their daughter Colette; in 2005, the couple welcomed their second daughter, Charlotte Rose.

Continuing to rack up impressive credits – as well as to be constantly mistaken for fellow up-and-coming actor, Dermot Mulroney – in 1994 McDermott co-starred as the dashing love interest to Elizabeth Perkins in a misguided remake of the classic film “Miracle on 34th Street” (1994). A year later McDermott redeemed himself in the underrated Jodie Foster-helmed feature dramedy “Home for the Holidays” (1995), in which he played to his strengths as the charming Leo Fish, who tries to win over a frazzled Holly Hunter during her holiday visit with her dysfunctional family.

McDermott’s association with Clint Eastwood benefited him yet again. While attending a dinner to honor the screen legend, he met Jeffrey Kramer, the president of David E. Kelly productions, who asked McDermott to audition for a new series called “The Practice” (ABC 1997- 2004). McDermott was a perfect fit for the role of Bobby Donnell, and helped to turn “The Practice” into a hit, by bringing a smoldering sex appeal combined with a hard-headed intensity that kept viewers glued to their televisions. The critics agreed, paving the way for McDermott to win a 1998 Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Drama TV Series. On a roll, that same year People magazine named him as one of its “50 Most Beautiful People.”

In 1999, he was honored again with an Emmy nomination for his “Practice” work. During hiatus from filming his hit show, McDermott gambled and lost when he starred in the bland big screen romantic comedy “Three to Tango” (1999) also starring Matthew Perry and Neve Campbell. By 2003, “The Practice” was suffering from dwindling ratings. In a surprising move, to say the least, show creator and writer, David E. Kelly fired most of the cast – including his star and main attraction, McDermott – in an attempt to cut production costs. The show was finally cancelled the following year.

With his steady gig over, McDermott went back to the unpredictable world of feature films. None of which did anything to further his career. In 2003, he was miscast as a grimy, tattooed drug dealer in a supporting role in the feature “Wonderland” (2003), based on the real life 1981 Los Angeles drug murders on Wonderland Avenue. In 2005, he starred as the romantic hero opposite Indian actress Aishwarya Rai – a.k.a. “the most beautiful woman in the world” – in the mystical drama, “The Mistress of Spices” (2005). Even their staggering combination of good looks could not save the film from box office Siberia. Next, he tried his hand at the horror genre, starring in “The Messengers” (2007) as a city slicker who moves his family away from the dangers of urban living to a haunted house in the country. Critics skewered the film for being a silly snoozefest rather than remotely scary.

In 2007, McDermott returned to the medium television starring in the dramedy “Big Shots” (ABC 2007- ), which was touted as a male version of “Desperate Housewives” (ABC 2004- ). Regardless of labels and Nielsen expectations, he was clearly in his element, starring as womanizing scoundrel, Duncan Collingsworth, a cosmetics company CEO who has plenty of time to spend kvetching at the country club with his three best male friends, as well as carry on an affair with his beautiful ex-wife. At the same time that McDermott was making his big return to network television, the sad news arrived via his reps that McDermott had separated from Rose, after nearly 12 years of marriage – practically a lifetime in fickle Hollywood.