One of America's most respected actors, Peter
Gallagher has starred on stage, television and in film, delivering
stellar performances with every role he tackles.
Gallagher will star this season in Fox's new drama,
"The O.C." alongside
Benjamin McKenzie and Mischa Barton.
Gallagher, born in NYC and raised in Armonk, New
York, developed an interest in acting as a teenager starring
in school plays and musicals. After graduating from Tufts University,
he made his professional stage debut in the 1977 revival of
"Hair," followed by starring roles in the Broadway
productions of "Grease" and "The Corn Is Green".
He wowed audiences with his performance as the charismatic Sky
Masterson in Jerry Zak's Tony-winning revival of the Broadway
musical "Guys and Dolls."
In 1986 Gallagher earned a Tony Award nomination for his highly
acclaimed performance opposite Jack Lemmon in "Long
Day's Journey Into Night." He received further acclaim
with a Theatre World Award for the Harold Prince production
of "A Dolls Life" and a Clarence Derwent Award for
Tom Stoppard's "The Real
Thing," directed by Mike Nichols. He returned to Broadway
in November 2001 in an acclaimed Royal National Theatre production
of "Noises Off".
In the fall of 2002 he starred in "The Exonerated",
winner of the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding
Off-Broadway Play and the 2003 Lucille Lortel Award and Drama
Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience directed by Bob
Balaban.
The segue from stage to film began in 1980 with
Gallagher's feature film debut in Taylor Hackford's "The
Idolmaker." Many film roles have followed including;
"Dreamchild," "Bob Roberts," "Watch
It," "The Hudsucker Proxy," the comedy hit "While
You Were Sleeping," "To
Gillian on Her 37th Birthday," "Cafe Society,"
"Johnny Skidmarks," and "The Man Who Knew Too
Little". Gallagher was also seen in the Oscar-winning film
"American Beauty" and Sony Picture's "Center
Stage," directed by Nicholas Hytner. He was recently seen
co-starring in the Adam Sandler box office smash, "Mr.
Deeds." and last seen in "How To Deal" with Mandy
Moore and Allison Janney.
Having enjoyed extensive film work with directors/producers/writers
Robert Altman and Steven Soderbergh, Gallagher was featured
in Altman's highly acclaimed film, "The
Player," followed by "Short Cuts" and "Mrs.
Parker and the Vicious Circle," features that were directed
and produced respectively by Mr.. Altman. Gallagher first teamed
with Soderbergh on the 1989 feature, "sex,
lies, & videotape" earning him international critical
acclaim. Six years later, Soderbergh expressly wrote the lead
role in "The Underneath"
for Gallagher.
"The O.C.",
a new series for the Fox network which debuts August 5, 2003
stars Gallagher as Sandy Cohen a public defender living in the
wealthy world of Orange County and working in a far less privileged
place. He also stars this fall in the original Oxygen Network
film, "A Tale of Two Wives." His other television
work includes the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning miniseries
"The Murder of Mary Phagan,"
"An Inconvenient Woman," "The Caine Mutiny Court
Martial," "Cupid and Cate," "Brave
New World," and the series "The Secret Lives of
Men." For PBS, Gallagher starred in "Guys and Doll's
Off The Record" which documented the recording of the cast
album, ' an English television production of "The Big Knife"
by Clifford Odets, "Private Contentment" by Reynolds
Price and Peter Seller's silent film "The Cabinet of Dr.
Ramirez." Gallagher also starred in "Path
to Paradise" a chillingly prescient HBO film made in
the mid-nineties about the first World Trade Center bombing.
Gallagher lives in New York with his family.
