Dermot Mulroney

Dermot Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, voice artist, and musician. He is best known for his roles in romantic comedy, western, and drama films. Appearing on screen since the mid-1980s, he is known for his work in films such as Young Guns (1988), Staying Together (1989), Where the Day Takes You (1992), Point of No Return (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), About Schmidt (2002), The Wedding Date (2005), August: Osage County (2013), Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), and the HBO films The Last Outlaw (1993) and Long Gone (1987). Mulroney played the main antagonist Francis Gibson in NBC's Crisis, Dr. Walter Wallace in Pure Genius, Sean Pierce in Showtime's Shameless and Bobby Sheridan in USA's The Purge.

Dermot Mulroney
Mulroney at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	October 31, 1963 Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Catherine Keener ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 2007)​ Tharita Cesaroni-Catulle ​ ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	3

Early life

Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia. His father Michael Mulroney, originally from Elkader, Iowa, was a law professor at Villanova University School of Law beginning in the 1990s, prior to which he had a private practice in tax law for thirty years in Washington, D.C. His mother, Ellen, originally from Manchester, Iowa, was a regional theater actress.[1][2] Dermot is the middle child among five siblings. He has two older brothers, Conor and Sean; a younger brother, Kieran Mulroney, who is an actor and screenwriter; and a younger sister, Moira.[3] Mulroney attended Matthew Maury Elementary School and played cello in school and city youth orchestras, as well as acted in children's community theater. He finished 9th and 10th grades at George Washington High School, before attending T. C. Williams High School (class of 1981) in Alexandria, Virginia.[4] During his sophomore year in high school, he attended the Interlochen Arts Camp as a cellist.[3] Beginning at age 18, Mulroney studied communications at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois,[5] where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and graduated in 1985.[6]

Mulroney has a scar on his upper lip from a childhood accident, about which he explained, "I was 3½ and I was carrying a dish for our pet rabbits. And I tripped and it broke, and I fell on it."[7]

Career

1986–1996

In his senior year in college, Mulroney responded to a sign-up sheet and auditioned in front of WMA agent Barbara Gale,[3] who offered him a contract and asked him to relocate to Hollywood. There, Mulroney auditioned for three months before landing the role of the male lead in his debut in Sin of Innocence.[8] In his first decade acting, Mulroney appeared in a slew of drama films often dealing with heavy subject matter: Sin of Innocence (1986), in which he played a stepbrother romantically involved with his stepsister after their parents marry; Daddy (1987), in which he played the boyfriend in a couple struggling with teenage parenthood; the Lee Grant sibling family drama Staying Together (1989); Unconquered (1989), in which he portrayed the son of Richmond Flowers Sr., an opponent of Alabama Governor George Wallace's segregationist policies; Longtime Companion (1989), in which he portrayed the first HIV/AIDS patient to die of the disease in a widely released film; Where the Day Takes You (1992), in which he plays the leader of a group of teenage runaways trying to survive in the streets of Los Angeles; and supporting roles in the Emmy Award-nominated Family Pictures (1993), which dealt with the struggles of raising a child with autism, and Bastard out of Carolina (1996), which dealt with abuse and molestation.

Dermot Mulroney in 2018

In 1988, Mulroney appeared in the baseball flick Long Gone, for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie at the CableACE Awards. In 1989, he appeared in Survival Quest, during which he met Catherine Keener. While filming, in 1986,[3] Keener was caught in a river current and floated precariously close to whitewater rapids when Mulroney jumped in and the pair were picked up half a mile downstream. The two eventually married in 1990.[9] The couple would go on to appear together in four other films: Living In Oblivion (1995), Heroine of Hell (1996), Box of Moonlight (1996) and Lovely & Amazing (2001). Mulroney's roles in Samantha (1991) and Where The Day Takes You (1992) awarded him Best Actor at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Mulroney appeared in a number of western films throughout this period, namely Young Guns in 1988, Silent Tongue and The Last Outlaw in 1993, and Bad Girls in 1994.[10] The Sam Shepard-directed Silent Tongue would mark the second in a series of four collaborations, with the two previously appearing together on screen in Bright Angel (1990), for which Mulroney won the Jury Special Prize at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema. Mulroney co-starred in the comedy-drama films: Staying Together (1989); The Thing Called Love (1993), the second of two collaborations with River Phoenix before his death; and There Goes My Baby (1994), originally filmed in 1990.[5] Mulroney appeared in the thriller films Point of No Return in 1993; Copycat in 1995; the Palme d'Or-nominated Kansas City, and The Trigger Effect in 1996. He was nominated for Best Kiss, with Winona Ryder, for How to Make an American Quilt (1996) at the MTV Movie Awards.

1997–present

Several of his lead performances have been in romantic comedy films. Mulroney has appeared in many movies, including as the male lead in My Best Friend's Wedding alongside Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. In 1993 Mulroney played "J.P", the boyfriend of star "Maggie" (played by Bridget Fonda) in Point of No Return. Mulroney also played the love interest of Madeleine Stowe in the western Bad Girls. In 2005, he played a male escort alongside Debra Messing in The Wedding Date, and co-starred in the ensemble film The Family Stone, with Sarah Jessica Parker. He was also in the movie Abduction (2011) as Martin Price.

In 2003, Mulroney played Gavin Mitchell on the TV series Friends. He appeared in three episodes of the ninth season, his character briefly dating Rachel. This would mark Mulroney's last on-screen appearance on television for a number of years, later revealing in a May 2007 interview that he had turned down TV series roles in favor of film.[11] In 2007, Mulroney appeared in the fifth season of The Batman animated series in a voiced role playing the Green Lantern/Hal Jordan in three episodes.[12]

In 1993, he wrote the song "Someone Else's Used Guitar" for Peter Bogdanovich's The Thing Called Love, in which he also starred. Mulroney also had a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix–directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside. Mulroney also is credited as a song performer on the movie and for four other tunes, as well as acting in the movie. He occasionally reads stories on the WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. In 2012, Mulroney played the love interest of Zooey Deschanel, Russell, in the Fox series New Girl. In 2013, he played the title starring role in the psychotronic horror film The Rambler, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He also starred alongside Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, and Stefanie Scott in the 2015 horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 3.[13] He is the narrator of Legends & Lies (2015-2016) executive produced by Bill O'Reilly for Fox News Channel. He also played in the hit Showtime series Shameless as Sean, a recovering drug addict who runs a restaurant.

Personal life

Mulroney married actress Catherine Keener in 1990 after they met in 1986 when filming Survival Quest.[9] They have a son named Clyde Keener Mulroney (born June 21, 1999) who is a singer. The couple separated in May 2005 and Mulroney filed for divorce on June 11, 2007, citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce became final on December 19, 2007.[14] He later married Italian Tharita Catulle in 2008. They have two daughters; Mabel, born in 2008, and Sally June, born in 2009. The family lives in Los Angeles.

Mulroney is an accomplished cellist. In 1996, he was part of a band called the Low and Sweet Orchestra that released an album in 1996, "Goodbye to All That".[15] In 2005 he appeared alongside Boyd Tinsley for Alanis Morissette's show at the House of Blues in Hollywood. He played the cello in the films: Daddy & Samantha; where he portrayed a college student studying music alongside Martha Plimpton. He played cello in the song "Place Your Hand" from Melissa Etheridge's 1992 album Never Enough, on the EP for Rain Phoenix's band Papercranes, and on the scores for Mission: Impossible III (2006), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).[16] Most recently, he portrayed a cello soloist in the second and third seasons of Mozart in the Jungle.

Mulroney was included in People's Sexiest Men of the Year issue in 2005 as its "Sexiest Jack of Arts".[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Sunset	Michael Alperin
	Young Guns	Dirty Steve Stephens
1989	Staying Together	Kit McDermott
	Survival Quest	Gray Atkinson
	Longtime Companion	John
1990	Bright Angel	George Russell
1991	Career Opportunities	Nestor Pyle
	Samantha	Henry
1992	Where the Day Takes You	King
1993	Silent Tongue	Reeves McCree
	Point of No Return	J. P.
	The Thing Called Love	Kyle Davidson
1994	Bad Girls	Josh McCoy
	There Goes My Baby	Pirate
	Angels in the Outfield	Mr. Bomman
	Scene Six, Take One	Wolf	Short film
1995	Copycat	Reuben Goetz
	How to Make an American Quilt	Sam
	Living in Oblivion	Wolf Überman	Also associate producer
1996	Kansas City	Johnny O'Hara
	The Trigger Effect	Joe
	Box of Moonlight	Wick
	Bastard Out of Carolina	Lyle Parsons
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	Michael O'Neal
1999	Goodbye Lover	Jake Dunmore
2000	Trixie	Dexter "Dex" Lang
	Where the Money Is	Wayne MacKay
2001	The Safety of Objects	Jim Train
	Investigating Sex	Edgar Faldo
	Lovely & Amazing	Kevin McCabe
2002	About Schmidt	Randall Hertzel
2004	Undertow	John Munn
	Hair High	Rod	Voice role
2005	The Wedding Date	Nick Mercer
	Must Love Dogs	Bob Connor
	The Family Stone	Everett Stone
2006	Griffin & Phoenix	Henry Griffin
2007	Dante's Inferno	Dante Alighieri	Voice role
	Zodiac	Captain Marty Lee
	Georgia Rule	Dr. Simon Ward
	Gracie	Bryan Bowen
2008	Jolene	Uncle Phil
	Burn After Reading	Star of "Coming Up Daisy"
	Flash of Genius	Gil Previck
2010	Inhale	Paul Stanton
2011	Abduction	Martin Price
	J. Edgar	Colonel Schwarzkopf
	The Family Tree	Jack Burnett
2012	Struck by Lightning	Neal Phillips
	The Grey	Jerome Talget
	Big Miracle	Colonel Scott Boyer
	Trade of Innocents	Alex Becker
2013	Space Warriors	Andy Hawkins
	Stoker	Richard Stoker
	The Rambler	The Rambler
	Jobs	Mike Markkula
	A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III	Doctor
	August: Osage County	Steve Heidebrecht
2015	Careful What You Wish For	Elliott Harper
	Truth	Lawrence Lanpher
	Insidious: Chapter 3	Sean Brenner
	Northpole: Open for Christmas	Ian Hanover
	The D Train	Himself
2016	Dirty Grandpa	David Kelly
	Lavender	Patrick
2017	Sleepless	Stanley Rubino
	The Mountain Between Us	Mark Robertson
2018	I Still See You	August Bittner
2018	Cats and Peachtopia	Blanket (Voice)
2019	Sgt. Will Gardner	Buddy
	The Courier	Special Agent Roberts
2021	The Blazing World	Tom Winter
TBA	The Gettysburg Address	Andrew Gregg Curtin	Voice role; post-production
TBA	Umma		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Sin of Innocence	Tim McGary	Television film (CBS)
	Fame	Max	Episode: "Losin' It"
	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Doug Dawson	Episode: "The Drug Knot"
1987	Daddy	Bobby	Television film (ABC)
	Long Gone	Jamie Weeks	Television film (HBO)
1989	Unconquered	Richmond Flowers Jr.	Television film (CBS)
1992	The Heart of Justice	Elliot Burgess	Television film (TNT)
1993	Family Pictures	Mack Eberlin	Television film (ABC)
1994	The Last Outlaw	Eustis	Television film (HBO)
1996	Heroine of Hell	Callum	Television film (PBS)
2003	Friends	Gavin Mitchell	3 episodes; Season 9
2007–08	The Batman	Green Lantern / Hal Jordan	3 episodes; Voice role
2008	The Memory Keeper's Daughter	Dr. David Henry	Television film (Lifetime)
2011	Silent Witness	Tony Lord	Television film (TNT)
2012–18	New Girl	Russell Schiller	8 episodes; Seasons 1, 2 and 7
2012	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Episode: "Jamie Foxx / Ne-Yo"
2013	Enlightened	Jeff Flender	6 episodes; Season 2
2014	Crisis	Francis Gibson	13 episodes; Main cast
2015–17	Shameless	Sean Pierce	23 episodes; Seasons 5, 6 and 8
2015	Mozart in the Jungle	Andrew Walsh	3 episodes; Seasons 2 and 3 Also contributed to soundtrack
	Northpole: Open for Christmas	Ian Hanover	Television film (Hallmark)
2016–17	Pure Genius	Dr. Walter Wallace	Main cast, 13 episodes
2016	SoundBreaking	Narrator	8 episodes
2017	American Dad!	Jesse	Episode: "Julia Rogerts"
	American Horror Story: Cult	Bob Thompson	3 episodes
	The Christmas Train	Tom Langdon	Television film (Hallmark Hall of Fame) Also contributed to soundtrack
2018–19	The Purge	Bobby Sheridan	Recurring cast (Season 1)
	Arrested Development	Dusty Radler	7 episodes
2018	LA to Vegas	Captain Steve Jasser	2 episodes[18]
	Kingpin	Narrator	4 episodes
	Rob Riggle's Ski Master Academy	Himself	Episode: "Big Timed"
	Into the Dark	Henry Tooms	Episode: "Flesh & Blood"
	Homecoming	Anthony	Main cast, 3 episodes
	Station 19	Greg Tanner	2 Episodes: "Lost and Found", 'I Fought the Law'.
2019–20	Hanna	John Carmichael	16 episodes
2019	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Bryce Dylan	Recurring cast, 6 episodes
2019	The Righteous Gemstones	Johnny Seasons	Recurring cast, 4 episodes
2020	Messiah	President Young	2 episodes
	Prodigal Son	Nicholas Endicott	3 episodes; Season 1
	The Eric Andre Show	Himself	Episode: "Lizzo Up"

Awards and nominations

Year	Event	Category	Nominated work	Result
1988	CableACE Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie	Long Gone	Nominated
1990	Torino International Festival of Young Cinema	Jury Special Prize	Bright Angel	Won
1992	Seattle International Film Festival	Best Actor	Samantha Where The Day Takes You	Won
1996	MTV Movie Awards	Best Kiss (shared with Winona Ryder)	How to Make an American Quilt	Nominated
1998	Online Film & Television Association	Best Music, Adapted Song	My Best Friend's Wedding	Won
2007	Philadelphia Film Festival	Artistic Achievement Award	Himself	Won
2013	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Award for Best Cast	August: Osage County	Nominated
2013	Seattle Film Critics Society	Award for Best Ensemble		Nominated
2013	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated
2013	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards	Best Ensemble		Nominated

References

1. "Cover story: Dermot Mulroney – Interview with movie actor". June 1997. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007.
2. "The one and only Mulroney - actor Dermot Mulroney - Interview". January 1994. Archived from the original on January 10, 2007.
3. Brennan, Patricia (17 May 1987). "DERMOT MULRONEY FROM ALEXANDRIA TO TINSELTOWN". Washington Post.
4. "Dermot Mulroney's local roots". Alexandria Times. May 17, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
5. "Dermot Mulroney, at 27, Knows a Lot About Playing 18-Year-Olds". Los Angeles Times. 15 June 1991. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
6. "The Purple Pilgrim". August 2002. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
7. "Dermot Mulroney: Good In A 'Crisis'". Chicago Sun-Times: Splash. March 26, 2014.
8. "Breaking Into the Act". The Washington Post. March 26, 1986. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
9. Dutka, Elaine (10 March 2003). "A mullet-proof reputation" – via LA Times.
10. "Genuine Gentleman Dermot Mulroney". Paper. September 1, 1996. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
11. "EXCLUSIVE: Dermot Mulroney Coaches the First Female Soccer Player in Gracie". MovieWeb. 29 May 2007.
12. "Exclusive: Batman Nabs Mulroney for Green Lantern - TV Guide". TVGuide.com. 26 November 2007.
13. "New Insidious Chapter 3 Still Stares Over Your Shoulder - Dread Central". 6 January 2015.
14. "Dermot Mulroney Files for Divorce from Catherine Keener". People.com. June 11, 2007. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012.
15. "The Low & Sweet Orchestra Discography". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
16. "Dermot Mulroney on Jimmy Kimmel Live". Jimmy Kimmel Live. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
17. "Men of the Year". People. Vol. 64 no. 22. November 2005. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
18. O'Connell, Michael (September 21, 2017). "Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney Are Finally Acting Together". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

External links

• Dermot Mulroney at IMDb
• Dermot Mulroney at the Internet Off-Broadway Database