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.
