Luke Perry

This article is about the American Actor. For the English industrial artist, see Luke Perry (artist).

Luke Perry
February 14th 2004
Born	Coy Luther Perry III October 11, 1966 (1966-10-11) Mansfield, Ohio, United States
Occupation	Actor

Luke Perry (born Coy Luther Perry III; October 11, 1966) is an American actor. Perry starred as Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role he played from 1990–95, and then from 1998–2000. Much publicity was garnered over the fact that even though he was playing a sixteen-year-old when 90210 began, Perry was actually in his mid-twenties at the time. Perry returned to 90210 in 1998 (this time billed as a permanent "Special Guest Star") and remained with the series until its conclusion in 2000.

Early life

Perry was born in Mansfield, Ohio and raised in Fredericktown, Ohio, where he was the school mascot, the Fredericktown High School Freddie. His mother, Ann Bennett, was a homemaker, and his father, Coy Luther Perry, Jr., a steelworker. Luke Perry has revealed he likes to go home annually for the Fredericktown Tomato Show, an annual street fair.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career

In an interview with Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990s, Perry said he auditioned for 215 acting jobs in New York before finally scoring a TV commercial. After appearing in the music video "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" for the band Twisted Sister alongside Alice Cooper, Perry's earliest roles were in the daytime soap operas Loving (1987–88) and Another World (1988–89).

Following this, he then won the role of brooding millionaire's son Dylan McKay on Fox's appealing teen drama, Beverly Hills, 90210. He had auditioned for the role of Steve Sanders, a role that went to actor Ian Ziering before being cast as Dylan McKay. While starring on 90210, Perry then won a supporting role in the original film version of the Joss Whedon-written Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992). Perry had already become a very popular teen idol in the early 1990s. Perry also starred in Terminal Bliss in 1992.

Perry starred as Lane Frost in 8 Seconds in 1994. In an attempt to find more mature roles, he decided to leave Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1995. In the same year, he took a part in the Italian movie Vacanze di Natale '95, playing himself. Although he announced that 90210 was behind him, his departure would eventually turn out to be for only three years. During that time, Perry starred in the independent film Normal Life opposite Ashley Judd, starred in the TV science fiction movie Invasion (1997), a Rodney King-era drama Riot (1997) and also had a small role in Luc Besson's science fiction adventure film The Fifth Element (1997). Even though Perry had left 90210 in 1995, he returned in 1998 due to financial reasons. Perry starred in the 1999 film Storm. He then went on to star in a 2002 television movie called The Triangle.

From 2001 to 2002, he starred in the HBO prison drama Oz, in which he performed a full frontal nude scene, as Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier. From 2002 to 2004, he starred in the post-apocalyptic TV series Jeremiah. In 2005 Perry was rumored to be in Day of the Dead 2: Contagium, but did not appear to be in the film. In 2006, Perry co-starred in the ensemble drama series Windfall, about a group of friends who win the lottery. The series ran for 13 episodes during the summer of 2006 on NBC. In 2007, he landed the role of Tommy "Santa" Santorelli on the film The Sandlot: Heading Home and in the 2008 western A Gunfighter's Pledge.

Perry appeared in the HBO series John from Cincinnati, which premiered on June 10, 2007, and ran for 10 episodes, with the series finale airing on August 12, 2007.

Perry also stars in the Swedish film Äntligen Midsommar (Finally Midsummer) which was released in the summer of 2009.

Guest work

Perry has done considerable voice-over work for various animated series, often playing himself. He played himself (as Krusty the Clown's half brother) in an episode of The Simpsons (1993). He voiced himself in an episode of Johnny Bravo, giving Johnny dating advice after Johnny saved him from a stampede of fan girls. Perry then voiced himself once again in an episode of Family Guy, where he was labeled as gay by Peter and sues the family. Peter tries to seduce Perry into revealing his homosexuality and fails. However, by the end of the episode Perry is seen with Mayor Adam West, about to engage in sex. His other voice work includes The Incredible Hulk, Biker Mice from Mars, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, and The Night of the Headless Horseman.

Aside from his self-parodying role on Family Guy, Perry has also guest-starred as gay characters in the sitcoms Spin City (1997) and Will & Grace (2005). He appeared as Carter Heywood's ex-boyfriend who subsequently fell in love with a woman on Spin City, and played a geeky birdwatcher who caught the eye of Jack McFarland on Will & Grace. In 2005, Perry was reunited with former 90210 co-star Jennie Garth when he guest starred in What I Like About You, where he played a character who claimed he had been dating Kelly's best friend when he and Val (Jennie Garth) became romantically involved (clearly a parody of the 90210 "Brenda years"). He guest-starred as Rev. Jeremiah Cloutier in the HBO television series Oz. He was also featured in a full-frontal nudity scene in Oz. In 2008, Perry guest-starred as rapist Noah Sibert in the season premiere of the television series Law & Order: SVU. He also guest-starred as cult leader Benjamin Cyrus in an episode of Criminal Minds. In late 2009, Perry starred in The Killers' music video for their fourth annual Christmas single "¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe!".

The stage

Perry appeared on Broadway in 2001 in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show playing Brad Majors.

In 2004 he appeared in the London production of When Harry Met Sally as Harry, alongside Alyson Hannigan as Sally.

Personal life

Perry was married to Minnie Sharp from 1993 to 2003. The couple share joint custody of their two children, Jack (born June 15, 1997) and Sophie (born June 7, 2000).

Perry said of his role on Beverly Hills, 90210 as bad boy Dylan McKay, “I’m going to be linked with him until I die, but that’s actually just fine. I created Dylan McKay. He’s mine,” however he has revealed he will definitely not be reprising his role on the spin-off.^{[citation needed]} “When you're in the professional acting business,” he begins, “you have to look into all these offers and I don't mean anything bad about it but creatively it's something I have done before and I don't know how it will benefit me if I do it again.” He finally revealed a major reason as to why he did not want to be part of this revival, citing the show's long-time producer Aaron Spelling. “The difference between CW bringing something back and Aaron Spelling doing something back is significant,” he says. “And I cannot do it without Aaron.” However, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling reprised their roles.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1991	Scorchers	Ray Ray	Alternative title: Jumper: Hot Lover
1992	Terminal Bliss	John Hunter
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Oliver Pike
1994	8 Seconds	Lane Frost
1995	Vacanze di Natale '95 (Christmas Holidays '95)	Himself
1996	Normal Life	Chris Anderson
	American Strays	Johnny
1997	The Fifth Element	Billy
	Lifebreath	Martin Devoe
1999	The Heist	Jack
	The Florentine	Frankie
	Storm Tracker	Dr. Ron Young	Alternative title: Storm Trackers Direct-to-Video Release
2000	Attention Shoppers	Mark Pinnalore
2001	The Enemy	Dr. Michael Ashton
	The Triangle	Stu Sheridan
	Dirt	Attorney	Alternative title: Dumber than Dirt
2002	Fogbound	Bob
2003	Down the Barrel	David	Alternative title: Luxury of Love Direct-to-Video Release
2005	Dishdogz	Tony
2007	The Sandlot: Heading Home	Tommy 'Santa' Santorelli	Alternative title: The Sandlot 3 Direct-to-Video Release
	Alice Upside Down	Ben McKinley
2009	Äntligen midsommar!	Sam	Alternative title: A Swedish Midsummer Sex Comedy
	Upstairs	Ward Weaver
	Silent Venom	Lt. Comdr. James O'Neill	Direct-to-Video Release
	Sam Steele and the Junior Detective Agency	The Cat
2010	Final Storm	Silas Hendershot	Direct to DVD release
	Hanna's Gold	Cole	awaiting release
	Good Intentions	Chester Milford	awaiting release
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Voyagers!	Union Prisoner	Uncredited Role Episode: The Day the Rebs Took Lincoln
1987–1988	Loving	Ned Bates
1988–1989	Another World	Kenny	10 episodes
1990–1995, 1998–2000	Beverly Hills, 90210	Dylan McKay	200 episodes
1993	The Webbers	Garbage Guy	TV-Movie
1994–1995	Biker Mice from Mars	Napoleon Brie	Voice Role 6 episodes
1996	Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm	Sub-Zero	Voice Role 13 episodes
1996–1997	The Incredible Hulk	Rick Jones	Voice Role 4 episodes
1997	Spin City	Spence	Episode: Kiss Me, Stupid
	Riot	Boomer	TV-Movie Segment: Empty
	Invasion	Beau Stark	TV-Movie
1998	Indiscreet	Michael Nash	TV-Movie
1999	The Night of the Headless Horseman	Brom Bones	Voice Role TV-Movie
1999, 2000	Pepper Ann	Stewart Waldinger	Voice Role 3 episodes
2000	Johnny Bravo	Luke Perry	Luke Perry's Guide to Love
	Family Guy	Himself	The Story on Page One
2001	Night Visions	Dr. Michael Sears	Episode: Now He's Coming Up the Stairs
	The Triangle	Stu Sheridan	TV-Movie
2001–2002	Oz	Rev. Jeremiah Cloutier	10 episodes
2002	Johnson County War	Harry Hammett	TV-Movie
2002–2004	Jeremiah	Jeremiah	35 episodes
2003	Clone High	Ponce de León	Voice Role Episode: Litter Kills - Literally
2005	Will & Grace	Aaron	Episode: The Birds & the Bees
	What I Like About You	Todd	3 episodes
	Descent	Dr. Jake Rollins	TV-Movie
	Supernova	Dr. Chris Richardson	TV-Movie
2006	Windfall	Peter Schaefer	13 episodes
2007	Biker Mice from Mars	Napoleon Brie	Voice Role Episode: Once Upon a Time on Earth (2)
	John from Cincinnati	Linc Stark	10 episodes
2008	A Gunfighter's Pledge	Matt Austin	TV-Movie
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Noah Sibert	Episode: Trials
	Criminal Minds	Benjamin Cyrus	Episode: Minimal Loss
	A Very Merry Daughter Of the Bride	Charlie	TV-Movie
2009	Angel and the Badman	Laredo	TV-Movie
	The Storm	Stillman	Miniseries
2010	Leverage	Dalton Rand	Episode: The Future Job
	Generator Rex	Jacob	Episode: The Architect
	FCU: Fact Checkers Unit	Luke	8 episodes
2011	Goodnight for Justice	John Goodnight
	Pound Puppies	Fang	"Rebel Without A Collar"

Awards and nominations

DVD Exclusive Awards

• 2001: Nominated, "Best Supporting Actor" - Attention Shoppers

People's Choice Awards

• 2009: Nominated, "Favorite Scene Stealing Guest Star" - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

TV Land Award

• 2004: Nominated, "Favorite Male Teen Dream" - Beverly Hills, 90210
• 2007: Nominated, "Break Up That Was So Bad It Was Good" - Beverly Hills, 90210

External links

• Luke Perry at the Internet Movie Database