Steppenwolf Theater Company

Originally from Copley, OH, Carrie Coon is a Chicago-based theatre, television and film actress. She received a BA in English and Spanish from the University of Mount Union, followed by her MFA in Acting at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coon was nominated for a Tony Award in the Best Featured Actress category for her Broadway debut as Honey in the transfer of Steppenwolf Theatre's production of "Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", directed by Pam MacKinnon. Although Coon did not win in 2013, the production was awarded Best Revival, Best Director (MacKinnon) and Best Actor (Tracy Letts).

Laurie Metcalf was born June 16, 1955 in Carbondale, Illinois, the oldest of three children of Libby (Mars), a librarian, and James Metcalf, a budget director. She was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Laurie attended Illinois State University, where she obtained her bachelor of arts in theater in 1977. In her class were the immeasurable talents of John Malkovich, Glenne Headly, and Joan Allen. Laurie began acting at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Her acting career in film and television began with a minor and uncredited role in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978). In 1988, Laurie found her most memorable and successful role to date, Jacqueline "Jackie" Harris in the television series Roseanne (1988). For her performance in the series, she was nominated for two Golden Globes and won three Primetime Emmy awards.

Gary Michael Cole is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the TV series Midnight Caller, American Gothic, The West Wing, Crusade, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Veep, Chicago Fire, and Mixed. In film, he has appeared in The Brady Bunch Movie, One Hour Photo, Office Space, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Breach, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. He is also known for voicing the title character on the Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Principal Shepherd on Family Guy, and James Timothy Possible on Kim Possible. As of season 19, Cole joined NCIS, taking over from Mark Harmon, who left the show, as FBI Special Agent, and new head of Gibbs' team, Alden Parker.

John Gavin Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, to Joe Anne (Choisser), who owned a local newspaper, and Daniel Leon Malkovich, a state conservation director. His paternal grandparents were Croatian. In 1976, Malkovich joined Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, newly founded by his friend Gary Sinise. After that, it would take seven years before Malkovich would show up in New York and win an Obie in Sam Shepard's play "True West". In 1984, Malkovich would appear with Dustin Hoffman in the Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman", which would earn him an Emmy when it was made into a made-for-TV movie the next year. His big-screen debut would be as the blind lodger in Places in the Heart (1984), which earned him an Academy Award Nomination for best supporting actor. Other films would follow, including The Killing Fields (1984) and The Glass Menagerie (1987), but he would be well remembered as Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Playing against Michelle Pfeiffer and Glenn Close in a costume picture helped raise his standing in the industry. He would be cast as the psychotic political assassin in Clint Eastwood's In the Line of Fire (1993), for which he would be nominated for both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe. In 1994, Malkovich would portray the sinister Kurtz in the made-for-TV movie Heart of Darkness (1993), taking the story to Africa as it was originally written. Malkovich has periodically returned to Chicago to both act and direct.

Gary Alan Sinise was born in Blue Island, Illinois, to Mylles S. (Alsip) and Robert L. Sinise, A.C.E., a film editor. He is of Italian (from his paternal grandfather), English, Scottish, Irish, French, German, and Swedish ancestry. His family moved to Highland Park, where he attended high school. He was something of a rebel, playing in bands but paying little attention to school.

Gary and some friends tried out for "West Side Story" as a lark, but Gary was hooked on acting for life by closing night. Gary credits his love for theatre to his drama teacher, Barbara Patterson. In 1974, Gary, Terry Kinney, and Jeff Perry founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Initially performing in a church basement, the company grew and gained stature in the Chicago area. In addition to acting in many plays, Gary also directed some of Steppenwolf's most notable productions, including Sam Shepard's "True West". The company made its off-Broadway debut with that production, starring Gary and John Malkovich, and its Broadway debut with "The Grapes of Wrath" at the Cort Theatre in 1990. Gary's Hollywood career also started in the director's chair with two episodes of the stylish TV series Crime Story (1986), followed in 1988 by the feature Miles from Home (1988) starring Richard Gere. Gary's first feature film as an actor was the World War II fable A Midnight Clear (1992) in 1992. That year also found Gary combining his acting and directing talents with the critically acclaimed Of Mice and Men (1992). His first real notice by the public came in 1994, however. He starred in the blockbuster miniseries The Stand (1994), rapidly followed by his bravura performance as "Lt. Dan" in Forrest Gump (1994). His portrayal of the disabled, emotionally tortured veteran earned Gary numerous awards and an Oscar nomination. Busy 1994 was followed by busy 1995, first reuniting with Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995) and then starring in the HBO film Truman (1995) which earned him the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards and an Emmy nomination.

Gary is married to Moira Sinise, an actress and original member of the Steppenwolf company. They have three children, Sophie Sinise, McCanna Anthony Sinise and Ella Sinise.

Joan Allen was born on August 20, 1956 in Rochelle, Illinois, the youngest of four children. She is the daughter of homemaker Dorothea Marie (Wirth) and gas station owner James Jefferson Allen. Her mother's family was German, and her father had English, Scots-Irish, and German ancestry. She attended Rochelle Township High School where she was voted most likely to succeed. Joining Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 1977, she was one of the group's original members and starred in a number of its original productions. Her first major film credits included two critically-lauded supporting performances that showcased her versatility: a comedic turn in the suburban murder mystery Compromising Positions (1985) and a dramatic role as a blind woman befriended by a serial killer in Manhunter (1986). Around the same time, Allen was making a name for herself on the New York stage; she would eventually become one of the New York theater world's most honored actresses and a winner of every major prize for her work on Broadway and off. She received a Best Actress Tony Award in 1988 for her performance, opposite John Malkovich, in Lanford Wilson's Burn This and was Tony-nominated in the same category in 1989 for the title role in The Heidi Chronicles.

Continuing her work in film as well, Allen received her first Academy Award nomination for her role as Pat Nixon in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995), for which she also won awards from seven critics' associations, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. Allen received her second consecutive Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (1996). Subsequently, her work in The Ice Storm (1997), opposite Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, and in Pleasantville (1998), opposite William H. Macy and Jeff Daniels, earned her high praise and several critics' awards; she also co-starred in the action blockbuster Face/Off (1997) opposite John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. For her starring role in The Contender (2000), Allen received Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, the SAG Awards, and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Throughout the early 2000s Allen worked in both film and television, with roles in three of the Bourne films - The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and The Bourne Legacy (2012) - as well as The Notebook (2004), The Upside of Anger (2005), and Death Race (2008). Allen also received Emmy nominations for The Mists of Avalon (2001) and for the title role in the biopic Georgia O'Keeffe (2009), for which she was also executive producer. She was also recently seen in HBO's drama series Luck (2011).

Allen married actor Peter Friedman in 1990, and the two divorced in 2002; Allen's daughter Sadie was born in 1994.

William Petersen was born on 21 February 1953 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Manhunter (1986) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000). He has been married to Gina Cirone since 14 June 2003. They have two children. He was previously married to Joanne Brady.

John Mahoney was an award-winning American actor. He was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, the seventh of eight children of Margaret and Reg, a baker. His family was evacuated to the sea-side resort to avoid the Nazi bombing of their native Manchester. The Mancunian Mahoneys eventually returned to Manchester during the war. Visiting the States to see his older sister, a "war bride" who had married an American, the young Mahoney decided to emigrate and was sponsored by his sister. John eventually won his citizenship by serving in the U.S. Army.

Long interested in acting, Mahoney didn't make the transition to his craft until he was almost forty years old. Mahoney took acting classes at the St. Nicholas Theater and finally built up the courage to quit his day job and pursue acting full time. John Malkovich, one of the founders of the Second City's distinguished Steppenwolf Theatre, encouraged Mahoney to join Steppenwolf, and in 1986, Mahoney won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves (1987).

Mahoney made his feature film debut in 1980, but he was best known for playing the role of the father of the eponymous character Frasier (1993) from 1993 until 2004. He later concentrated on stage work back in Chicago, and appeared on Broadway in 2007 in a revival of Prelude to a Kiss (1992).

John died on February 4, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois.

Kathryn Erbe was born on 5 July 1965 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Stir of Echoes (1999), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and What About Bob? (1991). She was previously married to Terry Kinney.

Terry Kinney, the stage, film and television actor, was born in Lincoln, Illinois and attended Illinois State University. While at university, his friend, the aspiring actor Jeff Perry, took Kinney to Chicago to see a production of "Grease" in which his best friend, Gary Sinise, was appearing. The like-minded trio of Sinise, Perry and Kinney opened their own Chicago theatrical troupe, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in 1973 in the basement of a church in Highland Park. The company's metamorphosis into one of the country's great regional theatrical companies began in 1976, after Kinney and Perry joined it full-time after graduating from college. The theater has, since 1976, put on a full season of ensemble works.

The founders of Steppenwolf supported the theater and themselves with odd jobs until the company began financially self-supporting in the early 1980s. Re-located in the old St. Nicholas Theater, Steppenwolf's productions began to attract a steady audience. Steppenwolf flourished artistically and financially in the '80s, and moved once again to its permanent home at 1650 N. Halsted Street in Chicago.

At the height of the company's fame, Kinney and Sinise were Steppenwolf's artistic co-directors, winning numerous awards, and even transferring some productions, such as their monumental adaptation of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", to Broadway. In addition to Kinney and Sinise, the company included such first rate actors as John Malkovich, Joan Allen and John Mahoney. As an actor, Kinney was nominated for a Tony Award for his appearance as the "Reverend Casy" in "Grapes."

Kinney made his movie debut in 1985, with a bit part in Seven Minutes in Heaven (1986), and has been much in demand as a supporting actor ever since. On television, he had a recurring role on Thirtysomething (1987) and appeared as a regular on the HBO prison drama Oz (1997).

Kevin Anderson can be seen as ne'er do well hit man Lonnie in the upcoming "Justified City Primeval" on Netflix/FX this coming summer. Before that, he starred as Father Frollo in iconic Styx rock star Dennis DeYoung's brilliant musical production of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Recently, Kevin has tackled a myriad of challenging and varied roles onstage including Lee in "True West" and Jeeter in "Last of the Boys" at Seattle Rep, and John Adams in the musical "1776". A Steppenwolf ensemble member for 40 years, he created and originated the role of Mr. Breeding in their production of Tracy Letts' scathing political satire "The Minutes" in 2017.

Kevin has enjoyed an enduring, distinguished career which spans the breadth of over four decades. An actor's actor and respected by his peers, Kevin is recognized for starring opposite some of the entertainment industry's most accomplished and established actors including Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Naomi Watts, Angela Basset, Michelle Pfeiffer, Patti LuPone, Jessica Chastain, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Vanessa Redgrave, and Richard Gere to name a few. He has also worked with some of the most iconic film and stage directors of our time including Alan J. Pakula, Norman Jewison, Mike Figgis, Phillip Kaufman, Sir Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Gary Sinise, Robert Falls, and the indomitable composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Anderson made his feature film debut in the Warner Brothers hit "Risky Business" with Tom Cruise yet first big break came with Steppenwolf Theatre's "Orphans" (Joseph Jefferson Award). Kevin gained national critical acclaim for his riveting performance in which he played the show-stopping, frenetic, simian younger brother Phillip who lived on Star Kist tuna and Hellman's mayonnaise. This production took him all over the world from New York City's Broadway (Theatre World Award) to London's West End with Albert Finney to the Hollywood movie starring Finney and Mathew Modine and directed by the late great Alan J. Pakula. From that point on, Kevin's career continued to gather speed. He starred as Richard Gere's brother in the rural family drama "Miles From Home" directed by Gary Sinise, followed by Norman Jewison's "In Country" with Bruce Willis. The hit film "Sleeping With the Enemy" in which Anderson starred opposite Julia Roberts established him as one of Hollywood's most promising young leading men.

Kevin has always been drawn to compelling characters and powerful dramas. Throughout his career, he has shown exceptional range and performed in an eclectic array of material ranging from "Liebestraum" with director Mike Figgis, "Hoffa" portraying Bobby Kennedy opposite Jack Nicholson in the title role, "Rising Sun" with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, to the romantic comedy "The Night We Never Met" with Mathew Broderick and Annabella Sciorra. He has gone from musicals like "Sunset Boulevard" opposite Patti Lupone in London's West End, to Tony nominated American classics on Broadway like "Death of a Salesman" opposite Brian Dennehy, "Orpheus Descending" opposite Vanessa Redgrave, and "Come Back Little Sheba" opposite Epatha S. Merkersen, or the "Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" with Olympia Dukakis. He has performed in independent films at Sundance, and then on to both cable and network television. Other notable film work includes the Miramax release "Firelight" opposite French actress Sophie Marceau, the drama "Eye of God" by actor/writer/director Tim Blake Nelson, and "A Thousand Acres" opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Some other favorite feature films include "Doe Boy", "When Strangers Appear" with Radha Mitchell, "Charlotte's Web" in which he plays Dakota Fanning's father, and "Ruby's Bucket of Blood", in which he starred as a white blues singer who falls in love with an African American nightclub owner (Angela Basset).

Kevin is perhaps best known for his performance of Father Ray, the maverick Catholic priest in ABC's ground-breaking television series "Nothing Sacred" for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1998. He also received Best Actor nominations from the Viewers for Quality Television, the Online Film and Television Association, the Television Critics Association, and a Peabody Award for the creators and production. Other forays into television include the critically acclaimed but short-lived Jerry Bruckheimer series "Skin" opposite Olivia Wilde. Other favorite television films include "Power and Beauty" opposite the stunning Natasha Henstridge and directed by Susan Seidelman, "Monday Night Mayhem" with John Turturro and directed by Ernest Dickerson, and "Hunt for the Unicorn Killer" (Best Actor Nomination - Online Film and Television Association) opposite Naomi Watts.

Subsequent returns to the stage have been as varying as they were lauded, from the world premiere of "Sunset Boulevard" in London as the original musical Joe Gillis opposite Patti LuPone, to "Death of a Salesman" (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), to a heartbreaking turn in "I Never Sang for My Father" with John Mahoney at Steppenwolf Theatre, to the cult hit "Brooklyn the Musical" on Broadway with Karen Olivo, to "Come Back Little Sheba" (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination) on Broadway with "Law and Order's" S. Epatha Merkersen and Zoe Kazan, to a hit stage production of the Stephen King epic "The Shawshank Redemption" in the starring role of Andy Dufresne in Dublin and London's West End. He starred as John the Baptist opposite Jessica Chastain and Al Pacino in the stage production of Oscar Wilde's "Salome" which was made into a documentary entitled "Wilde Salome" directed by Pacino. Other notable Off-Broadway, London, and Chicago productions include "Pal Joey" in the title role, "Moonchildren" (Cynthia Nixon), "Brilliant Traces" (Joan Cusack), "The Red Address", "Speaking in Tongues" (Karen Allen), "Summer and Smoke" (Amanda Plummer), "Dinner With Friends (Samantha Bond, Elizabeth McGovern), and "Earthly Possessions" (Joan Allen) and "Detroit" (Laurie Metcalfe) at Steppenwolf.

Kevin is a graduate of Chicago's Goodman School of Drama and hails from Gurnee, Illinois, a small farming community bordering Wisconsin in the heart of the Midwest - a true blue cow town. Kevin's goals and ideals remain as steadfast today as they were as when he first started acting. Acting has never been about fame and fortune for Kevin. His only desire has been to be the best actor that he can possibly be. To achieve this, he realized early on that to be successful, he had to strive to work with the best material, on the most interesting, challenging new roles, and to seek to work with the most talented and inspiring directors and actors that he could possibly find. These same goals remain as constant and true today, and he is truly honored to have worked with such amazing and creative powerhouses throughout his career.

Actor Austin Pendleton was born March 27, 1940 in Warren, Ohio to Frances and Thorn Pendleton. He graduated from Yale University. He later became an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, and acted in several of the theater's productions. His first film appearance was in Petulia (1968), a minor and uncredited role. Since, he has made over 100 appearances in television and film.

Tracy Letts is the son of actor Dennis Letts and best-selling author Billie Letts, of "Where The Heart Is" and "The Honk And Holler Opening Soon" fame. Tracy is also the author of the stage play "Killer Joe", which ran off-Broadway in 1998 for nine months and starred Scott Glenn, Amanda Plummer, Michael Shannon, Sarah Paulson and Marc Nelson.

A native of Illinois, Tom Irwin attended Illinois State University. After graduation, he joined the prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. The renowned ensemble of artists - among them Laurie Metcalf, John Malkovich, Gary Sinise and Joan Allen - still work together as often as possible. Irwin has been involved in over 50 Steppenwolf productions as an actor or director. Highlights include: "The Grapes of Wrath", also Royal National Theatre; "Balm in Gilead", also Off-Broadway; "My Thing of Love", also Broadway; "Frank's Wild Years", with Tom Waits; "Space", also Off-Broadway. In the summer of 2002 he co-starred with Madonna in "Up for Grabs" at the Wyndam's Theatre in London. He has been on the faculty of The Goodman School of Drama at Depaul University and Columbia College in Chicago.

In addition to his filmography credits, he has starred in many telefilms and was a series regular on My Life and Times (1991) and My So-Called Life (1994). Tom makes his home in Los Angeles.

She has show biz in her blood. Martha Plimpton was born November 16, 1970, in New York City to two actors: Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton. Martha began her career at age 8, when her mom had a friend of hers, composer Elizabeth Swados, enroll her in an actors' workshop. At age 10, she got a small part in Rollover (1981), and also made a series of Calvin Klein commercials.

Her first substantial film role was as a tomboy in The River Rat (1984); the following year, Steven Spielberg cast her in The Goonies (1985). Martha met River Phoenix while they were both filming The Mosquito Coast (1986), but since she was only 15 at the time, she did not go out with him. Even though she had a small part in the movie, it established her as a serious actress. Martha appeared in movies such as the screwball comedy Stars and Bars (1988) and, that same year, she was paired again with Phoenix in Running on Empty (1988). They dated for a while and then broke up. For a while, she was engaged to actor Jon Patrick Walker.

As if making movies didn't keep her busy enough, Martha frequently worked at theaters and made her Chicago debut with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company Ensemble in "The Libertine" in 1996. As a member of that ensemble, she received a National Medal of Arts award in the autumn of 1998. As for movies, Colin Fitz Lives! (1997) and Eye of God (1997) in which she plays the starring role, have been run at the Sundance Film Festival. Although some recent movies have had low box office (Pecker (1998) $2.1 million, and 200 Cigarettes (1999) $6.8 million), Martha's performances shine and she often rises above her material.

Perhaps recalling how important acting lessons were to her as a child, she donates her time and efforts to the "52nd Street Project" which is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to matching the inner-city children with professional theater artists to create original theater, by writing, directing and performing their own plays. Perhaps one of the inner-city kids she is coaching will be the next famous actress in Hollywood.

Alan Wilder was born on 24 September 1953 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor, known for Child's Play (1988), Home Alone (1990) and Public Enemies (2009).

Amy Morton was born on 3 April 1959 in Oak Park, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Up in the Air (2009), 8MM (1999) and Rookie of the Year (1993). She is married to Rob Millburn.

Tarell Alvin McCraney was born on 17 October 1980 in Liberty City, Miami, Florida, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Moonlight (2016), David Makes Man (2019) and High Flying Bird (2019).

Ian Barford was born on 4 September 1966 in Bloomington, Indiana, USA. He is an actor and executive, known for 13 Going on 30 (2004), U.S. Marshals (1998) and Road to Perdition (2002).

Moira Harris was born on April 19, 1954 in Pontiac, Illinois. She attended and graduated from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, (also where John Malkovich attended) and met Gary Sinise during her college years. They have three children: Sophie Sinise, McCanna Anthony Sinise and Ella Sinise. She is the daughter-in-law of Robert L. Sinise. Moira converted to Roman Catholicism in 2000.

Mariann Mayberry was born on 25 May 1965 in Springfield, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for War of the Worlds (2005), Dogman (2012) and No God, No Master (2012). She was married to Scott Jaeck. She died on 1 August 2017 in Simsbury, Connecticut, USA.

Bruce Norris was born on 16 May 1960 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Sixth Sense (1999), A Civil Action (1998) and All Good Things (2010).

Robert, originally from New Haven Connecticut, is a Chicago based actor. From his first professional role at Joe Papp's New York Public Theatre where he played Kress in David Rabe's "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel", to Sidney Greenstreet in "Ten Chimneys" at Milwaukee Rep and Frank in "Detroit" at Steppenwolf, he has played over one hundred roles, including Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", Moe in "Riverview" and Dean Strauss in "Spinning Into Butter" both at the Goodman Theatre. Bob is a member of the Steppenwolf acting ensemble where he has performed in some 40 roles over 30 years. Some favorites: Botvinnic in "A Walk in the Woods" by Lee Blessing, Father Lux in "Our Lady of 121st Street", Pa Joad in the "Grapes of Wrath", Charlie "Blackie" Blackwell in John Olive's "Killers" which he also directed at Mary Arrchie Theatre. He has performed at Northlight, Drury Lane Water Tower, Profiles Theatre in Chicago. He has worked at the Dallas Theatre Center, the Players at U of North Carolina, Saint Louis Rep, Great Lakes Shakespeare, the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

One of his favorite roles was with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra where he played The Devil in Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale". On Broadway he has been in "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Song of Jacob Zulu", "Carousel" and "Death of a Salesman". He is a recipient of the William and Eva Fox Fellowship Grant. Many Jeff nominations and won win for his performance of the Russian negotiator in Steppenwolf's "A Walk in the Woods". He has written seven plays and many 10-minute radio plays and was a member of The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis for two years. He is also a member of Actor's Equity, SAG-AFTRA and The Dramatist's Guild.

With over 44 years of experience in the Film & Television Industry, Jim Fitzpatrick began his acting career on the stage at the tender age of 13 when he appeared in his first school play, "A Thousand Clowns," at Seminole (Florida) High School. Jim accepted a football scholarship to Illinois State University as a theater major where he became involved with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company founded by Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. He put aside an acting career to play professional football, however, starting in 1981 with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in the CFL (Canadian Football league) followed by short stints with the Chicago Bears ('82) and the Baltimore Colts('82). His football career ended when he retired in 1985, after spending three seasons with the Tampa Bay Bandits in the USFL ('83-'85). However, playing for the Bandits was a blessing in disguise. One of the owners of the Bandits was Burt Reynolds, who was instrumental in setting Jim's career in Los Angeles in motion. Jim began auditioning for productions during the off-seasons. Before moving to L.A., he landed parts in Miami Vice (1984), Cocoon (1985) which led to meeting and becoming friends with Richard & Lili Zanuck and finally D.A.R.Y.L. (1985). Since then, Jim has appeared in over 30 plays for the stage (seven of which he has written, produced and directed in Los Angeles). He has also starred and guest-starred in over 70 roles in films and television such as U.S. Seals (2000), Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Target (1998), Armageddon (1998), Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), JAG (1995) and All My Children (1970), Elizabethtown (2005), Dolphin Tale (2011), and Soulmates (2023).

Besides acting, James has written, produced and directed a poignant romantic drama titled An American Reunion (2003), one of 33 screenplays he has written and produced. James filmed a pilot for a TV series called Supernatural (2005), which he executive-produced and directed. Jim, his actress wife, Jodi Knotts, and their two sons, J.J. Fitzpatrick and Jadon Cal, live in both Los Angeles and Seminole, Florida, where he is developing films, after completing the first a series of three called Adventure Scouts (2010).

Lois Smith was born on 3 November 1930 in Topeka, Kansas, USA. She is an actress, known for Minority Report (2002), Lady Bird (2017) and Twister (1996). She was previously married to Wesley Dale Smith.