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Peter Gallagher

Peter Gallagher is Arthur Campbell in COVERT AFFAIRS, USA's much-anticipated, new drama series, premiering Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at 10/9c.

Born in New York City and raised in Armonk, New York, Gallagher 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 a starring role in the Broadway production of Grease, and in The Corn is Green. He wowed audiences with his performance as the charismatic Sky Masterson in Jerry Zaks'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 and a Theatre World Award for the Harold Prince production of A Doll's 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.

He segued to feature films in 1980, with Taylor Hackford's The Idolmaker. Many roles followed, including memorable collaborations with Steven Soderbergh, Sam Mendes, Joel and Ethan Coen, and performances in three of Robert Altman's most acclaimed films: The Player, Short Cuts and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.

On television, Gallagher has a recurring role opposite David Duchovny on Showtime's hit Californication. He also starred as Sandy Cohen on Fox's The O.C. for its successful, four-season run. Gallagher's 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 Dolls: 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, Peter Seller's silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez and Oxygen's A Tale of Two Wives and the Lifetime miniseries The Gathering opposite Peter Fonda and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Gallagher recently completed production on Steven Antin's Burlesque, which co-stars Cher, Christina Aguilera, Eric Dane, Julianne Hough and Alan Cumming and is set for a November 2010 release. He will next be seen in Tony Goldwyn's Betty Ann Waters, with Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Juliette Lewis. Last year he appeared in the independent features The War Boys directed by Ron Daniels and Max Mayer's Sundance favorite Adam, co-starring Hugh Dancy, Amy Irving and Rose Byrne.

Gallagher teamed with director Steven Soderbergh twice, first on the groundbreaking independent feature, Sex, Lies and Videotape, which earned both Soderbergh and Gallagher international critical-acclaim. Six years later, Soderbergh wrote the lead role in The Underneath for Gallagher. Additional

film credits include Dreamchild, Bob Roberts, Watch It, The Hudsucker Proxy, While You Were Sleeping, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Cafe Society, Johnny Skidmarks, The Man Who Knew Too Little, Center Stage, Center Stage: Turn It Up, Mr. Deeds, How To Deal and the Academy Award-winning American Beauty.

In November 2005, Epic Records released Gallagher's album titled 7 Days in Memphis. The album is an assortment of cherished soul numbers from the Memphis Stax Era as well as newer songs done in the Memphis Soul sound.

Gallagher is active in many charities, which include the Alzheimer's Association, Actors Fund, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, The Help Group and the Alliance of Young Artists and Writers.

Gallagher and his family reside in both Los Angeles and New York.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2011.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Peter Gallagher Facts

Birth Name Peter Killian Gallagher
OccupationActor, Musician
BirthdayAugust 19, 1955 (68)
SignLeo
BirthplaceArmonk, New York, USA
Height5' 9" (1m75)  How tall is Peter Gallagher compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Hello, My Name Is Doris
American Beauty
Trading Places
6:00 AM-7:00 AM
Mr. Deeds
Friday Night Lights
The Bank Job
Center Stage
Center Stage: On Pointe
Step Up: Revolution
Continue » Find more details on the Peter Gallagher Movies page