Lee Tergesen

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Lee Tergesen

Born July 8, 1965 (1965-07-08) (age 42)
Ivoryton, CT
Years active 1987 — present
Spouse(s) Leslie Howitt (2001 — 2004)
Tanya Lewis (1994 — 1997)
Official website

Lee Allen Tergesen (born July 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Tobias Beecher in HBO’s prison drama 'Oz'.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Tergesen was born in Ivoryton, Connecticut and graduated from Valley Regional High School in Deep River, Connecticut. While Lee was in high school his grandmother worried about his choice of acting as a career, in an interview he claims she asked "What are you going to fall back on?", Lee told the interviewer; "I said, 'Well, grandma, if I have something to fall back on, won't I fall back?', which is sort of a youthful attitude, but I've always followed my gut". Then in 1983 Lee graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan (two-year program). Lee was 18 when he moved to New York to try to become an actor. In 1986 - 89 he worked at the Empire Diner in New York. "I wasn't a great waiter. I was funny, but I gave a lot of attitude," he said in Rosie Magazine, March 2002. However, he said, "The place is like a vortex for me." Two marriages and a career came out of there, he explained. Both Tanya Lewis and Leslie Howitt worked there. And, in 1989, that's where he met Tom Fontana (Writer and Director of Oz), who lived around the corner from the diner. Lee did some stage work during this time. "I was doing plays all the time, but there's no money in it," Lee said in a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, "After graduation, I thought I'd be making a living at it". His big brother, Chris Tergesen, kept him on track, "If you love it, you have to stick with it" he told Lee.

Lee grew his hair long to counteract the straight-arrow type of roles his agents thought he should try for. He went to Los Angeles to help Tom Fontana move house. While dining at a restaurant on the day after arriving in L.A., a casting director and friend of Fontana's asked Lee if he was an actor. "He told me there was a part in this movie and at that time, I couldn't imagine what it could be," Lee told the L.A. Times. The movie ended up being "Point Break," starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. "It was the beginning of me never having to do anything else but act," Lee said on LT.com in 1990.

[edit] Career

Tergesen began his career starring in Wayne's World (1992) and Wayne's World 2 (1993), the 1994 series Weird Science and a recurring role in the first season of Homicide: Life on the Street. Tergesen's career took off in 1997 with his critically acclaimed portrayal of Tobias Beecher on HBO's Oz, a role he played until the series ended in 2003.

His film credits include Point Break, Shaft, Monster, The Forgotten, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. He has made several appearances in TV shows such as ER, Rescue Me, The 4400, Law & Order, and one of its spinoffs, Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He also plays an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor in the second season of Desperate Housewives, becoming romantically involved with Bree Hodge. Their relationship ends when Bree walks in on him and her son, Andrew, shortly after they had sex. Tergesen played U.S. Marshall Eddie Drake in the TNT series Wanted. He has been cast in the forthcoming HBO mini-series Generation Kill.

[edit] Personal life

Tergesen's Mother died of breast cancer in 1989. Lee has a tattoo on the back of his thigh of the Japanese kanji character for 'Mother' inside a sun. He is of Norwegian and Swedish descent.

He has no feeling in one of his index fingers as he lost it while banging his hands on the prisons bars in his first scene as Tobias Beecher on HBO's Oz.

He is brother-in-law to actress Toni Lewis. She is married to his brother, Chris Tergesen.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Tergesen, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1965 (1965-07-08) (age 42)
PLACE OF BIRTH Ivoryton, CT
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH