Michael Paré
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael Paré | |
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| Born | October 9, 1958 Brooklyn, New York |
| Occupation | Film, television actor |
Michael Paré (born October 9, 1958 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor.
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[edit] Early life
Pare was one of ten children, having six sisters and three brothers. His father died from leukemia when Pare was 5 years old, leaving his mother to raise the large family of children. Pare's father was of French-Canadian ancestry, and his mother of Irish ancestry. A good athlete, his primary sport in high school was wrestling. Pare first studied to be a chef at the Culinary Institute of America, and was working in that trade when he was approached to work as a male model. This opened the door into acting, having been discovered by agent and casting director Joyce Selznick, and in the 1980s he studied acting under Uta Hagen.
[edit] Acting career
His first starring role was as Tony Villicana on the television series The Greatest American Hero. He developed a cult following for his B-movie roles, with several of these films developing into cult classics. His most well known film roles were as Eddie Wilson in Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) and its sequel Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives (1989), as well as his lead role in The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). Other films included Streets of Fire (1984), Moon 44 (1990), Deadly Heroes (1994), Village of the Damned (1995), Bad Moon (1996), Hope Floats (1998), and The Virgin Suicides (1999).
He was the original choice to portray the Marvel Comics character Frank Castle, AKA: The Punisher, in the 1989 film adaptation The Punisher. However the part eventually went to Dolph Lundgren. He starred in the short lived science fiction TV series called Starhunter in 2001, and appeared in the 2006 film BloodRayne, and it's 2007 direct to DVD sequel BloodRayne II: Deliverance. He is set to appear in Uwe Boll's film adaptation of the video game Far Cry as well as Seed and Postal.
[edit] Personal life
Having developed a considerable popularity in some countries outside the US, he has starred in numerous television commercials in Japan. He has married three times. His first wife, from 1980 to 1982, was BAFTA nominated film producer Lisa Katselas Paré, who produced Richard III in 1995, and who is producing the 2008 film The Colossus, starring Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon. He was married to Marisa Roebuck from 1986 to 1988, and in 1992 married his present wife, Marjolein, a former fashion model. Between films he lives in Amsterdam.
