Kyle MacLachlan, born February 22, 1959, in WA, got his real breakthrough in acting thanks to director David Lynch. Lynch cast MacLachlan in the male lead in the movie Dune, in 1984, and then in Blue Velvet, two years later. When Lynch created the off-beat TV series, Twin Peaks, he gave MacLachlan the part of FBI agent Dale Cooper — a part that won MacLachlan a Golden Globe Award. Among other movies that he made are, The Doors, The Flintstones, and the remake of Kafka'sThe Trial. MacLachlan returned to TV as Trey MacDougal, in HBO's Sex and the City, and, later, as Orson Hodge in Desperate Housewives.
McLachlan is married to Desiree Gruber and they have one son.
Career Highlights: Hamlet, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet
First Major Screen Credit: Dune (1984)
Biography
Born in 1959, Washington native Kyle MacLachlan, among other things, claims to be a descendent of the legendary composer Johann Sebastian Bach. However, unlike his very distant relative, MacLachlan made his mark not in music, but in television and film. After performing in a variety of local theater productions throughout his youth -- and acting out scenes from the popular Hardy Boys fiction series in his even younger years -- MacLachlan made his feature-film debut in director David Lynch's adaptation Dune in 1984. This would mark the first of many collaborations with Lynch; in 1986, Lynch cast MacLachlan as a young man shocked at what lies under a small town's picture-perfect facade in Blue Velvet. A year later, MacLachlan starred as an alien FBI agent in The Hidden, Jack Sholder's 1987 cult hit.
MacLachlan, however, wouldn't gain true mainstream notoriety until 1989, when David Lynch called upon the young actor to play another FBI agent; this time, he was Special Agent Dale Cooper, who was sent to a small Washington town to investigate the murder of a young girl in ABC's popular but ultimately short-lived prime-time drama, Twin Peaks. The role would earn him two Emmy nominations for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and pave the way for more silver-screen roles, some of which include Ray Manzarek in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991), villain Cliff Vandercave in The Flintstones (1994), and a falsely accused bank clerk in The Trial (1993). MacLachlan offered several relatively well-received starring and supporting performances throughout the mid- to late '90s, and did what he could for his role in Paul Verhoeven's famous 1995 flop, Showgirls.
Luckily, the late '90s to early 2000s were much kinder to MacLachlan. In addition to playing another smooth agent in David Koepp's The Trigger Effect (1996), which some critics claimed was his best performance since Blue Velvet, the actor also was cast as King Claudius in Michael Almereyda's adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. However, it was television that once again made MacLachlan a household name, albeit temporarily. In 2000, he joined the cast of HBO's multiple-award-winning series Sex and the City as Charlotte's (Kristin Davis) mama's boy husband, Trey. In 2003, MacLachlan starred in the Bravo network's popular documentary series, The Reality of Reality. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
MacLachlan has worked extensively with David Lynch. He first appeared as Paul Atreides in the film Dune (1984), Lynch's adaptation of Frank Herbert'snovel, and as Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet (1986). Later he played Special Agent Dale Cooper in Lynch's ABC television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991), reprising that role for Lynch's 1992 prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Lynch commented on those roles in a GQ story about MacLachlan: "Kyle plays innocents who are interested in the mysteries of life. He's the person you trust enough to go into a strange world with."[1]
In the 1993 film version of Franz Kafka'sThe Trial, MacLachlan played the lead role of the persecuted Josef K. He also had a recurring role in the American television series Sex and the City, portraying Dr. Trey MacDougal, the one-time husband of Charlotte York (Kristin Davis). He portrayed the spirit of Cary Grant in Touch of Pink.[2] Noteworthy to critics was his uncanny ability to capture the nuances of Grant's mannerisms, his resemblance to Grant had been previously noted in an episode of Twin Peaks.
In 1995, MacLachlan starred in Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls. The movie was heavily panned by critics[3] and it collected seven Golden Raspberry Awards (from a record thirteen nominations). MacLachlan himself was deeply embarrassed with his involvement. Allegedly he walked out of the film's premiere, but he himself contradicted these claims and commented that he "suffered through the whole two hours" of the premiere.[4]
In recent years, MacLachlan continues to play dark and/or morally ambiguous characters. This included a guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which he played a father who shot and killed a sociopathic child who murdered his son. MacLachlan also lent his voice to nefarious media mogul Donald Love in the video game Grand Theft Auto III[5]. After starring in the short-lived In Justice, MacLachlan has become a regular on Desperate Housewives. His character, the mysterious dentist Orson Hodge, first appeared during the show's second season, with MacLachlan becoming a full-time cast member with the start of season three.
MacLachlan is planning to quit Desperate Housewives, now that he is a father, because he is finding the commute from his home in New York City to the Desperate Housewives set in Los Angeles very difficult.[7]
MacLachlan lives in Manhattan with his wife, Desiree Gruber, and their son, Callum Lyon MacLachlan, born July 25, 2008, in Los Angeles.
The couple has two small dogs (a Jack Russell terrier and a Yorkie/Chihuahua mix) and out of "probably too much affection" have created a website about their dogs[8] as well as a TV series popular on YouTube.[9][10]
A dedicated oenophile, Kyle is partners with vintner Eric Dunham in Pursued By Bear, a winery in Washington's Columbia Valley. The name, suggested over dinner by Steve Martin, comes from a stage direction ("Exit, pursued by a bear") in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.[11]
