Luke Perry

Luke Perry
Luke Perry, February 14, 2004
Born	Coy Luther Perry III October 11, 1966(1966-10-11) (age 43) Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Luke Perry (born Coy Luther Perry III; October 11, 1966)^[1] is an American actor. Perry starred as Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role he played from 1990–95, and then from 1998–2000. Much publicity was garnered over the fact that even though he was playing a sixteen year old when 90210 began, Perry was actually in his mid-twenties at that time. Perry returned to 90210 in 1998 (this time billed as a permanent "Special Guest Star") and remained with the series until its conclusion in 2000.

Television and film career

After appearing in the music video "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" for the band Twisted Sister alongside Alice Cooper, Perry's earliest roles were in the daytime soap operas Loving (1987–88) and Another World (1988–89).

Following this, he then won the role of brooding millionaire's son Dylan McKay on Fox's appealing teen drama, Beverly Hills 90210. Ironically, he had auditioned for the role of Steve Sanders, a role that went to actor Ian Ziering before being cast as Dylan McKay. While starring on 90210, Perry then won a supporting role in the original film version of the Joss Whedon-written Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992). Even though the film wasn't very successful, Perry had already become a very popular teen idol in the early 1990s. Perry also starred in Terminal Bliss in 1992.

Perry starred as Lane Frost in 8 Seconds in 1994. In an attempt to find more mature roles, he decided to leave Beverly Hills 90210 in 1995. In the same year, he took a part in the Italian movie Vacanze di Natale '95, playing himself. Although he announced that 90210 was behind him, his departure would eventually turn out to be for only three years. During that time, Perry starred in the independent film Normal Life opposite Ashley Judd, starred in the TV sci-fi movie Invasion (1997), a Rodney King-era drama Riot (1997) and also had a small role in Luc Besson's sci-fi adventure film The Fifth Element (1997). Even though Perry had left 90210 in 1995, he returned in 1998 due to financial reasons. Perry starred in the 1999 film Storm. He then went on to star in a 2002 television movie called The Triangle.

From 2002 to 2004, he starred in the post-apocalyptic TV series Jeremiah. In 2006, Perry co-starred in the ensemble drama series Windfall, about a group of friends who win the lottery. The series ran for 13 episodes during the summer of 2006 on NBC. In 2007, he landed the role of Tommy "Santa" Santorelli on the film The Sandlot: Heading Home and in the 2008 western A Gunfighter's Pledge.

Perry appeared in the HBO series John from Cincinnati, which premiered on June 10, 2007, and ran for 10 episodes, with the series finale airing on August 12, 2007.

Perry also stars in the Swedish film Midsommarfesten (The midsummer party) which is due to be released summer 2009.

Guest work

Perry has done considerable voice-over work for various animated series, often playing himself. He played himself (as Krusty the Clown's half brother) in an episode of The Simpsons (1993). He voiced himself in an episode of Johnny Bravo, giving Johnny dating advice after Johnny saved him from a stampede of fan girls. Perry then voiced himself once again in an episode of Family Guy, where he was labeled as gay by Peter and sues the family. Peter tries to seduce Perry into revealing his homosexuality and fails. However, by the end of the episode Perry is seen with Mayor Adam West, about to engage in sex. His other voice work includes The Incredible Hulk, Biker Mice from Mars, and Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm.

Aside from his self-parodying role on Family Guy, Perry has also guest-starred as gay characters in the sitcoms Spin City (1997) and Will and Grace (2005). He appeared as Carter Heywood's ex-boyfriend who subsequently fell in love with a woman on Spin City, and played a geeky birdwatcher who caught the eye of Jack McFarland on Will & Grace. In 2005, Perry was reunited with former 90210 co-star Jennie Garth when he guest starred in What I Like About You, where he played a character who claimed he had been dating Kelly's (Jennie Garth) best friend when he and Val became romantically involved (clearly a parody of the 90210 "Brenda years"). He guest-starred as Rev. Jeremiah Cloutier in the HBO television series Oz. He was also featured in a full-frontal nudity scene in Oz. In 2008, Perry guest-starred as rapist Noah Sibert, in the season premiere of the television series Law & Order: SVU.^[2] He also guest-starred as cult leader Benjamin Cyrus in an episode of Criminal Minds.

The stage

Perry appeared on Broadway in 2001 in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show playing Brad Majors.^[3]

In 2004 he appeared in the London production of When Harry Met Sally as Harry, alongside Alyson Hannigan as Sally.^[4]

Personal life

Perry was born in Mansfield, Ohio^[5] and raised in Fredericktown, Ohio, where he was the school mascot, the Fredericktown High School Freddie. His mother, Ann Bennett, was a homemaker, and his father, Coy Luther Perry, Jr., a steelworker.^[6] Perry likes to get home annually for the Fredericktown Tomato Show,^[7] an annual street fair. For the 2009 Tomato Show, he has agreed to be Grand Marshall of the parade.^{[citation needed]}

He was married to former model Rachel Minnie Sharp from 1993 to 2003. The couple share joint custody of their two children, Jack (born June 1997) and Sophie (born June 2000). Perry dated his former Beverly Hills 90210 co-star Shannen Doherty, as well as also dating actresses Yasmine Bleeth, Kelly Preston and his former Buffy co-star Kirsty Swanson.^{[citation needed]} In 2002 he dated his former co-star of 90210 and of the 1997 film Invasion Rebecca Gayheart.^{[citation needed]} In 2007 he dated award winning actress Renee Zellweger.^{[citation needed]}

He is an avid fan of crossword puzzles and is frequently seen working on them. In addition, he has amassed a large collection of historical ballpoint pens. In the fall of 2008 he appeared at a rally with Bruce Springsteen and encouraged people to vote for Barack Obama.^{[citation needed]}

Perry said of his role on Beverly Hills 90210 as bad boy Dylan McKay, “I’m going to be linked with him until I die, but that’s actually just fine. I created Dylan McKay. He’s mine,” however he will not be reprising the role on the spin-off.^{[citation needed]}

Perry was featured on the 2003 documentary Beverly Hills 90210: Ten Year Reunion, where Perry and his former co-stars, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Jason Priestley, Ian Ziering and Gabrielle Carteris joined him for the reunion. This special was aired in the United States, but is available to watch on YouTube.com. Perry revealed on the documentary that "I got letters from countries I still haven't been to." Perry revealed that his favourite couple of the show was Donna (Tori Spelling) and David (Brian Austin-Green) He said of this "They were the best couple, you saw them go the furthest, they started dating in high school, to getting married in the finale." Perry also revealed how "him and Jennie would send each other to the emergency rooms and hospitals on a regular basis." He also added it was the same with his co-star Shannen Doherty. "Jennie and I were in a jet-ski scene, and by accident I ran over her with a jet-ski, knocking Jennie unconscious. There was also another time when me and Shannen were meant to be kissing on the beach, and there were these big rocks set up, we were attempting to kiss with all this sand in our mouth. Then I rolled Shannen on top of me, and I could see behind her in the distance, this gigantic wave coming right at us. I was like "Shannen! Shannen!" And we totally got drenched! Do you remember that Shannen?" with Shannen Doherty replying "Haha, yes I do."^{[citation needed]}

During the 90s, Luke Perry was a very popular teen idol, he was featured on the 1991 tv programme 'Idols' and once revealed that the crowd was so big at a shopping mall that he had to be escorted out of the shopping mall in a laundry trolley by security.^{[citation needed]}

After it was confirmed that some of the old cast of Beverly Hills 90210 would be reprising their roles for the new spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210, which airs on the CW network, rumours have been circulating whether Luke Perry will reprise his role as Dylan McKay. It was finally confirmed that when Luke Perry was in an interview with TV Guide, while promoting Hallmark Channel's A Gunfighter's Pledge, said while he is not surprised that Doherty is returning to the zip code, he is not very keen on accepting any offers, should they come. “I think if Shannen wants to work, that's a good a place for her.” As for himself, Perry says “creative” reasons may prevent him from reprising his role as Dylan McKay, which he played for a total of seven years, implying that perhaps he finds returning to Beverly Hills 90210 to be a little juvenile a role for him to take. “When you're in the professional acting business,” he begins, “you have to look into all these offers and I don't mean anything bad about it but creatively it's something I have done before and I don't know how it will benefit me if I do it again.” He finally revealed a major reason as to why he doesn't want to be part of this revival, citing the show's long-time producer Aaron Spelling. “The difference between CW bringing something back and Aaron Spelling doing something back is significant,” he says. “And I cannot do it without Aaron.” However, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling will be reprising their roles.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Luke Perry at the Internet Movie Database