Robert Sean Leonard

Leonard, Robert Sean (b. 1969), actor. The handsome leading man, who has quickly become one of Broadway's most accomplished actors, is equally adept at the classics as with new works. He was born in Westwood, New Jersey, and was in summer stock at the age of twelve, essaying Shakespearean roles by the time he was fifteen. Leonard studied at Fordham University and made his New York debut in 1985, first getting noticed on Broadway as the British youth Christopher in Breaking the Code (1987). Among his notable performances were a passionate Eugene Marchbanks in Candida (1993), the Irish alter ego “Private Gar” in Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1994), the math scholar Valentine Coverly in Arcadia (1995), the romantically inclined dentist Valentine in You Never Can Tell (1998), the young poet‐scholar A. E. Housman in The Invention of Love (2002), the Vietnam vet Ken Talley in Fifth of July (2003), and the would‐be poet Edmund in Long Day's Journey Into Night (2003).

• Born: Feb 28, 1969 in Westwood, New Jersey
• Occupation: Actor
• Active: '90s-2000s
• Major Genres: Drama
• Career Highlights: Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Dead Poets Society, Much Ado About Nothing
• First Major Screen Credit: My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988)

Biography

In 1986, clean-cut American actor Robert Sean Leonard made his Broadway debut in Brighton Beach Memoirs and his film debut in The Manhattan Project. His first starring film role was as a high-school vampire in the '80s teen comedy My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988). But Leonard's chiseled features and dark brown eyes made him perfect for the role of Neil Perry, the sensitive prep-school student whose acting aspirations are crushed by his wealthy father in the much-loved drama Dead Poets Society (1989). His next few films were period pieces: the Merchant-Ivory production Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), and Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (also 1993). Leonard also earned a Young Artist award for his performance in the WWII-era musical Swing Kids in 1993 and earned his first Tony nomination that same year for a revival of Candida. Though he often chose the stage over the screen, his theatrical training directed him toward roles in the talky feature films Married to It (1993), Safe Passage (1994), and The Last Days of Disco (1998). He also fared well in television adaptations of stage productions (The Boys Next Door [1996], In the Gloaming [1997]) and based-on-a-true-story docudramas (Killer: A Journal of Murder [1995], A Glimpse of Hell [2001]).

In 2001, Leonard reunited with Dead Poets Society co-star Ethan Hawke to appear in the independent drama Chelsea Walls, Hawke's directorial debut. He also co-starred with Hawke and Uma Thurman in Richard Linklater's intensely talky drama Tape. After spending most of his career on the stage, Leonard finally earned a Tony award for his portrayal of A.E. Houseman in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love. Also on Broadway, he could be seen in A Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Violet Hour. Leonard briefly returned to television in 2003 for the starring role of a cotton farmer in the Hallmark Hall of Fame feature A Painted House. His 2004 projects would include the feature film The I Inside, based on the play Point of Death. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A Painted House Buy this Movie	Driven Buy this Movie	Chelsea Walls Buy this Movie	A Glimpse of Hell Buy this Movie
Ground Control Buy this Movie	The Last Days of Disco Buy this Movie	Standoff Buy this Movie	In the Gloaming Buy this Movie

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