Franc Luz

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Franc Luz
Born	December 22, 1950 (1950-12-22) (age 57) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Barbara Marineau (1978-present)

Franc Luz (born December 22, 1950 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American actor of stage, film, and television seen in popular leading dramatic film roles in the 1980s and 1990s. These credits are also supplemented with a heavy dose of TV guest roles and several regular turns on TV series. Luz is perhaps best known for his parts in The Nest, Ghost Town, When Harry Met Sally..., and to Star Trek fans, as the symbiont Odan in a memorable 1991 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the season 4 episode The Host.

Luz's early acting experience in the 1970s ranged from Broadway to off-off-Broadway theatre. In 1979, he received attention playing Wanenis, the noble North American savage in the period piece Whoopee!. His first movie role also arrived that year, when he was cast a supporting part in the film Voices. On the heels of this film exposure, Luz made his first transition to television. He auditioned and won the role of young Dr. John Bennett on NBC's daytime serial The Doctors. This role made him instantly noticed by daytime viewers with his stellar performance, so much that he was nominated for a 1980 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Although he didn't win, Luz continued in the role for another year before leaving the show in 1981.

After his departure from The Doctors, Luz returned to theatre work. He was often seen in the early 1980s playing the role of the sadistic dentist in an off-Broadway version of Little Shop of Horrors that was running throughout New York. For this, he was nominated for the 1983 Drama Desk Award in the Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical category. The voice of Luz, along with other co-stars such as Lee Wilkof and Jennifer Leigh Warren, are all prominently featured in the 1992 CD release Little Shop of Horrors Soundtrack - Original Off-Broadway Cast. Additional movie roles would then follow for Luz, both theatrical and on TV.

In 1985, Luz assumed a co-starring role on a primetime series, the CBS dramedy Hometown, a TV adaptation of the hit 1983 film The Big Chill. Luz played the husband of Jane Kaczmarek in the series, and another co-star was Daniel Stern. The series did not fare well in the ratings, however, and was cancelled after two months. He then appeared in a recurring role on another new CBS series the following season, playing the ex-boyfriend of Patricia Kalember in the medical drama Kay O'Brien. This series too, was axed after two months. A few memorable 1987 guest roles for Luz included that of Dee Dee McCall's late police sergeant husband, in flashbacks, on Hunter and of Professor Richard Katt, who was rumored to have had an extramarital affair with student Blair Warner on The Facts of Life.

Luz then assumed two leading roles in the popular 1988 horror films The Nest, in which he lead a team of scientists who battled man-eating cockroaches, and Ghost Town, where he played a deputy bent on protecting his Western town from ghosts and the forces of evil. The following year, he then played Julian in Rob Reiner's smash hit romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.... After production on that film was complete, Luz signed on to co-star in the ABC comedy Free Spirit, which premiered in September 1989. He portrayed lawyer Thomas J. Harper, a widower with three children who hires a housekeeper/nanny named Winnie (Corinne Bohrer) whom only the kids know is a witch. Luz's daughter on the show was played by a young Alyson Hannigan. Free Spirit turned out to be another short-lived series for Luz, as ABC cancelled it mid-season.

In the 1990s, Luz continued with his stream of TV guest appearances on such shows as Sisters, L.A. Law, The Young Riders, and Silk Stalkings, while keeping up appearances in motion pictures. In 1991-92, he also starred in the Broadway production of Larry Gelbart's City of Angels, alongside Richard Kline and Michael Rupert. His most notable role in 1990s cinema was that of Don Antonio in Francis Ford Coppola's Don Juan DeMarco (1995), which starred Johnny Depp in the title role. Prior to that, Luz had appeared on daytime TV once again, playing Seth Tanner on All My Children in 1993. Luz followed up Don Juan DeMarco with the independent film The Pornographer (1999), and Restraining Order (1999), co-starring with Eric Roberts.

Restraining Order has been Luz's last on-screen acting role to date, since after that project he decided on a career change. A longtime enthusiast of the fine arts, Franc became involved in many New York area museums and exhibition halls. He has become a trustee for several of them, and also works as a tour guide.

Luz has been married to Barbara Marineau since 1978; she is also an actress. Although much of her work has been exclusively in theater, she has had film and TV roles from time to time. Her most recent guest work was on NBC's short-lived The Book of Daniel.