Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe
With wife Sheryl Berkoff in 2003
Born	Robert Hepler Lowe March 17, 1964 (1964-03-17) (age 46) Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Sheryl Berkoff (1991–present) 2 children

Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe (pronounced /ˈrɒb ˈloʊ/; born March 17, 1964) is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders and St. Elmo's Fire. Lowe is also known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and as Senator Robert McCallister on Brothers & Sisters.

Early life

Lowe was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Barbara (née Hepler), a teacher, and Charles Lowe, a trial lawyer;^[1] his parents divorced when Lowe was young. His mother took Lowe and his younger brother, actor Chad Lowe, to California. He also has two step-siblings. Because of a virus during infancy, he is deaf in his right ear (he would later play a deaf character in The Stand). Lowe was baptized into the Episcopal church, though his maternal grandparents were Methodists.^[2] He was raised in a "traditional midwestern setting"^[2] in Dayton, Ohio; having attended Oakwood High School before moving to the Westside of Los Angeles. He attended Santa Monica High School, the same high school as fellow actors Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, Chris Penn and Robert Downey Jr.

Early film and television career

Lowe at the Governor's Ball party after the 1989 Academy Awards

One of Lowe's earliest roles came in the 1983 TV movie Thursday's Child, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actor in a TV Movie/Miniseries". Lowe made his film debut in Schoolboy Father, followed by Class. His breakthrough came in 1983, when he and Estevez were cast in The Outsiders, which remains one of his most famous roles. Lowe played the role of Sodapop, the brother of the main character Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) in the movie. Lowe and Estevez reunited in St. Elmo's Fire, making them the two more popular boys of the Brat Pack. He followed it up with About Last Night. He also received a second Golden Globe nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role as the mentally disabled Rory in Square Dance (1987).

Lowe is infamously remembered for performing a duet with an actress playing the part of Snow White at the 61st Academy Awards opening montage in March 1989.

Lowe is also known for playing Sam Seaborn in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2003. His performance in the show garnered Lowe an Emmy and two Golden Globe Award Nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series. When the show premiered, Seaborn was considered the lead, and the pilot centered on the character. But the acclaimed cast of the show—including Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Martin Sheen (whose President Bartlet was initially scripted as a small role) and Stockard Channing (whose First Lady was initially scripted as a guest role)—meant that Sam Seaborn could no longer be considered the lead character.

While he reluctantly accepted his demotion, Lowe and series creator Aaron Sorkin soon found themselves at odds over the network's meddling with the show, most notably the network demanding changes in the Sam Seaborn character. Eventually, Lowe left the series, not long before Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme unceremoniously quit over a dispute with NBC. During the final season of The West Wing, Lowe returned to his role of Sam Seaborn, appearing in two of the final four episodes.

After leaving the show, Lowe was star and executive producer of a failed NBC drama, The Lyon's Den (2003). In 2004, he tried again in a series entitled Dr. Vegas, but it also was quickly canceled. In 2005, he starred as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee in a London West End production of Sorkin's play A Few Good Men, the first time the two had worked together since The West Wing. Although Lowe had expressed unhappiness about his decreased role on that show at the time of his departure, he has now repeatedly said that any animosity between them is over and that he was pleased to be working once more with Sorkin, whose talents as a writer Lowe highly regards. Lowe passed on the role of Dr. Derek Shepherd of Grey's Anatomy, which eventually went to Patrick Dempsey.^[3]

Recent television work

Despite his two canceled TV series and flops like View From the Top and the made-for-TV movie Perfect Strangers during his post–West Wing run, Lowe found success in the TV miniseries genre. 2004 marked his return to this genre; he had appeared in 1994's The Stand, based on Stephen King's book of the same name. In 2004, Lowe starred in the TNT remake of the Stephen King miniseries Salem's Lot which was the highest rated cable program of that summer and the highest ratings TNT original programming had at the time. In 2005, Lowe starred in the miniseries Beach Girls on the Lifetime network, based on the Luanne Rice novel of the same name. The series premiere received the highest ratings for a movie premiere in Lifetime history. In that same year, Lowe filmed his critically acclaimed role as super movie agent in the 2006 independent film Thank You for Smoking. In 2006, he filmed The Perfect Day for TNT, in which he took a pay cut to film in New Orleans in order to help the hurricane ravaged area. That same year, Lowe filmed Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming, the "sequel" to the 1999 Kevin Bacon thriller Stir of Echoes.

In 2006, it was announced that Lowe would join the cast of Brothers & Sisters for a guest run of several episodes. In January 2007, ABC announced that Lowe would be staying on Brothers and Sisters as a "special guest star" for the rest of season 1 after Lowe's initial appearance on the show in November 2006 brought the best ratings and demographic showing for the show since its premiere. Soon after ABC announced an early season 2 renewal for Brother & Sisters in March 2007, Lowe announced he would be returning for the show's second season. He continued to appear in the series until the end of the 2009-2010 season. Unhappy with the stories and his lack of screen time in the fourth season, Lowe announced he would leave, and in an episode broadcast on May 16, 2010, his character died at the wheel of a car in a multi-vehicle crash involving a large truck.

In June 2006, he was the guest host for an episode in the third series of The Friday Night Project for the United Kingdom's Channel 4.

Lowe has also appeared in a televised advertisement for 'Visit California', along with other celebrities including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Lowe had a supporting role in the 2009 movie The Invention of Lying and a leading role in Too Late to Say Goodbye.

In 2010, he appeared in the biography of the Brat Packers called: Brat Pack: Where Are They Now?' He also appeared on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.

Lowe is currently teaming up with 44 Blue to produce a reality series entitled Potomac Fever about young adults living in Washington, DC.^[4]

In July 2010, it was announced that Lowe would be providing the voice for the superhero Captain Marvel in the upcoming animated series, Young Justice.^[5] It was also announced that month that Lowe would become a series regular on the series, Parks and Recreation.^[6]

Other work

Lowe is currently writing a memoir titled Stories I Only Tell My Friends. It is set for a May 2011 release.^[7]

Personal life

Lowe and Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert briefly met at age 14 in 1978 in the halls of the CBS Television Studios. In 1981, when both were 17, she spotted Lowe stopped at the red light next to her car and the two began dating.^[8] Lowe was a little-known actor at the time. For years the two had an on-and-off relationship due to infidelity. During the filming of 1984's The Hotel New Hampshire, Rob began an affair with Nastassja Kinski. In Gilbert's 2009 autobiography, Prairie Tale: A Memoir, she talks about sleeping with Lowe's then-best friend, John Cusack,^[9] while Lowe was away filming. According to Gilbert, she caught Lowe in Nastassja's hotel room and she slept with Cusack out of revenge. The two stars got back together only to break up several times. Lowe broke up with her again in 1986 when he started dating Princess Stéphanie. As soon as this relationship ended, Melissa and Rob dated again. The two became engaged and were to be married in the summer of 1987. Melissa then found out she was pregnant. After telling Lowe this news, he broke up with her for good. Melissa miscarried only days later.^[10]

Lowe married makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff in July 1991, they have two sons; Matthew Edward Lowe (b. Sept 24, 1993), and John Owen Lowe (b. Nov 6, 1995). They live in Montecito, California.

Lowe was the first male spokesperson for the 2000 Lee National Denim Day fundraiser, which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and education. His grandmother and great-grandmother both suffered from breast cancer, and his mother died of the disease in late 2003.

Lowe is a founder of the Homeowner's Defense Fund, a Santa Barbara County non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to local control of land-use planning and transparency in government.^[11] The average price of tract homes in Santa Barbara in early 2006 was $1,100,000, which motivated some to propose denser housing on existing lots. While in favor of increasing housing density, he has sought to build a 14,260-square-foot (1,325 m²) mansion for himself in Montecito, California.^[12] Lowe's protest over the appearance of the address of the empty lot in the Santa Barbara News-Press precipitated a mass resignation of senior employees at that newspaper on July 6, 2006,^[13] and was a proximate cause of the Santa Barbara News-Press controversy.

Sex tape controversy

In 1988, Lowe was involved in a sex scandal over a videotape of him having sex with two women, one of whom was 16. She was filmed with Lowe during the night before the Democratic National Convention. Lowe has asserted that he did not know that the second girl was underage, and it was confirmed that the two had met at a bar.^[14] At the time, Lowe was campaigning for Michael Dukakis.^[15]

Another part of the same tape was leaked at the time, showing Lowe and his friend Justin Moritt, later the line producer, both having sexual intercourse and oral sex with a young American model named Jennifer, in a hotel room in Paris. This part of the original tape was sold as one of the first commercially available celebrity sex tapes, damaging his public image.^[16] He later entered a rehabilitation clinic for alcohol and sex addiction. Eventually, his career rebounded and Lowe mocked his own behavior during two post-scandal appearances as host of Saturday Night Live.

Nanny lawsuit cases

Rob Lowe in 2008

In April 2008, Lowe filed separate lawsuits against three former employees accusing them of breach of contract, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lowe accuses an ex-nanny of engaging in a scheme to hurt the couple by spreading "malicious lies." Another ex-nanny is accused of falsely claiming to have had a personal and intimate relationship with Lowe, and also repeatedly expressing romantic interest in Rob, claiming that Lowe sexually harassed her and that Sheryl Lowe was an abusive employer. Lowe claims a former chef engaged in sex on their bed with third parties when the family was out of town, stole prescription drugs from the Lowes, broke several security cameras, overcharged them for food, and allegedly made statements to various people that Sheryl was heartless, cold and unclean.^[17]

Jessica Gibson, 24-year-old former nanny for Lowe, made 12 allegations against Lowe involving sexual harassment claims and labor-code violations. On June 19, 2008, Santa Barbara, California, Superior Court Judge Denise de Bellefeuille dismissed two allegations regarding labor-code violations due to lack of legal basis.^[18]

The legal battle ended in May 2009, the press reported that court records showed that lawsuits filed by both nannies and Lowe have been dismissed in Santa Barbara. Attorneys for both women and Lowe sought the dismissals.^[19]

Filmography

References

External links

• Rob Lowe at the Internet Movie Database