Anthony Edwards

Anthony Charles Edwards^[1] (born July 19, 1962) is an American actor and director.^[2][3] He has appeared in various movies and television shows, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Zodiac, Revenge of the Nerds, Northern Exposure and ER.

Early life

Edwards was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Erika Planck (née Weber), an artist/landscape painter, and Peter Edwards, an architect.^[4] He has two older sisters, Heidi and Ann-Marie, and two older brothers, Peter and Jeffrey. Edwards was encouraged by his parents to attend college before pursuing his interest in acting. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England and studied theatre at University of Southern California but by the age of nineteen was being offered enough acting work to enable him to leave college.

Career

Edwards' early work includes a co-starring role in the TV series It Takes Two with Richard Crenna and Patty Duke Astin as his parents and Helen Hunt as his sister. His first starring role was in the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds as Gilbert Lowe, though he had a tiny part in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, credited as "stoner Bud". It was his role as LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw alongside Tom Cruise in the 1986 film Top Gun that brought his first widespread public acknowledgement. His character, who died in an aviation accident, was among the most prominent and popular in the film. He also appeared as a terminally ill patient in Hawks (1988) alongside Timothy Dalton, another role which brought him worldwide fame. He also starred in the 1990 movie Downtown with Penelope Ann Miller and Forest Whitaker. In 1992 and 1993 he played Mike Monroe in ten episodes of Northern Exposure.^[5]

His best known role to date is as Dr. Mark Greene on the long-running TV series ER, where he resided from its premiere in 1994 to the end of the 8th season in 2002. The series also afforded Edwards his first opportunity to direct. Edwards' desire to pursue directing led to his request to be written out of the series, leading to his character's death from brain cancer. He reportedly earned $35,000,000 for three seasons on ER, which made him one of the highest-paid television actors to date. Anthony Edwards and his former co-star George Clooney were the ones who suggested doing an episode of ER live.^[6] The fourth season premiere, "Ambush" was performed live twice with an East Coast and West Coast version.

He never won a Primetime Emmy, thought he was nominated four times.^[2] He won a Golden Globe Award For Best Performance by an Actor-In a TV Series after being nominated four times, and he has two Screen Actor's Guild Awards.^[2]

In 2007, Edwards appeared as SFPD inspector Bill Armstrong in David Fincher's Zodiac, about the Zodiac Killer, the notorious serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 2008, Edwards returned to ER to reprise his role as Dr. Greene (in flashback scenes, where he treats the dying son of character Catherine Banfield) for one episode during its 15th and final season.^[7]

In 2010, Edwards' appeared in the movie Motherhood, which set a record for the biggest bomb in British cinema history garnering just £88 on 11 tickets on opening weekend.^[8] In the United States Motherhood did not fare much better earning just $93,388 in three weeks of release.^[9]

Personal life

Edwards has been married to Jeanine Lobell since 1994 and they have one son, Bailey, and three daughters, Esme, Wallis and Poppy. He left ER so he could spend more time with his family. He currently resides in New York City. Lobell, who worked as a makeup artist, is the founder of the Stila cosmetics line. She founded the company in 1994 and sold it to Estee Lauder in 1999.

He also serves as chairman for Shoe4Africa, a non-profit organization that donates shoes to Kenyan athletes and aims to build the largest public children's hospital in Africa. Edwards ran in the ING New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009 to raise funds for Shoe4Africa.^[10]

Since his teenage years, Edwards has been a close friend of picture book illustrator Steven Kellogg. In 2011, Edwards' gift of $350,000 made it possible for Kellogg's complete life's work of more than 2700 illustrations to be donated to the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books.^[11]

Honors and tributes

• Edwards received four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series;^[12]
• He earned a People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series (1995);^[12]
• He has won six Screen Actors Guild Awards for: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (1996 and 1998), and Best Ensemble Cast (1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999);^[12]
• He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Drama (1998);^[12]
• Edwards also won a Daytime Emmy for the production of the underground rock documentary "N.Y.H.C." (1999) and the telepic adaptation of the coming of age novel "My Louisiana Sky" (2001);^[13]
• He also earned the Carnegie Medal Award for: My Louisiana Sky (2003).^[13]

Filmography

Films

Television

Producer

References

External links

• Anthony Edwards at the Internet Movie Database