Barry Watson (actor)

Michael Barrett "Barry" Watson (born April 23, 1974) is an American actor, known for his roles of Dr. Matthew "Matt" Camden on 7th Heaven, Brian Davis in What About Brian and Todd Deepler in Samantha Who?

Early life

Watson was born in Traverse City, Michigan. His father worked as an attorney and his mother as a paralegal.^[1] Watson was born the third of four children. At the age of eight, his family moved to Dallas, Texas where he began his modeling career. For a period of time he studied acting at the Dallas Young Actors Studio with director Linda Seto. Watson was fourteen when his parents divorced. When he was fifteen, he moved to Burbank, California, where he immediately landed a six month contract on the soap opera Days of our Lives. After his contract ended, Watson moved back to Texas, and graduated from Richardson High School in 1992.

Career

When he turned 19, Watson moved back to Los Angeles, where he worked parking cars at a House of Blues nightclub while auditioning for roles. He landed guest spots in several television series such as Baywatch and Sister, Sister. Eventually he was chosen for a minor role on the Aaron Spelling series Malibu Shores. Though his role was brief, it led him to Aaron Spelling's next project 7th Heaven.

It was on the WB's 7th Heaven that Watson finally gained much recognition for his portrayl as Matt Camden. In 1999, he starred in his first feature film with fellow WB star Katie Holmes in Teaching Mrs. Tingle. Watson guest starred in two episodes of 7th Heaven during its tenth season, but did not appear at all during the eleventh and final season.

On April 16, 2006 Watson starred as the lead character Brian Davis, in the ABC series What About Brian. The show ended its run on March 26, 2007. Watson also starred as Todd in the ABC series Samantha Who?, which has ultimately been cancelled. In 2011 he played Pax in My Future Boyfriend, an ABC Family original movie.

Personal life

Watson was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in May 2002, and went on hiatus from 7th Heaven while he underwent treatment. As of April 2003, it was reportedly in remission, and he began appearing on the program again, starting with the 150th episode.

Barry Watson has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1996 to Laura Payne-Gabriel, whom he met through actress Tori Spelling.^[2] They later divorced. In December 2003, Watson was reunited with high school classmate Tracy Hutson. They had met in high school and briefly dated during their 20s before losing touch.^[3] On August 3, 2004 she became engaged to Watson. They married on July 14, 2006. He and Tracy had their first son, Oliver, on May 2, 2005. Barry and Tracy welcomed their second son, Felix, on November 13, 2007. The family resides in Los Angeles. In the season premiere of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on September 25, 2011, Tracy stated, "I'm a single mom, and I have to leave my boys for sometimes weeks on end," which would seem to indicate that they have either separated or divorced.

Filmography

References

External links

• Barry Watson at the Internet Movie Database