80's TV Drama Actors
by danleenc | created - 02 Feb 2013 | updated - 02 Feb 2013 | Public
1. Tom Selleck
Actor | Blue Bloods
Thomas William Selleck is an American actor and film producer, best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator "Thomas Magnum" on the 1980s television series, Magnum, P.I. (1980).
Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Martha (Jagger), a homemaker, and Robert Dean Selleck, a...
Magnum P.I.
2. Don Johnson
Actor | Miami Vice
Best known for his starring role as Det. Sonny Crockett on the hugely successful TV series Miami Vice (1984), Don Johnson is one of the stars who really defined the 1980s. As James "Sonny" Crockett he went toe-to-toe with drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, assassins, illegal arms-dealers and crooked...
Miami Vice
3. Bruce Willis
Actor | Die Hard
Actor and musician Bruce Willis is well known for playing wisecracking or hard-edged characters, often in spectacular action films. Collectively, he has appeared in films that have grossed in excess of $2.5 billion USD.
Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany,...
Moonlighting
4. Pierce Brosnan
Actor | Mamma Mia!
Pierce Brendan Brosnan was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to May (Smith), a nurse, and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. He lived in Navan, County Meath, until he moved to England, UK, at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincingly). His father left...
Remington Steele
5. Harry Hamlin
Actor | Clash of the Titans
Harry Robinson Hamlin is an American actor of stage, television and films. He was born in 1951, in Pasadena, California, to Berniece (Robinson), a socialite, and Chauncey Jerome Hamlin, Jr., an aeronautical engineer. He graduated from Yale University in 1974 with degrees in Drama and Psychology and...
L.A. Law
6. Richard Dean Anderson
Actor | Stargate SG-1
The original MacGyver (1985) and Stargate SG-1 (1997) star was born on January 23, 1950, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, Stuart Anderson, was a teacher at a local high school and his mother, Jocelyn, was an artist who was talented in both sculpting and painting. He and his three younger ...
MacGyver
7. David Hasselhoff
Actor | Baywatch
David Hasselhoff has become one of the most recognizable faces on television and throughout the world. Aside from starring in Knight Rider (1982) and Baywatch (1989), he is also an accomplished singer and popular recording artist.
David Michael Hasselhoff was born on July 17, 1952 in Baltimore, ...
Knight Rider
8. Scott Bakula
Actor | Quantum Leap
Scott Stewart Bakula was born on October 9, 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Sally (Zumwinkel) and J. Stewart Bakula, a lawyer. He is of German, as well as Czech, Austrian, Scottish and English ancestry. He comes from a musical family. In the fourth grade, he started a rock band and wrote songs for ...
Quantum Leap
9. Corbin Bernsen
Actor | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Corbin Bernsen made his initial mark on the seminal television series L.A. Law as opportunistic divorce lawyer "Arnie Becker" earning him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations over the show's eight-year run. He proved along the way the role was not to be a dead-end stereotype, maintaining a ...
L.A. Law
10. William Katt
Actor | The Man from Earth
William Katt was born in Los Angeles, California, USA as William Theodore Katt. He is the son of actress Barbara Hale and actor Bill Williams. He is an actor and director, known for Big Wednesday (1978), The Greatest American Hero (1981), Carrie (1976) and The Man from Earth (2007). He has been ...
The Greatest American Hero
11. Ken Olin
Producer | This Is Us
Actor Ken Olin's dark, sincere, extreme good looks were steadily put to use on the small screen during the 80s, but, in retrospect, the actor will probably now be considered more of a major force behind the camera as a producer and director when all is said and done.
Born Kenneth Edward Olin in ...
ThirtySomething
12. Lorenzo Lamas
Actor | Body Rock
Lorenzo Fernando Lamas was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of actors Arlene Dahl and Fernando Lamas. His father was Argentinian and his mother was American, of Norwegian descent. Lorenzo was raised in Pacific Palisades, California. In 1968, his family moved to New York. He attended ...
Falcon Crest
13. Adrian Zmed
Actor | Bachelor Party
Adrian Zmed was born on March 14, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Bachelor Party (1984), Grease 2 (1982) and T.J. Hooker (1982). He has been married to Lyssa Lynne since October 5, 2012. He was previously married to Barbara Fitzner and Susan Wood.
TJ Hooker
14. Joe Penny
Actor | Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II
Joe Penny was born on June 24, 1956 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II (1997), Riptide (1984) and The Gangster Chronicles (1981). He has been married to Cindy M. Penny since 2004.
Riptide, Jake & the Fatman
15. Jameson Parker
Actor | Prince of Darkness
Jameson Parker is best known for his role as A.J. Simon on Simon & Simon (1981), which ran on CBS for eight seasons. He was born in Baltimore and saw most of the capitals of Europe during his father's foreign service career. Young Parker also managed to see an inordinate number of boarding ...
Simon & Simon
16. John James
Actor | Dynasty
John James Anderson is most well known for his ten-year role as 'Jeff Colby' on the 1980's prime time TV soaps Dynasty (1981) and The Colbys (1985). John was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of radio broadcaster Herb Oscar Anderson, and brother of actor Herb Anderson.
He first starred in ...
Dynasty
17. Peter Horton
Producer | New Amsterdam
Peter Horton was born in Bellevue, Washington, USA. He is an award winning director, writer, and producer, known for New Amsterdam (2018), American Odyssey (2015), Thirtysomething (1987) and Grey's Anatomy (2005). He has been married to Nicole De Putron since 1995. They have two children and a dog ...
ThirtySomething
18. Kevin Dobson
Actor | Knots Landing
At his best playing blue-collared tough guys, curly dark-haired Irish-American actor Kevin Patrick Dobson was born in Queens, New York, on March 18, 1943, and raised in the Jackson Heights area of that borough. One of seven children born to a school janitor father and a homemaker mother, the future...
Knots Landing
19. Perry King
Actor | The Day After Tomorrow
Perry King was born on April 30, 1948 in Alliance, Ohio, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Mandingo (1975) and Class of 1984 (1982).
Riptide
20. Johnny Depp
Actor | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II was born on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. He was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school when he was 15, and fronted a series of music-garage bands, including one ...
21 Jump Street
21. Jimmy Smits
Actor | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Jimmy L. Smits is an American actor. He is best known for playing attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s-1990s legal drama L.A. Law, NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s-2000s police drama NYPD Blue, Matt Santos on the political drama The West Wing, and for appearing in Switch (1991), My Family...
L.A. Law
22. Lee Majors
Actor | The Six Million Dollar Man
Lee Majors was born on April 23, 1939 in Wyandotte, Michigan, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), The Fall Guy (1981) and Scrooged (1988). He has been married to Faith Majors since November 9, 2002. He was previously married to Karen Velez, Farrah Fawcett ...
The Fall Guy
23. Dirk Benedict
Actor | The A-Team
Dirk Benedict was born in Montana on March 1st, 1945. He was raised in the country, far away from anything connected with movies or acting. He gathered his first experiences in acting (on a dare) in a college production of "Showboat" where he got the main part. His father, a lawyer, died when Dirk ...
The A Team
24. Bill Hufsey
Actor | Fame
Billy Hufsey is an internationally renowned performer who has been one of the few to maintain a highly successful career in multiple facets of the entertainment industry over four decades. He has masterfully embraced the art of re-invention and ceaselessly strives to achieve his goals and dreams ...
Fame
25. Richard Grieco
Actor | If Looks Could Kill
Richard Grieco was born to an Italian father (Richard Grieco) and an Irish mother (Carolyn O'Reilly). He is a musician and, in 1995, released a CD ('Waiting for the Sky to Fall') in Germany. In 2009, several years after being encouraged by Dennis Hopper, Grieco publicly revealed that he has been ...
21 Jump Street
26. Mr. T
Actor | Rocky III
Mr. T was born Laurence Tureaud on 21 May 1952, in the rough south side ghetto of Chicago. He is the second to youngest of twelve children (he has four sisters and seven brothers) and grew up in the housing projects. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, left when Laurence was 5, and his mother raised the...
The A Team
27. Gerald McRaney
Actor | Focus
McRaney holds the distinction of being the last guest star to meet "Matt Dillon" in a gunfight on Gunsmoke (1955) - in the episode, Gunsmoke: Hard Labor (1975), first broadcast on February 24, 1975 (he lost). In fact, in the early portion of Gerald McRaney's career he almost always played the ...
Simon & Simon
28. John Forsythe
Actor | Dynasty
John Forysthe was born Jacob Lincoln Freund in Penns Grove, New Jersey, the son of Blanche Materson (Blohm) and Samuel Jeremiah Freund, a Wall Street businessman. He chose to pursue acting over the objections of his father. He did some work in radio soaps and on Broadway before signing a movie ...
Dynasty
29. Daniel J. Travanti
Actor | Hill Street Blues
The highly regarded actor Daniel J. Travanti was born Danielo Giovanni Travanty in the southeastern part of Wisconsin on March 7, 1940, but raised for a time in Iowa before returning to his native state. The youngest son of an American Motors auto worker, he showed both athletic and academic ...
Hill Street Blues
30. Robert Urich
Actor | Lonesome Dove
Robert Urich grew up in Toronto, Ohio, one of four siblings of Slovak and Rusyn descent, raised Catholic by their parents, John P. Urich (died 1977) and Cecelia (née Halpate) Urich (died 2002). His athletic ability led to a four-year football scholarship at Florida State University (FSU). He earned...
Spenser: For Hire
31. William Devane
Actor | Knots Landing
William Devane, the movie and television actor, was born in Albany, New York, the son of Joseph Devane, who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York. After graduating from New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he appeared on-stage. He finally made ...
Knots Landing
32. Jack Coleman
Actor | Heroes
John MacDonald "Jack" Coleman is an American actor and screenwriter, known for playing the role of Steven Carrington in the 1980s prime time soap opera Dynasty (1982-88), and for portraying Noah Bennet in the science-fiction drama series Heroes (2006-10). Coleman's first major role was in the soap ...
Dynasty
33. David Morse
Actor | The Green Mile
David Morse, a 6' 4" tall blue-eyed blond who performed on stage for 10 years before breaking into film, has become established as a respected supporting, character actor and second lead.
He was born the first of four children of Charles, a sales manager, and Jacquelyn Morse, a schoolteacher, on ...
St. Elsewhere
34. Blair Underwood
Actor | Deep Impact
A true multi-hyphenate, Blair Underwood is enjoying success in film, television and theatre, as an actor, director and producer. Underwood recently returned to Broadway starring opposite David Alan Grier in the Pulitzer Prize winning drama "A Solider's Play" for director Kenny Leon and the ...
L.A. Law
35. Peter DeLuise
Director | Stargate SG-1
Peter DeLuise was born on November 6, 1966 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Stargate SG-1 (1997), Stargate: Atlantis (2004) and 21 Jump Street (1987). He has been married to Anne Marie DeLuise since June 7, 2002. They have one child. He was previously married ...
21 Jump Street
36. Jan-Michael Vincent
Actor | Bite the Bullet
Virile, handsome and square-jawed youthful star of the 1970s and 1980s who showed early potential at super-stardom, Jan-Michael Vincent originally made a name for himself portraying rebellious young men bucking the system, as in Tribes (1970), White Line Fever (1975) and Baby Blue Marine (1976) or ...
Airwolf
37. Philip Michael Thomas
Actor | Miami Vice
Philip Michael Thomas - the multi-talented performer best known as Detective Rico Tubbs in the iconic 1980s TV series Miami Vice (1984) - made his Broadway debut in 1971 in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play No Place to Be Somebody...and hasn't looked back since.
In a remarkable career that spans ...
Miami Vice
38. Ron Perlman
Actor | Hand of God
Ron Perlman is a classically-trained actor who has appeared in countless stage plays, feature films and television productions.
Ronald N. Perlman was born April 13, 1950 in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York. His mother, Dorothy (Rosen), is retired from the City Clerk's Office. His father, ...
Beauty and the Beast
39. Denzel Washington
Actor | Fences
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...
St. Elsewhere
40. Sam Elliott
Actor | A Star Is Born
Tall, thin, wiry Sam Elliott is the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Although his future wife, Katharine Ross co-starred in the film, the two did not meet until they filmed The ...
The Yellow Rose
41. Mark Harmon
Actor | NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Thomas Mark Harmon was born on September 2, 1951, in Burbank, California, to football player and broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress and artist Elyse Knox (née Kornbrath). Harmon played college football and found success as one of TV's hunkiest actors. While many of his roles have relied on good ...
Flamingo Road
42. Michael Landon
Actor | Little House on the Prairie
Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on Saturday, October 31st, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.
When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, ...
Highway to Heaven
43. Chad Allen
Actor | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Chad Allen was born on June 5, 1974 in Cerritos, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), TerrorVision (1986) and Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986).
Our House
44. Ken Wahl
Actor | Wiseguy
Ken Wahl is award-winning actor, most known for his Golden Globe starring role in the ground-breaking, critically acclaimed, CBS crime drama Wiseguy (1987). He entered acting without experience or aspirations. In 1979, Ken was set to be a walk-on in director Philip Kaufman's movie The Wanderers (...
Wiseguy
45. Gordon Thomson
Actor | Dynasty
Now enjoying his 50th anniversary as an actor, Gordon Thomson has steadily worked in theater, on television and in film, while he is co-starring in the new daytime drama web-series Winterthorne (2015), premiering in August 2015. His work has taken him to various locations around the globe including...
Dynasty
46. Timothy Busfield
Actor | The West Wing
Timothy Busfield is a producer, director and Emmy Award-winning actor with over 700 professional credits. As an actor he has been a series regular or recurring character in over 20 series including "For Life", "The Loudest Voice", "Almost Family", "Designated Survivor", "One Dollar", "...
ThirtySomething
47. Daniel Hugh Kelly
Actor | Star Trek: Insurrection
Daniel Hugh Kelly was born on August 10, 1952 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the middle of five children. His father was a police officer/detective and his mother was a social worker. He received his B.A. from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and pursued his M.F.A. on a full scholarship at ...
Hardcastle & McCormick
48. Marc Singer
Actor | The Beastmaster
A production of the William Shakespeare's "Richard III" with Sir Laurence Olivier that Marc's dad took him to see as a boy made a lasting impression, though he didn't start acting himself until a teacher recruited him to fill a suddenly-vacant role in his junior year of high school. However, as the ...
V
49. Howie Mandel
Producer | Bobby's World
The story goes that huggable, highly affable stand-up comedian Howie Mandel began his show biz career by chance while catching amateur night at the Comedy Store on the L.A. Sunset Strip during a vacation. Goaded on by friends to try out, a producer spotted him, hired him for an appearance on a ...
St. Elsewhere
50. John Beck
Actor | Rollerball
John Beck was born on January 28, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor, known for Rollerball (1975), Sleeper (1973) and Black Day Blue Night (1995). He has been married to Tina Carter since April 24, 1971. They have four children.
Flamingo Road
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