Adrian Pasdar (born April 30, 1965) is an American film, television, and voice actor. He is known for his roles in '' Profit'', '' Near Dark'', ''

Carlito's Way ''Carlito's Way'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels '' Carlito's Way'' (1975) and '' After Hours'' (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp. It stars Al Pac ...

'', ''

Mysterious Ways Mysterious Ways may refer to: * "Mysterious Ways" (song), a song by U2 from the 1991 album ''Achtung Baby'' * ''Mysterious Ways'' (TV series), science-fiction television series which ran from 2000 to 2002 *''Mysterious Ways'', a 1990 album by Steve ...

'', '' Heroes'' and as Glenn Talbot on '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.''. Additionally, he directed the feature film ''

Cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...

''. He is also the voice of

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The cha ...

in '' Marvel Anime'', as well as in the animated series '' Ultimate Spider-Man'' and '' Avengers Assemble''. He also played district attorney Alec Rybak on '' The Lying Game''. He has appeared on the American TV drama '' Grand Hotel'' as Felix.

Early years

Pasdar was born in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

. His father, Homayoon Pasdar ( fa, هومایون پاسدار; born 1935), was an Iranian immigrant who was a cardiac surgeon, with a practice near Philadelphia. His mother, Rosemarie Sbresny, worked as a travel agent. Source notes that some sources gives birth year as 1967. He graduated from Marple Newtown High School, where he played football and studied acting. His sister, Anamarie Pasdar, is a theatrical artistic director and producer.

Career

Early career

Pasdar turned his attention to campus stage productions and rediscovered an early interest in writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group, People's Light and Theatre Company. There, he worked on sound and lighting as part of the stage crew responsible for set construction. He had a painful accident on the set, cutting off the end of his left thumb. His resulting medical compensation paid for attendance at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York City. Pasdar was also selected to play a bit part as a police officer in the

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) an ...

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

for their song " Goodbye Earl". The music video won both the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country musi ...

and the Country Music Association's Video of the Year Awards in 2000.

Film

At the age of 19, he auditioned for a role in '' Top Gun''. Director Tony Scott was so impressed that he wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in '' Solarbabies'' (1986), ''

Streets of Gold ''Streets of Gold'' is the third studio album by American electronic music duo 3OH!3. It was released on June 29, 2010 in the United States and July 19, 2010 in the United Kingdom. The album debuted at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, s ...

'' (1986), and Kathryn Bigelow's cult vampire movie '' Near Dark'' (1987), with Pasdar in the lead role of Caleb Colton. His other major roles include ''Vital Signs'' (1990). Pasdar got his biggest break in movies, when he starred as a beautiful woman opposite

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

in the British movie '' Just Like a Woman''. In 1992, he left Hollywood and returned to New York, working as a cashier for room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as Frankie in Brian De Palma's ''Carlito's Way'' (1993). Adrian Pasdar wrote and directed the short film ''Beyond Belief'' and directed his first feature film, the

art-house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

neo-noir ''Cement'', a contemporary retelling of '' Othello'', in 1999. The $1.7 million independent feature, which won Best Picture awards on the festival circuit, starred Chris Penn, Jeffrey Wright, Sherilyn Fenn, and Henry Czerny, and was written by '' Farscape'' screenwriter Justin Monjo. "I've used every ounce of energy and every drop of money I had to make ''Cement''," Pasdar said.

Television

Pasdar's major break into television came in 1996, when he was cast as the title character on the Fox series '' Profit''. He also guest-starred in the two-hour season finale of the fourth season of '' Touched by an Angel''. From 2000 to 2002, Pasdar played the lead role of anthropology Professor Declan Dunn in the spooky cult drama series ''

'' on PAX. Pasdar played David McClaren in the final two seasons of the CBS drama ''

Judging Amy ''Judging Amy'' is an American legal drama television series that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character (Brenneman) is a judge who serves in a ...

'' from 2003 through 2005. In 2006, he had a high-profile guest role as Gabrielle Solis's sleazy lawyer in '' Desperate Housewives''. He starred as

Nathan Petrelli ''Heroes'' is an American superhero drama television series created by Tim Kring that aired on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006, to February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover that they have supe ...

in the NBC superhero drama ''Heroes''. Pasdar based his mysterious character on "the most morally liquid characters" that he's encountered in his life. The character is not based on one particular political figure, but on a melange of different ones, both good and bad. Pasdar's character was killed off in an episode that aired November 30, 2009. Pasdar voices Hawkeye in the animated series '' The Super Hero Squad Show'' and voiced

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

in the '' Black Panther'' animated series. Having also voiced

in the English dub of the ''

'' anime series, Pasdar reprised the role in '' Marvel's Avengers Assemble'' (seasons 1–3), '' Ultimate Spider-Man'', and ''

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. ''Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'' is an American animated television series based on the superhero character by Marvel Comics. The series premiered on August 11, 2013, on Disney XD as part of the ''Marvel Universe'' block, and ended on June 2 ...

''. Pasdar also played a role on '' The Lying Game'' as Alec Rybak, a corrupt district attorney. From 2014 to 2018, he played the recurring role of Glenn Talbot on the Marvel TV series ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', and from 2016 to 2017, recurred as Nolan Burgess on the series ''

Colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

''. He also starred in the pilot of the Amazon Studios series '' The After''. He also portrays the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

character Morgan Edge in season 3 of

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

's '' Supergirl''.

Personal life

Pasdar married musician Natalie Maines of the

on June 24, 2000. They have two sons, born in 2001 and 2004. On July 5, 2017, Maines announced that she and Pasdar were divorcing after 17 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized on December 19, 2019. The divorce took over two years as Pasdar contested the validity of a pre-nuptial agreement and attempted to plead poverty to the court to obtain spousal support, despite reporting over $400,000 in income in 2018, according to court documents. Maines said that the Chicks' 2020 album ''Gaslighter'' includes songs with deeply personal themes, written during the divorce. The album surrounds the topic of a husband gaslighting and cheating on his wife, ending with the dissolution of the marriage. Pasdar is a guitarist for charity rock band

Band from TV Band from TV is a charity cover band whose members are all actors from American television series. They donate the proceeds of their performances and recordings to the charities of their choice. Band history Actor Greg Grunberg had the idea f ...

. Part of the proceeds from the band's concerts go to his nominated charity, the Rush Epilepsy Center.

Awards and nominations

Acting *2009: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television, '' Heroes Directing *2000: AngelCiti film festival: Audience Award, ''Cement'' Other *2009 (ensemble): Hollywood Note Foundation'
Change the World Awards
Humanitarian Award of Inspiration: ''Band From TV''

Filmography

Director

Audiobook narration

In 2010, Pasdar narrated an audiobook edition of the cult novel ''Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room'' by the British writer Lee Henshaw. It was released in early 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasdar, Adrian 1965 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of German descent American people of Iranian descent Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni Male actors from Massachusetts People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts University of Florida alumni 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors