Paul Balthazar Getty (; born January 22, 1975) is an American actor and musician, and a member of the

Getty family The Getty family of the United States began with George Getty, George Franklin Getty and his son J. Paul Getty, Jean Paul Getty as their patriarchs. In the 20th century, they were heavily involved in the petroleum industry and in mass media. T ...

. His acting debut was in ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that led to ...

'' (1990) as Ralph. He went on to appear in '' Lost Highway'' (1997) and had a recurring role as Richard Montana in ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...

'' (2003–04), Thomas Grace on the American action drama '' Alias'' (2005–06), and Tommy Walker on the American drama '' Brothers & Sisters'' (2006–11). As a musician, Getty is a member of the indie rock/electronic band Ringside, and is the producer for rap duo The Wow.

Early life

Paul Balthazar Getty was born January 22, 1975, in Tarzana, California, and brought up in San Francisco before being educated in the United Kingdom at

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School ( ) is an elite co-educational Private school (United Kingdom), private school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. Two generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Prince Philip, Duke of Ed ...

, Scotland. He was born to father John Paul Getty III and is a descendant of grandfather Sir John Paul Getty and great-grandfather J. Paul Getty, founder of

Getty Oil Getty Oil Company was an American oil marketing company with its origins as part of the large integrated oil company founded by J. Paul Getty. They went defunct in 2012. History J. Paul Getty incorporated Getty Oil in 1942. He had previously ...

, and at one time one of the richest men in the world, namesake for the Getty Center museum. His mother, Gisela Getty (née Schmidt), is a German-born professional photographer and documentary filmmaker. His parents divorced in 1993. Balthazar's half-sister, Anna Getty (née Zacher) is his mother's daughter and was adopted by Getty III during their marriage.

Film career

Getty began his acting career at age 12 in 1987. He auditioned for the lead role in the movie ''

'' after being spotted by a casting director Robin Joy Allan, in his art class at school. During the 1990s and early 2000s, he appeared in the films '' Young Guns II'', ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims ...

'', ''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...

'', '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', '' White Squall'', '' Lost Highway'', '' Big City Blues'', '' The Center of the World'', '' Deuces Wild'', '' Ladder 49'', ''

Numb3rs ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that originally aired on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, with a total of six seasons consisting of 118 episodes. The series was created by Nico ...

'', '' Feast'', and the television miniseries ''

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

''. Getty guest-starred on the television series ''

'' as Richard Montana, a male witch romantically linked with Paige Matthews. He appeared in the fifth season of the television show '' Alias'' as Agent Thomas Grace. He starred, alongside ''Alias'' costar Ron Rifkin, in the ABC prime time drama '' Brothers & Sisters'', which first aired in September 2006. Getty played the role of Thomas "Tommy" Walker, third-born of the five Walker siblings. In late 2008, media reports indicated Getty's contract as a full-time series regular in ''Brothers & Sisters'' would not be renewed due, in part, to budgetary and storyline considerations. In the Season 4 premiere, Getty was still listed in the principal cast, but he did not appear. Getty made his return to the series in the sixth episode of Season 4. Although he no longer appeared in every episode, he continued to make appearances on the show until its cancellation.

Music career

Getty started deejaying and making electronic music at age 15. He is a member of the indie rock/electronic band Ringside, and is the producer for rap duo The Wow. In 2013, he operated a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

called Purplehaus Records. He started Purplehaus Productions in the Fairfax and Melrose district in Los Angeles.

Personal life

In 2000, Getty married fashion designer Rosetta Millington. They have five children: three daughters, named Grace, Violet Leigh, and June Catherine; and sons Cassius Paul and Wolfgang Israel. Cassius's godfather is Getty's close friend and fellow actor

Eric Dane Eric William Dane (born November 9, 1972) is an American actor. After multiple television roles in the 1990s and 2000s, which included his recurring role as Jason Dean in ''Charmed'', Dane was cast as Mark Sloan (Grey's Anatomy), Mark Sloan on ' ...

. Getty had a highly publicized affair with English actress Sienna Miller in 2008, but later reconciled with his wife.

Social initiatives

Getty is on the board of directors for The Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organization providing daily meals to township school students in

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Getty, Balthazar 1975 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Film producers from California American indie rock musicians American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors American people of English descent American people of German descent American people of Scotch-Irish descent

Balthazar Balthazar, Balthasar, Baltasar, or Baltazar may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Balthazar (novel), ''Balthazar'' (novel), by Lawrence Durrell, 1958 * ''Balthasar'', an 1889 book by Anatole France * ''Professor Balthazar'', a Croatian a ...

Living people Male actors from San Francisco People educated at Gordonstoun People from Tarzana, Los Angeles