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 ''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 ...

'', Dane was cast as Mark Sloan on ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'' (2006–2012; 2021). Following this, he made appearances in films such as '' Marley & Me'' (2008), ''

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

'' (2010), and ''

Burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

'' (2010). Dane has since played Captain Tom Chandler in '' The Last Ship'' and Cal Jacobs in HBO's ''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

''.

Early life

Dane was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, to William Melvin. When Dane was 7 years old, his father died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dane has a younger brother. They were raised in their mother's Jewish faith, and Dane had a

bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

ceremony. He attended Sequoia High School in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

, from 1987 to 1990, and

San Mateo High School San Mateo High School is a National Blue Ribbon comprehensive four-year Public school (government funded), public high school in San Mateo, California, San Mateo, California, United States. It serves grades 9–12 and is one of the seven San Mate ...

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, from 1990 to 1991, where he graduated. Dane was an athlete in high school, playing on the boys' varsity water polo team, but pursued a career in acting after appearing in a school production of

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

's ''

All My Sons ''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan ...

''.

Career

In 1993, Dane moved to Los Angeles, where he played small roles in the

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series ''

Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television teen sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in prime time, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United ...

'', ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl X ...

'', ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American television sitcom created by Matt Williams (producer), Matt Williams that originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May ...

'', and '' Married... with Children'', among others. But in 2000, he was signed for a

recurring role Recurring means occurring repeatedly and can refer to several different things: Mathematics and finance *Recurring expense, an ongoing (continual) expenditure *Repeating decimal, or recurring decimal, a real number in the decimal numeral syste ...

in ''

Gideon's Crossing ''Gideon's Crossing'' is an American medical drama starring Andre Braugher. The series is loosely based on the experience of real-life physician Jerome Groopman and his book '' The Measure of Our Days''. It premiered on October 10, 2000, and r ...

'', and followed this with a two-season run as Jason Dean in ''

''. His made-for-television film credits included two biopics, '' Serving in Silence'' (1995) (about Margarethe Cammermeyer's experiences in the military), and '' Helter Skelter'' (2004), in which he portrayed Charles "Tex" Watson, a member of the

Manson family The Manson Family (known among its members as the Family) was a Intentional community, commune, gang, and cult led by criminal Charles Manson that was active in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group at its peak consisted of a ...

. Dane's first major feature film appearance was in '' The Basket''. He also appeared in '' Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane'', '' Sol Goode'', ''

Feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...

'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and starred in '' Open Water 2''. In 2005, Dane guested as Dr. Mark Sloan in "Yesterday", the eighteenth episode of the second season of the ABC medical drama ''

''. Positive audience reaction to the character led to Dane's becoming a regular in the show's third season. His first appearance in the season, in which he walked out of the bathroom soaking wet and wearing only a strategically placed towel, was labeled a "watercooler moment". Dane resigned from the show after the end of season 8 but appeared in the first two episodes of season 9. In 2021, Dane reappeared on the show for the first time in nine years since his character was killed off. In December 2006, he starred in the A&E television film '' Wedding Wars'' as the brother of a gay man (played by

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the ...

) who goes on strike in support of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. Dane, alongside

Patrick Dempsey Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor and racing driver best known for playing neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd in ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–15; 2020–21). He is also known for his leading man romantic film roles, such ...

, appeared in the same big-screen project, the 2010 romantic comedy ''

''. The

Garry Marshall Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American screenwriter, director, producer and actor. Marshall began his career in the 1960s as a writer for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' until he developed the T ...

-directed film followed five interconnecting stories about Los Angelenos anticipating (or in some cases dreading) the holiday. In October 2012, Dane joined the main cast of the

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...

-produced

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

drama series '' The Last Ship''. Dane starred as Tom Chandler, and the show ran from 2014 to 2018. Dane stars as Cal Jacobs in ''

'', which premiered in 2019. In 2023, he described his experience on being in a show like ''Euphoria'' where he had to regularly wear a

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (Congenital, congenital disord ...

penis. He stated, "Those scenes are very difficult to shoot".

Personal life

Dane married actress Rebecca Gayheart on October 29, 2004. They have two daughters together. In February 2018, Gayheart filed for divorce from Dane after 14 years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences". On March 7, 2025, Gayheart reportedly filed to request a dismissal of the divorce petition against Dane after 7 years of separation. In 2009, Dane made headlines when he was in a video that featured him, his wife and Kari Ann Peniche nude and using drugs. In June 2011, Dane entered a California treatment center to recover from a dependency on prescription drugs he had developed after suffering a sports injury. In April 2017, ''The Last Ship'' halted production through

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

to allow Dane to deal with the depression he was battling. In April 2025, Dane announced his diagnosis of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

(ALS). He started experiencing symptoms in early 2024; by June 2025 he had completely lost function of his right arm/hand.Eric Dane Tears Up Discussing ALS Diagnosis, Says He Only Has ‘One Functioning Arm’: ‘My Right Side Has Completely Stopped Working’
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Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Official Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dane, Eric 1972 births 21st-century American Jews Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American people of Russian descent American male film actors American male television actors Jewish American male actors Male actors from San Francisco San Mateo High School alumni Sequoia High School (Redwood City, California) alumni People with motor neuron disease