Michael John Bergin (born March 18, 1969) is an American real estate agent and former model and actor.

Early life

Born in

Naugatuck, Connecticut Naugatuck is a consolidated borough and town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town spans both sides of the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury and includes the communities of Union City on the east side of the river, whic ...

, Bergin attended the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. He began modeling while in college.

Career

Bergin is perhaps best known as

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, thre ...

's successor in

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, a ...

's racy series of black-and-white

underwear Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

ads. In addition to his high-profile role as the "spokesbody" for Calvin Klein, Bergin has walked the runways of New York City, Paris and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

for Sonia Rykiel, Valentino,

, Gianfranco Ferré,

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer. He first gained notoriety working for Cerruti and then for many others, including Allegri, Bagutta and Hilton. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expand ...

, Yves Saint Laurent and

Donna Karan Donna Karan (, born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as "DK", is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabi ...

and was the exclusive model for Claiborne for Men, a division of Liz Claiborne, Inc., for over three years. He has also appeared in commercials and print advertisements for

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toas ...

, Bacardi Rum,

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, s ...

, Maybelline,

Coty Coty may refer to: *Coty, Inc., an American beauty products manufacturer *Coty Award, the Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (1943-1984) by Coty, Inc. *COTY, abbreviation for Car of the Year awards People * François Coty (1874–1934), perfum ...

, Valentino, Perry Ellis, and Liz Claiborne. Bergin is signed to

Wilhelmina Models Wilhelmina International Inc. (NASDAQ: WHLM), formerly Wilhelmina Models, is a full service modeling and talent agency headquartered in New York City, United States. The company also has offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Founded in 1 ...

in New York City, and New York Model Management. Apart from the fashion industry, Bergin also ventured into acting, playing the character J.D. Darius on '' Baywatch'' and later '' Baywatch: Hawaii ''for 88 episodes from 1997 to 2001, and starring as the same character in the made-for-TV Film '' Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding'' in 2003. In 2006, he appeared on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's sci-fi celeb reality show '' Celebrity Paranormal Project''. Bergin later launched his own brand of men's underwear. Bergin now works as a real estate agent in Beverly Hills.

Personal life

In the early 1990s, Bergin met Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, a

publicist, whom he dated seriously, despite her burgeoning relationship with

John F. Kennedy, Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American lawyer, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kenn ...

, whom she later married in September 1996. Kennedy and Bessette-Kennedy died in a

plane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

in July 1999. In early 2004, Bergin published a book about his relationship with Bessette, ''The Other Man,'' claiming that they continued a sexual affair during the time Bessette was dating Kennedy and during their marriage. On September 24, 2004, Bergin married makeup artist Joy Tilk with whom he has two children (Jesse b. October 8, 2000; Alana b. February 16, 2004).

Philanthropy

Bergin has worked with the anti-drug children's program

D.A.R.E. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (stylized as D.A.R.E.) is an education program that seeks to prevent use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 as a joint initiative of then-LAPD ch ...

as a national spokesperson, and has lent his name, time, and image to numerous AIDS charities.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergin, Michael 1969 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Living people Male actors from Connecticut Male models from Connecticut American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male television actors Actors from Waterbury, Connecticut University of Connecticut alumni People from Naugatuck, Connecticut