Sean Maher (born April 16, 1975) is an American
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...
. He is known for his portrayal of
Simon Tam in the
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
series ''
Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' and follow-up movie ''
Serenity''.
Early life
Maher was born in
Pleasantville, New York
Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary campu ...
to Joseph and Margaret Maher. After graduating from
Byram Hills High School
Byram Hills High School (BHHS) is a four-year co-educational public secondary school located in Armonk, New York, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Byram Hills Central School District, and serves students from the towns of ...
, Maher trained at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
where he earned his
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
degree in 1997. He acted on
stage in several productions, including ''
Yerma
''Yerma'' is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1934 and first performed that same year. García Lorca describes the play as "a tragic poem." The play tells the story of a childless woman living in rural ...
'' and ''
Into the Woods
''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...
''.
Career
Maher starred as the title character, a rookie police officer, on the short-lived TV series ''
Ryan Caulfield: Year One''. In 2000 he played one of the main characters on the short-lived (dropped after seven episodes)
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
series ''
The $treet
''The Street'' (stylized as ''The $treet'') is an American drama television series that aired on Fox from November 1 to December 13, 2000. Created by Jeff Rake and Darren Star, only 12 episodes were produced, and the series was pulled from U.S. ...
'', and he has also appeared on the television series ''
Party of Five
''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by ...
'' (as Adam Matthews) and on ''
CSI: Miami''.
He reprised his role from ''
Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' in the film ''
Serenity'' (2005). Maher was also cast as a chief resident in a hospital on the new series ''Halley's Comet''. He appeared in the 2005 Lifetime network movie ''
The Dive From Clausen's Pier'' as
Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Trachtenberg (; born October 11, 1985) is an American actress and model. Trachtenberg began her career at age three, appearing in a number of commercials, films, and television series as a child. Her starring role on the Nickelodeon tel ...
's new love interest. He also appeared as
Brian Piccolo
Louis Brian Piccolo (October 31, 1943 – June 16, 1970) was an American professional football player, a halfback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) for four years. He died at age 26 from embryonal cell carcinoma, an ...
in the 2001 remake of ''
Brian's Song
''Brian's Song'' is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro in 1965, told through his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers ...
''.
In 2006, he appeared in the television movie ''
Wedding Wars''. After taking a brief break from acting, Maher came back to TV in 2009 as a guest star in
Lifetime Television
Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared tow ...
's pilot episode of ''
Drop Dead Diva
''Drop Dead Diva'' is an American legal comedy-drama/fantasy television series that aired on Lifetime from July 12, 2009, to June 22, 2014. The series was created by Josh Berman and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It stars Brooke Elliot ...
'', followed by 2010 guest appearances in the second season of ''
The Mentalist
''The Mentalist'' is an American drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show f ...
'' (CBS), the first season of ''
Human Target
The Human Target is the name of two fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first is Fred Venable, while the second is private investigator and bodyguard Christopher Chance who assumes the identities of clients tar ...
'' (FOX) and the second season of ''
Warehouse 13
''Warehouse 13'' is an American science fiction television series that originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network, and was executive produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions. Described ...
'' (on
Syfy).
In 2011 Maher landed a role in the television series ''
The Playboy Club
''The Playboy Club'' is an American historical crime drama television series that aired on NBC from September 19 to October 3, 2011. Set in 1961, the series centers on the employees (known as Bunnies) of the original Playboy Club operating in Ch ...
''. He played Sean, a closeted gay man who is in a sham marriage with a closeted lesbian
Playboy Bunny
A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset ...
. He appeared in eight episodes, in 2011 and 2012, in another series, ''
Make It or Break It'', as the character Marcus. He played the villainous Don John in
Joss Whedon's 2012 adaptation of ''
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
''.
In 2014, Maher starred as
Dick Grayson
Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman and Teen Titans. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in ''Detective Com ...
/
Nightwing
Nightwing is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character has appeared in various incarnations; the identity was adopted by Dick Grayson when he left his role as Batman's vigilante partner Robin.
Althoug ...
in ''Son of Batman'', a direct-to-video animated film. It is part of the
DC Universe Animated Original Movies
The DC Universe Animated Original Movies (DCUAOM; also known as DC Universe Original Movies or DC Universe Movies or DC Animated Movies) are a series of American direct-to-video superhero animated films based on the DC Comics characters and st ...
. This was followed by the same role in ''
Justice League vs. Teen Titans
''Justice League vs. Teen Titans'' is a 2016 American animated superhero film directed by Sam Liu from a screenplay by Alan Burnett and Bryan Q. Miller. It is the 25th film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and the seventh film in the ...
'' and ''
Batman: Bad Blood'' in 2016 and ''
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract'' in 2017.
Personal life
Maher publicly
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as gay in 2011, using his role as a closeted gay man on ''The Playboy Club'' as a platform.
He and his husband Paul have two adopted children: a daughter, Sophia, and a son, Liam.
Following the birth of their daughter in 2007, Maher took two years off from acting to be a
stay-at-home dad
A stay-at-home dad (alternatively, full-time father, stay-at-home father, house dad, househusband, or house-spouse) is a father who is the main caregiver of the children and is generally the homemaker of the household. The female equivalent is ...
.
Filmography
Film
Television
Other media
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maher, Sean
1975 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Male actors from New York (state)
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American gay actors
LGBT people from New York (state)
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
People from Pleasantville, New York