Dylan McDermott (born Mark Anthony McDermott; October 26, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the legal drama series The Practice, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
McDermott is also known for his roles in four seasons (first, second, eighth and ninth) of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Murder House, Asylum, Apocalypse, and 1984 portraying Ben Harmon, Johnny Morgan and Bruce, respectively. He also starred as narcotics crime lord Richard Wheatley on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime; Lt. Carter Shaw on the TNT series Dark Blue; in two short-lived CBS dramas, Hostages and Stalker; and in the 1994 remake of the film Miracle on 34th Street. In 2022, he joined FBI: Most Wanted as the new lead, replacing the departing Julian McMahon.
Early life
Mark Anthony McDermott was born on October 26, 1961, in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Diane and Richard McDermott. He has a younger sister, Robin. Diane was 15 and Richard was 17 when McDermott was born; by 1967, the couple had divorced, and Diane and her two children were living with her mother, Avis Marino. On February 9, 1967, Diane died of what was believed for decades to be an accidental gunshot wound. In 2012 it was revealed that it was not an accident but that she was murdered by her then gangster boyfriend, John Sponza, who had already passed away by that time.
McDermott and his sister were raised by their maternal grandmother Avis in Waterbury. As a teenager, he began taking trips to visit his biological father, who owned the West Fourth Street Saloon in Greenwich Village, New York. McDermott worked in his father's bar, serving drinks and breaking up fights. He also fast-talked his way into the Mudd Club and Studio 54.
McDermott was uncomfortable with himself as a teenager, saying he had a "Dorothy Hamill hairdo". He began imitating his acting heroes, such as Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart, adopting their demeanor. In 1979, McDermott graduated from Holy Cross High School in Waterbury.
McDermott's father's third wife was playwright Eve Ensler, who adopted McDermott when he was 15 and she was 23. She later divorced his father. Ensler, with whom McDermott has remained close, encouraged him to pursue an acting career, and began writing roles for him into her plays. After Ensler suffered a miscarriage, he took the name Dylan, the name planned for her unborn child. He then graduated from the Jesuit-run Fordham University with a BA in 1983, as well as studying under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.
