Anthony Edwards

'Anthony Edwards' (qv) was born in Santa Barbara, California, on July 19, 1962, to a well-blended family. He is the youngest of five children, and the son of Erika Kem (Weber), a landscape painter and artist, and Peter Edwards, an architect. His mother was of German descent, and his father was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Spanish-Mexican ancestry.Edwards's parents encouraged him to act at age 16, which eventually led him to attending a summer workshop in London before graduating from high school. Returning to the United States, Edwards worked in commercials, jobs that helped him pay his education at The University of Southern California, where he studied acting. However, he dropped out of college and, in that same year, he had a small role in the movie _Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)_ (qv), starring 'Sean Penn' (qv). The movie was a box office smash and Edwards was looking forward to doing more films. His first movie role was that of teen-aged "John Muldowney" in _Heart Like a Wheel (1983)_ (qv) and his first starring role as nerdy "Gilbert Lowell", in _Revenge of the Nerds (1984)_ (qv).Edwards didn't need to worry about being typecast as a socially-challenged loser. After starring in _The Sure Thing (1985)_ (qv) and _Gotcha! (1985)_ (qv), he landed another big-time successful movie _Top Gun (1986)_ (qv), in which he played 'Tom Cruise' (qv)'s ill-fated easy-going navigator/best friend, Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. As Cruise rode _Top Gun (1986)_ (qv) into the Hollywood stratosphere, Edwards also found his flight to stardom, at the same time. After _Top Gun (1986)_ (qv), he reprised his role as Gilbert in the movie _Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987)_ (qv), before he starred in _Summer Heat (1987)_ (qv). He also starred in _Mr. North (1988)_ (qv), and _Miracle Mile (1988)_ (qv), although they weren't too successful.Edwards began working in TV movies and continued to star in more box office movies such as _Hawks (1988)_ (qv), _How I Got Into College (1989)_ (qv), _Downtown (1990)_ (qv), _Pet Sematary II (1992)_ (qv), _Landslide (1992)_ (qv) and _Delta Heat (1992)_ (qv). The '90s won Edwards his best reviews for his recurring role of the quirky "bubble man" Mike Monroe on the popular television series _Northern Exposure (1990)_ (qv). He was nominated for a Cable Ace Award in HBO's _Sexual Healing (1993)_ (qv), and the following year, he starred in _Charlie's Ghost Story (1995)_ (qv), before he played law clerk "Clint Von Hooser" in the 'John Grisham' (qv) movie _The Client (1994)_ (qv). This led to his most prominent role, as easy-going charismatic physician "Dr. Mark Greene" on the very popular TV series _ER (1994)_ (qv).For his work on _ER (1994)_ (qv), he was nominated for an Emmy Award four times For Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, but has never won. However, he has won a Golden Globe Award For Best Performance by an Actor-in-a-TV-Series, and was nominated four times, and also has two Screen Actor's Guild 'Awards' (qv). Prior to playing Dr. Greene, he also played bank breaker turned cold-blooded killer, "Dick Hickock" in the TV movie remake of 'Truman Capote' (qv)'s _In Cold Blood (1996)_ (qv), which was the best TV movie of the 1996-97 season. During Edwards' hiatus on _ER (1994)_ (qv), he went back to the box office circuit to star and to produce the movie _Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1999)_ (qv), a complex movie which wasn't a big hit. Edwards, once again, returned to the set of _ER (1994)_ (qv), and this time, he signed up for a salary that almost no actor could be paid, so his decision was to stay on the show for 3 more years and possibly to save the money in order to spend a lot of family time and to work on directing later.His first big roles after _ER (1994)_ (qv) were that of "Brains" in the movie _Thunderbirds (2004)_ (qv), and as "Jim Paretta" in _The Forgotten (2004)_ (qv). In the many years that he starred on _ER (1994)_ (qv), that show gave him more success in working on and off the set. Also, it gave him a spiritual blessing that so many popular actors have had over the years.::Gary Richard Collins II (hugsarealwaysinorder@yahoo.com)