Brian McNamara

'Brian McNamara' (qv) is a character actor, director and producer who has made over 100 TV and film appearances. His first major role was in the 'Garry Marshall' (qv) comedy drama _The Flamingo Kid (1984)_ (qv) with 'Matt Dillon' (qv). He then went on to star opposite 'Ally Sheedy' (qv) and 'Steve Guttenberg' (qv) in the 'John Badham' (qv) science fiction project _Short Circuit (1986)_ (qv), which performed well at the box office. The following year he put in a solid lead performance as Dean Karny in the thriller _Billionaire Boys Club (1987)_ (qv): the film was based on an actual event and co-starred 'Judd Nelson' (qv) and 'John Stockwell' (qv).Brian switched easily into slapstick comedy next with a supporting role in _Caddyshack II (1988)_ (qv), where he shared the screen with veteran comedians 'Dan Aykroyd' (qv), 'Chevy Chase' (qv), and 'Jackie Mason' (qv). He helped 'Jeff Daniels' (qv) and 'John Goodman' (qv) battle grossly mutated spiders in the 'Frank Marshall' (qv) horror comedy _Arachnophobia (1990)_ (qv), and shined in the romantic comedy _Mystery Date (1991)_ (qv) opposite 'Ethan Hawke' (qv) and 'Teri Polo' (qv).Since then he has maintained a steady career in film - most notably a great performance in the independent film _The Legend of Tillamook's Gold (2006)_ (qv) and has notched up countless appearances in quality TV shows like_The O.C. (2003)_ (qv), _Monk (2002)_ (qv), _Ghost Whisperer (2005)_ (qv), a lead role in _Manhattan, AZ (2000)_ (qv) and, more recently, starred in _Army Wives (2007)_ (qv).Brian made his directorial debut with the thriller _Lost Signal (2006)_ (qv), which he also starred in. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance in _Billionaire Boys Club (1987)_ (qv).::Matt Lee-Williams