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Rob Lowe Profile |
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Birth Date: March 17, 1964
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Birth Place: Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
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Birth Name: Robert Hepler Lowe
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Height: 5'11"
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Biography |
Robert Hepler Lowe born March 17, 1964) is an American
actor. He became famous after appearing in a string of
popular 1980s movies that included other members of the Brat
Pack, especially St. Elmo's Fire. Lowe is also known for his
role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing.
Lowe was born in Charlottesville, Virginia to Charles Lowe,
a lawyer, and Barbara Hepler, a teacher; the two divorced
when Lowe was young and have since re-married to others. He
has a brother, actor Chad Lowe, and two step-siblings. Lowe
was baptized into the Episcopalian religion, though his
maternal grandparents were Methodists. He was raised in a
"traditional midwestern setting" in Dayton, Ohio and on the
Westside of Los Angeles, attending Santa Monica High School,
where one of his classmates was fellow Brat-Packer Emilio
Estevez. He was voted "most spirited" in high school.
Lowe's early roles included such hit films as The Outsiders,
St. Elmo's Fire, and About Last Night. Lowe was one of the
most popular members of the Brat Pack, partially because of
his good looks, which made him a popular actor with many.
Lowe is perhaps best known for playing Sam Seaborn in the
television series The West Wing from 1999-2003. When the
show premiered, Seaborn was considered the lead, and the
pilot centered on the character. But the acclaimed cast —
including Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer,
Bradley Whitford, Martin Sheen (whose President Bartlet was
initially scripted as a small role) and Stockard Channing
(whose First Lady was initially scripted as a guest role) —
soon made the show into the hottest ensemble drama on TV,
and Sam Seaborn could no longer be considered the lead
character.
While he reluctantly accepted his demotion, Lowe and series
creator Aaron Sorkin soon found themselves at odds over the
network's meddling with the show, most notably the network
demanding changes in the Sam Seaborn character. Eventually,
Lowe left the series, not long before Sorkin and
director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme unceremoniously
quit over a dispute with NBC - a move which saw the show's
style change greatly, resulting in decreased ratings and
mostly negative reactions from critics and fans. During the
final season of The West Wing, Lowe returned to his role of
Sam Seaborn, appearing in two of the final four episodes.
After leaving the show, Lowe was star and executive producer
of a failed NBC drama, The Lyon's Den (2003). In 2004, he
tried again in a series entitled Dr. Vegas, but it also was
quickly cancelled. Also during 2004, Lowe participated in a
photo shoot by the renown fashion photagrapher Ben Fink
Shapiro. In 2005, he starred as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee in
a London West End production of Sorkin's play A Few Good
Men, the first time the two had worked together since The
West Wing. Although Lowe had expressed unhappiness about his
decreased role on that show at the time of his departure, he
has now repeatedly said that any animosity between them is
over and that he was pleased to be working once more with
Sorkin, whose talents as a writer Lowe highly regards. Lowe
passed on the role of Dr. Derek Shepard of Grey's Anatomy,
which eventually went to Patrick Dempsey.
In 2006, it was announced that Lowe would join the cast of
Brothers & Sisters for a guest run of several episodes.
In June, 2006 he was the guest host for an episode in the
third series of The Friday Night Project for the United
Kingdom's Channel 4.
Lowe's career in Hollywood was on the fast track until 1988,
when Lowe was caught in a sex scandal involving him
videotaping himself having sex with two women, one of whom
was only sixteen, in Atlanta while attending the 1988
Democratic National Convention. Lowe has asserted that he
did not know that the second girl was underaged (a fact
later confirmed, as the two had met at a bar, which the girl
entered by lying about her age).
Further complicating the issue was another part of the same
tape that leaked at the time, starring Lowe, a young
American model called "Jennifer", and a young friend called
"Justin Morris" having a three-way in a hotel room in Paris.
This part of the original tape was made commercially
available and it was sold as one of the first commercially
available "celebrity sex tape", lending a black eye towards
Rob Lowe's public image.
Rob Lowe's career was damaged by the scandal, as the actor
entered a rehabilitation clinic for alcohol and sex
addiction. As the scandal faded from the public's memory,
Lowe's career rebounded and Lowe himself has mocked his own
irresponsible behavior during two post-scandal appearances
as host of Saturday Night Live. In one appearance, Rob
appeared in a "Church Lady" sketch, where in exchange for
the Church Lady not mentioning the sex tape scandal during
their interview, Lowe would allow the Church Lady to spank
him on live TV. At the end of the sketch, when it comes time
for Rob's spanking, Rob takes a great deal of sexual
pleasure from being spanked, much to the Church Lady's
horror as she starts screaming for Satan to leave Rob Lowe's
butt. "I love to be spanked!" Rob Lowe says to reporters. "I
like the feeling of having a warm butt".
Lowe's former sister-in-law is two time Academy Award
winning actress Hilary Swank, who was married to his
brother. Lowe makes his home with his wife Sheryl Berkoff
and two children, Edward Matthew Lowe (b. 1993) and John
Owen Lowe (b. 1995), in Montecito, California.
Lowe was the first male spokesperson for the 2000 Lee
National Denim Day fundraiser which raises millions of
dollars for breast cancer research and education. His
grandmother and great-grandmother both suffered from breast
cancer, and his mother succumbed to the disease in late
2003.
Lowe is a founder of the Homeowner's Defense Fund, a Santa
Barbara County non-profit, non-partisan organization
dedicated to local control of land use planning and
transparency in government. The average price of tract homes
in Santa Barbara in early 2006 is $1,500,000, which has
motivated some to propose denser housing on existing lots.
At the same time Lowe opposes new housing for others, he has
sought to build a very large mansion for himself at 700
Picacho Lane in Montecito. Lowe's protest over the
appearance of the address in the Santa Barbara News-Press
precipitated a mass resignation of senior employees at that
newspaper on July 6, 2006. |
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Other Information |
Voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the World 2000
by People Magazine
Nominated for a supporting Golden Globe award for his 1987
performance as a retarded youth in Square Dance (1987)
Brother of actor Chad Lowe
He appeared in John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)"
music video.
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1984" in
John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36.
Is deaf in his right ear.
Brother-in-law of Oscar award winning actress Hilary Swank.
Lost out for the role in Titanic (1997) which went to Billy
Zane.
Father of Edward Matthew Lowe (b. 1993) and John Owen Lowe
(b. 1995)
Impersonated Robert Wagner's voice for the young Number Two
in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).
Mike Myers is known to have resurrected Rob's acting career.
He and Rob became close friends while filming Wayne's World
(1992). Myers gave him an unbilled role in Austin Powers:
International Man of Mystery (1997) (although the scene was
deleted in editing) and gave him a role as the young Number
Two in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).
August 2002 - has quit the series "The West Wing" (1999).
Reports vary as to why exactly, but it seems to have been a
combination of salary dispute and screen-time dispute (the
character he plays is getting less focus on the show in more
recent episodes). He will appear in the first 16 episodes of
the next season, though.
His wife, Sheryl Berkoff, is a make-up artist.
Helped in the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor
of California in 2003.
Has the dubious distinction of having left a successful TV
series ("The West Wing" (1999)), to having two failed TV
series within a year ("The Lyon's Den" (2003), "Dr. Vegas"
(2004)), both of which were canceled before running their
full season.
Was one of the nine original members of the 1980s "brat
pack", along with Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, Anthony
Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald,
Emilio Estevez and Andrew McCarthy.
One of the select few to be nominated for and subsequently
"win" a Razzie Award and then not get another nomination
again. Lowe "won" the 1986 Worst Supporting Actor Razzie for
his performance in St. Elmo's Fire (1985).
Rob has a younger brother, Justin, from his father's second
marriage.
Was considered for the role of Dr. Derek Shepard on Grey's
Anatomy. |
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