Tom Berenger is an American television and motion picture actor and industrial lighting
designer.
Early life Berenger was born to an Irish Catholic family
in Chicago as Thomas Michael Moore.
His father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times and traveling salesman.
Berenger has a sister, Susan.
Moore selected "Berenger" as his professional name after a school friend, after he was forced
to change his surname professionally as there was already a "Tom Moore" in the Actors' Equity
Association.
He graduated in 1967 from Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois.
He studied journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri but decided
to seek an acting career following his graduation.
He established the Tom Berenger Acting Scholarship Fund in 1988 to award theatre students for
excellence in performance.
In 1972 Tom was a Flight Attendant with Eastern Airlines based in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He transferred to New York in 1973.
He worked first in regional theatre and then moved to New York City in the 1970s.
Career Berenger worked in soap operas and had a starring
role as lawyer Tim Siegel on One Life to Live.
His feature film debut was the lead in Rush It, an independent film now mostly forgotten
except for those of its cast members who went on to stardom.
In 1977, Berenger had a small but noticeable role as a murderer in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
In 1978, he had a starring role in In Praise of Older Women for Avco-Embassy Pictures.
In 1979, he played Butch Cassidy in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, a role he got
in part because of his resemblance to Paul Newman, who played the character in Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
These early roles highlighted Berenger's ability to play both villains and heroes.
Berenger starred in several significant films in the 1980s, including The Big Chill, Platoon,
Someone to Watch Over Me, and Major League.
In 1986, he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Staff Sergeant Barnes
in Platoon.
In the mid-1990s he was most recognizable in his role from the movie Sniper.
Other notable films from that period in which he was featured include Born on the Fourth
of July, Shattered, Sliver, and Chasers.
It has been recorded that Berenger himself has said that his favorite movie of those
he had starred in was the 1993 film Gettysburg, where he played the role of General James
Longstreet.
He has said he has seen Gettysburg more than any other of his starring movies.
Berenger co-produced the 1997 miniseries Rough Riders, also starring as Theodore Roosevelt.
In more recent years, Berenger has continued to have an active acting career in film and
television, although often at a supporting level.
His most notable television appearance was on Cheers in its last season as Rebecca Howe's
blue collar-plumber love interest, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding
Guest Actor in a Comedy Series".
He also began a career as a producer in the 1990s.
Berenger was also seen on the box art and promotional content for Novalogic's Delta
Force: Black Hawk Down, as his roles in Sniper 2 and Sniper 3 were very similar to what was
chosen for the game's artwork.
He starred in the mini-series version of Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes, as a celebrated
author who realizes the warped painting he recently purchased is alive with illustrations
of impending doom for him in "The Road Virus Heads North".
Berenger stars opposite Armand Assante and Busta Rhymes in the dramatic thriller Breaking
Point, which had a limited release starting in December 2009.
He has most recently appeared in the science fiction thriller Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio
and Cillian Murphy, where he played a business executive who served as a mentor to and was
an associate of the father of Murphy's character.
Inception was a box office success and was his first appearance in a mainstream theatrical
movie since Training Day in 2001.
In 2012 Tom Berenger appeared in the TV miniseries Hatfields & McCoys as Jim Vance, uncle of
protagonist Devil Anse Hatfield.
On September 23, 2012 Berenger earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor
in a Miniseries or a Movie for the role.
Personal life Berenger has been married four times and has
six children.
He resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Beaufort, South Carolina and Toluca Lake,
Los Angeles.
Berenger has two children by his first wife, Barbara Wilson, to whom he was married from
1976 to 1984: Allison Moore and Patrick Moore.
He has three daughters by second wife Lisa Williams: Chelsea Moore, Chloe Moore and Shiloh
Moore.
He has one daughter, Scout Moore, with Patricia Alvaran, whom he married in 1998.
He married Laura Moretti in Sedona, Arizona in early September 2012.
Filmography Film
Television References
External links Tom Berenger at the Internet Movie Database
Tom Berenger at AllMovie Tom Berenger Online
Celebrity Detective