Jon Cryer

At 59 years old, Jon Cryer has this physical status:

Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, comedian and television director.

Born into a show business family, Cryer made his motion picture debut as a teenaged photographer in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair; his breakout role came in 1986, playing "Duckie" in the John Hughes-written film Pretty in Pink.

In 1998, he wrote and produced the independent film Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five. Although Cryer gained fame with his early film roles, it took several years to find success on television; none of his star vehicles, including The Famous Teddy Z, Partners, and The Trouble with Normal, lasted more than 22 episodes.

In 2003, Cryer was cast in a co-leading role as Alan Harper on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, a major hit for twelve seasons for which he won two Primetime Emmy Award (2009 and 2012).

Cryer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television in 2011. Cryer's other film appearances include Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Hiding Out (1987), Hot Shots (1991), Holy Man (1998), Tortured (2008), Shorts (2009), and Hit by Lightning (2014).

He also has a recurring role in the CBS drama series NCIS, playing Dr.

Cyril Taft. After appearing on the podcast Crime Writers On... it was announced Cryer is joining the team at the Undisclosed podcast for their second season.

Early life

Cryer was born in New York City. His mother, Gretchen Kiger, is a playwright, songwriter, actress and singer. His father, Donald David Cryer, is an actor and singer who originally studied to be a minister. His paternal grandfather, the Rev. Donald W. Cryer, was a prominent Methodist minister. He has two sisters, Robin and Shelly.

When Cryer was twelve years old, he decided he wanted to become an actor. When his mother heard this, she thought he should have a backup plan, and joked, "Plumbing is a pretty good career." Cryer attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center for several summers as a teenager, and is a 1983 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. He was classmates with screenwriter and film director Boaz Yakin. To his mother's "great disappointment," he skipped college and went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England, for a summer short course in Shakespeare.

Personal life

Cryer married British actress Sarah Trigger in 1999, with whom he has a son, Charlie Austin. They divorced in 2004. On a February 2007 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he announced that he was engaged to entertainment reporter Lisa Joyner, whom he married in Mexico in June 2007. On September 29, 2009, they announced that they had adopted a baby girl.

When Pretty in Pink co-star Molly Ringwald told Out magazine in 2012 that she believed Cryer's character was gay, Cryer stated that he respectfully disagreed and also mentioned that he has had to live with others' "faulty" gaydar. Also in 2012, he told Jeff Probst that when he and Joyner started dating, she wondered if he might be gay because "he never kissed me." Cryer was asked in 2014 if he was "mistaken for gay"; he called himself "an effeminate heterosexual dork" and made a tongue-in-cheek remark about never being propositioned: "Fellas, you're dropping the ball."

Prior to the 2008 presidential election, Cryer attended a fundraiser hosted by the McCain campaign and, according to news reports, endorsed John McCain. When Cryer did not make a public endorsement for the 2012 race, his spokeswoman said that the 2008 report aligning him with the Republican Party was a "mistake" and that Cryer was "not really political." He had attended events for both Republicans and Democrats "because he wanted to hear what both sides had to say."

In regard to Donald Trump, Cryer opined on the May 5, 2016, episode of the podcast Never Not Funny, "I have been pointing out, and I have been screaming to the rooftops, that Donald Trump is the Charlie Sheen of politics [...] I have to tell you, I love Charlie Sheen, I loved working with him when he was sober, but he was, he's full of shit. He has been full of shit, he has serious addiction. His addiction is obviously serious, drugs, and, but, Trump is just addicted to feeling important. I think if anybody is under the delusion that he cares about anybody in America besides himself, they are stoned and need to rethink their priorities, 'cause it's just ridiculous that's he's gotten as far as he has."

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Career

Matthew Broderick, who "closely resembled" him in Cryer's first professional acting role, was as David in the Broadway play Torch Song Trilogy. He appeared in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In the original Broadway revival of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs in 1984, he was a standby and replacement for Broderick as Eugene Jerome.

When Matthew Broderick's first performance as Charles Cummings was suspended after director Martin Ritt suffered a heart attack at age 19, he appeared in the 1984 romantic comedy film No Small Affair. He went on to appear in small films and television films.

In the John Hughes-scripted film Pretty in Pink, Cryer made his film debut as Philip F. "Duckie" Dale. Cryer's mother Gretchen said in an interview with the Daily News that after Pretty in Pink, she started getting calls from teenage girls from around the world, who would leave hysterical, giggling messages on her answering machine.

Cryer went on to star in the 1987 film Hiding Out as a stockbroker fleeing from a Mafia hit man. Gretchen's mother Gretchen was his aunt. And if the film failed, Cryer's portrayal of a character that was much older than him was critically acclaimed. He appeared in 1989's television comedy film The Famous Teddy Z. His performance attracted poor reviews, and the program was cancelled after the first season.

In 1990, Cryer appeared as Sandy in an Off-Broadway version of Carnal Knowledge. In the Jim Abrahams comedy Hot Shots!, he appeared alongside future Two and a Half Men costar Charlie Sheen in the same year, which was highly applauded. Cryer is often compared to the Brat Pack. Cryer appeared in Anytime with Bob Kushell in March 2009, but not cast in a role. When doing a play in London in 1993, he was invited to audition for the role of Chandler Bing on Friends. A British casting agent videotaped his reading, but the tape didn't arrive in the United States until the network had made its final decision.

Bob was cast in the sitcom Partners in 1995, but after its first season, which was similar to his previous show The Famous Teddy Z, was cancelled. "Hey, every show I'm in goes down," he said in a Time Out New York interview. Consider this: George Clooney was in 28 pilots, or something. It means nothing." Since guest stars on shows like Dharma & Greg and The Outer Limits, he wrote, produced, and co-starred in the film Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God. It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 1998 and received rave reviews from critics. It's been described as "a breath of fresh air" by Playboy Magazine's Leonard Maltin. Cryer appeared in another TV series, Getting Personal, alongside Vivica A. Fox and Duane Martin. Despite being renewed for a second season after an abbreviated spring run, the show was cancelled that fall after airing 17 episodes in total.

In 1999, Cryer appeared as Neal in Jeffrey Sweet's play Bluff at the Victory Gardens Theater. He was lead in a comedy film called The Trouble With Normal in 2000. Cryer appeared in a program that was cancelled after the first season.

Cryer's long line of unsuccessful television projects came to an end in 2003. He was portrayed as Alan Harper on CBS' hit comedy series Two and a Half Men, against CBS executives (who were aware of his previous failures) and due to a close relationship with Charlie Sheen. (He had tried to audition for Gaius Baltar on the Sci-Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica at the same time, but James Callis took the lead.) For his acting on the program, Cryer received seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations and two awards. "You stop relying on your gut instincts because the show's high ratings are showing." But when people clearly love the show and are watching it in large numbers, it takes a lot of pressure off you." It helps you to trust your intuition and go with what has worked for you before." During the show's final four seasons, Cryer's character became the show's main protagonist (with Ashton Kutcher playing as the co-lead). Cryer is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of the series; Sheen was fired in March 2011, and Cryer's on-screen son Angus T. Jones left the series at the end of season 10, after describing the show as "filth" and calling himself a "paid hypocrite." (Jones made a return to the series finale)

Cryer appeared in the film Tortured with Laurence Fishburne and James Cromwell in 2008, and with James Spader in the film Shorts, in 2009, he co-starred.

Cryer appeared as David in a concert presentation of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company at Lincoln Center in 2011. Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone were among the all-star cast members. The concert then aired on PBS' Great Performances.

In its second season, Cryer made a guest appearance on the sitcom series Husbands. He was initially cast in DisneyToon Studios' animated film Planees, a spin-off of Pixar's Cars franchise, but he later dropped out and was replaced by Dane Cook. However, Cryer was given credit for the film's "additional story material."

So That Happened, a breezy, often comedic book chronicling Cryer's 30-year tenure in stage, film, and television, Cryer published a book in 2015 titled So That Happened.

Cryer currently stars in the critically acclaimed CBS drama series NCIS, where he stars Navy Dr. Cyril Taft, who treats NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Since it debuted in 2003, Cryer had expressed interest in being in NCIS.

Cryer, who has a passion for criminal justice, joined the Unknown podcast Undisclosed, where he will be voicing the weekly addendum episode during the second season.

In the premiere of Episode 1, Season 9 of genealogy software Who Do You Think You Are?, on May 21, 2018, Cryer was featured. Cryer discovered the tragic tale of his ancestor James Adams, a Scottish Covenanter soldier who was captured during the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, who spent years as a prisoner, who suffered under horrific conditions as a prisoner. He was then taken to the Saugus Iron Works in Lynn, Massachusetts, as an indentured servant. Cryer toured Durham Cathedral, Durham, North East England, where surviving Scottish prisoners were held before being released – and the Saut Iron Works national historic site as part of his investigation into the episode. "You can see the legacy he left by seeing the tenacity of my family's over-century." Cryer said. I can't help but feel fortunate...clearly, the strength of my family's spine, not something that came from nowhere. Going forward, I'm going to use James Adams' example as my inspiration and understand that if you turn around and help the people around you who had it even worse. "I aspire to be one of those people."

It was announced on November 16, 2018, that Cryer had been cast as Lex Luthor on The CW's Supergirl in a recurring role. (He had coincidentally played Lenny Luthor, Lex Luthor's nephew, in 1987 film Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.) "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is his first appearance in Season 4's fifteenth episode, titled "Where Art Thou." On Infinite Earths, he recalled his role in the Batwoman and The Flash episodes of the Arrowverse crossover Crisis.

Cryer joined other WGA journalists in firing their agents as part of the WGA's fight against the ATA and the unfair use of packaging on April 15, 2019.

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