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Tom Berenger

Tom BerengerAKA Thomas Michael Moore

Born: 31-May-1949
Birthplace: Chicago, IL

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Platoon

Tom Berenger was a major movie star of the 1980s, who has since faded to B-movies and supporting work. He is known for intense, brooding, merciless or psychotic portrayals, including the vicious Sgt Barnes in Oliver Stone's Platoon, the white supremacist farmer in Betrayed with Debra Winger, and the killer Thomas Beckett in Sniper, Sniper 2, and Sniper 3. In more sympathetic roles, he played the catcher in Major League with Corbin Bernsen, the heroic cop in Someone to Watch Over Me with Mimi Rogers, and he had Paul Newman's role in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days. A longtime civil war buff in real life, Berenger's best work might be in Gettysburg, where he played Confederate General James Longstreet.

He played football in high school, and went to college with no interest in acting. On a bet with his roommate, he auditioned for the school's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and landed the lead role. Awestruck by a standing ovation after the opening night performance, he studied drama in New York, but he was unable to find work on Broadway, as producers kept telling him he was "too good-looking". Instead he worked in small-city regional theater, tended bar, worked as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines, and eventually found steady work on the soap opera One Life to Live. He played a bike messenger in his first film, Rush It with John Heard, and he achieved moderate fame as the gay psychotic in Looking for Mr. Goodbar with Diane Keaton. His starred in the softcore In Praise of Older Women with Karen Black, and became a star in Platoon with Charlie Sheen.

Berenger disdains the Hollywood scene for its phoniness, its backstabbing, its drug and party scene. He came to Beaufort, S.C., in 1983 to film The Big Chill with Glenn Close and Jeff Goldblum, and he has lived there ever since. Fellow actors describe him as a man of no bullshit and minimal ego, cordial but not particularly friendly with co-workers. He has had few hits in recent years, but continues to do quality work in lower-budget productions.

According to papers Berenger filed in divorcing his second wife, his marriage ended when she became "totally involved" in Scientology and tried "brainwashing" their children into the cult.

Wife: Barbara Wilson (office worker, dated 1970-, m. 1975, div. 1985, one daughter, one son)
Daughter: Allison Berenger (b. 1977)
Son: Patrick Berenger (b. 1979)
Wife: Lisa Williams (real estate agent, m. 29-Jul-1986, div. 1997, three daughters)
Daughter: Chelsea Berenger (b. 1986)
Daughter: Chloe Berenger (b. 1988)
Daughter: Shiloh Berenger (b. 1993)
Wife: Patricia Alvaran (makeup artist, m. 1997, one daughter)
Daughter: Scout Berenger (b. 1998)

    High School: Rich East High School, Park Forest, IL (1967)
    University: BA Speech and Dramatic Arts, University of Missouri, Columbia

    Eastern Airlines flight steward
    Young Men's Christian Association Beaufort, SC
    Golden Globe 1987 for The Big Chill (supporting actor)
    Irish Ancestry

    TELEVISION
    October Road The Commander (2007-)
    One Life to Live Tim Seigel (1975-76)
    Peacemakers Marshal Jared Stone (2003)
    Third Watch Aaron Noble (2003)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Bad Country (10-Mar-2014)
    Hatfields & McCoys (28-May-2012)
    Brake (23-Mar-2012) · Ben Reynolds
    Faster (4-Nov-2010) · Warden
    Inception (13-Jul-2010) · Peter
    Sinners and Saints (30-Jun-2010) · Capt. Trahan
    Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball (19-Jan-2010) · Walter Weed
    Breaking Point (14-May-2009) · Steven Luisi
    Charlie Valentine (1-Mar-2009) · Becker
    Stiletto (29-Apr-2008) · Virgil Vadalos
    The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (9-Jun-2007)
    Detective (2005)
    Sniper 3 (2004) · Thomas Beckett
    Sniper 2 (28-Dec-2002) · Beckett
    The Junction Boys (14-Dec-2002)
    Johnson County War (24-Aug-2002)
    Cruel and Unusual (30-Apr-2002) · Art Stoner
    D-Tox (4-Jan-2002) · Hank
    True Blue (29-Nov-2001)
    The Hollywood Sign (28-Sep-2001)
    Training Day (7-Sep-2001)
    Cutaway (30-Oct-2000) · Red Line
    Takedown (15-Mar-2000)
    Fear of Flying (17-Feb-2000)
    Diplomatic Siege (17-Nov-1999) · Swain
    In the Company of Spies (24-Oct-1999)
    One Man's Hero (2-Aug-1999)
    A Murder of Crows (5-Mar-1999) · Clifford Dubose
    Shadow of Doubt (9-Apr-1998)
    The Gingerbread Man (23-Jan-1998) · Pete Randle
    Rough Riders (20-Jul-1997)
    An Occasional Hell (1-Nov-1996)
    The Substitute (19-Apr-1996)
    Last of the Dogmen (8-Sep-1995) · Lewis Gates
    Body Language (22-Jul-1995)
    The Avenging Angel (22-Jan-1995)
    Chasers (22-Apr-1994) · Rock Reilly
    Major League II (30-Mar-1994) · Jake Taylor
    Gettysburg (8-Oct-1993)
    Sliver (21-May-1993)
    Sniper (29-Jan-1993) · Thomas Beckett
    At Play in the Fields of the Lord (6-Dec-1991)
    Shattered (25-Sep-1991)
    The Field (13-Sep-1990) · The American
    Love at Large (9-Mar-1990) · Harry Dobbs
    Born on the Fourth of July (20-Dec-1989) · Recruiting Sergeant
    Major League (7-Apr-1989) · Jake Taylor
    Last Rites (18-Nov-1988)
    Betrayed (26-Aug-1988) · Gary Simmons
    Shoot To Kill (12-Feb-1988)
    Someone to Watch Over Me (9-Oct-1987)
    Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (Oct-1987) [VOICE]
    Platoon (19-Dec-1986) · Sgt. Barnes
    If Tomorrow Comes (16-Mar-1986)
    Rustlers' Rhapsody (10-May-1985)
    Fear City (18-Jul-1984)
    Eddie and the Cruisers (23-Sep-1983)
    The Big Chill (9-Sep-1983) · Sam
    Beyond Obsession (5-Sep-1982)
    The Dogs of War (28-Jan-1981)
    Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (21-Jun-1979)
    In Praise of Older Women (14-Sep-1978)
    The Sentinel (7-Jan-1977) · Man at End
    Looking for Mr. Goodbar (7-Jan-1977)


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