| Tom Berenger AKA 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 Best Supporting Actor, The Big Chill 1987 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 Detective (2005) Sniper 3 (2004) Sniper 2 (28-Dec-2002) The Junction Boys (14-Dec-2002) Johnson County War (24-Aug-2002) D-Tox (4-Jan-2002) True Blue (29-Nov-2001) The Hollywood Sign (28-Sep-2001) Training Day (7-Sep-2001) Cutaway (30-Oct-2000) Takedown (15-Mar-2000) Fear of Flying (17-Feb-2000) Diplomatic Siege (17-Nov-1999) In the Company of Spies (24-Oct-1999) One Man's Hero (2-Aug-1999) A Murder of Crows (5-Mar-1999) Shadow of Doubt (9-Apr-1998) The Gingerbread Man (23-Jan-1998) Rough Riders (20-Jul-1997) An Occasional Hell (1-Nov-1996) The Substitute (19-Apr-1996) Last of the Dogmen (08-Sep-1995) Body Language (22-Jul-1995) The Avenging Angel (22-Jan-1995) Chasers (22-Apr-1994) Major League II (30-Mar-1994) Gettysburg (8-Oct-1993) Sliver (21-May-1993) Sniper (29-Jan-1993) At Play in the Fields of the Lord (6-Dec-1991) Shattered (25-Sep-1991) The Field (13-Sep-1990) Love at Large (9-Mar-1990) Born on the Fourth of July (20-Dec-1989) Major League (7-Apr-1989) Last Rites (18-Nov-1988) Betrayed (26-Aug-1988) 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) Rustlers' Rhapsody (10-May-1985) Fear City (18-Jul-1984) Eddie and the Cruisers (23-Sep-1983) The Big Chill (9-Sep-1983) 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) Looking for Mr. Goodbar (7-Jan-1977)
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2009 Soylent Communications
|