Holt McCallany
Encyclopedia
Holt McCallany is an Irish American
actor, writer, and producer working primarily in film and television.
to theatrical parents. His mother is Julie Wilson
, an American
singer and actress, who has long been considered one of the best cabaret performers in the United States. His father, Michael McAloney, was an Irish
actor and producer best known for his Tony Award winning production of Brendan Behan’s Borstal Boy, an autobiographical play about a young member of the Irish Republican Army, the first Irish production to win top honors on Broadway.
Because his father wanted an Irish education for his two sons, Holt and his younger brother Michael were sent to live with another family in Dublin while his parents stayed in New York City, working. However, following his parents' divorce the children moved back to the United States and Holt attended school in New Jersey
. He was later sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Omaha, Nebraska
, where he had a troubled childhood and was expelled from the Jesuit Creighton Preparatory School
.
At the age of 14, he ran away from home and took a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, but ended up with a job in a screwdriver factory unloading trucks. His parents eventually tracked him down and sent him back to Ireland to a boarding school in County Kildare
that his father had attended forty years earlier.
After high school Holt went to France for college, first to study French at the Sorbonne
and art at the Paris American Academy, and later theater at Ecole Marcel Marceau and Ecole Jacques Lecoq.
, in the same apprenticeship once served by Tom Hanks, among others. He then moved back to New York City and was cast as an understudy in the Broadway production of Biloxi Blues
.
McCallany landed a series of supporting parts in such films as Casualties of War
, Alien 3, "Creepshow 2",
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
, Jade
and Rough Riders
. After playing the legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas
in the HBO telefilm, Tyson
he became a supporter of the Atlas Foundation Charity, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping children and families with medical and financial hardships.
He continued working in films and television throughout the nineties with roles in films such as Fight Club
, Three Kings, Men of Honor
and Below
, among others. He played a detective with psychological problems who commits suicide in the season three finale of CSI: Miami
, and a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder on Criminal Minds
. McCallany also appeared in the 2010 Warner Bros.
film, The Losers
, based on the graphic novel from DC Comics. McCallany also was the star of the 2011 FX television series, Lights Out
, playing an aging boxer ("Patrick 'Lights' Leary") forced out of retirement and into a comeback bid to regain the heavyweight title, despite having pugilistic dementia.
McCallany is a writer and producer of the film version of the true-life story of Doreen Giuliano, a Brooklyn
wife and mother, whose son John Giuca
was targeted by a corrupt prosecutor and wrongfully convicted of murder. Her journey to prove her son's innocence and secure his release from prison was recently optioned by a major network.
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
actor, writer, and producer working primarily in film and television.
Early life
He was born in 1964 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to theatrical parents. His mother is Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson is an American singer and actress.Born in Omaha, Nebraska and first finding a musical outlet with local musical group Hank's Hepcats, Wilson headed to New York City during World War II and found work in two of Manhattan's leading nightclubs, the Latin Quarter and the Copacabana...
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and actress, who has long been considered one of the best cabaret performers in the United States. His father, Michael McAloney, was an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
actor and producer best known for his Tony Award winning production of Brendan Behan’s Borstal Boy, an autobiographical play about a young member of the Irish Republican Army, the first Irish production to win top honors on Broadway.
Because his father wanted an Irish education for his two sons, Holt and his younger brother Michael were sent to live with another family in Dublin while his parents stayed in New York City, working. However, following his parents' divorce the children moved back to the United States and Holt attended school in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. He was later sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, where he had a troubled childhood and was expelled from the Jesuit Creighton Preparatory School
Creighton Preparatory School
Creighton Preparatory School , is a private, Jesuit college prep school founded in 1878 for young men. Centrally located in Omaha, Nebraska at 7400 Western Avenue, Prep is the largest Catholic high school in the state of Nebraska, USA with an enrollment of 1,038 young men...
.
At the age of 14, he ran away from home and took a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, but ended up with a job in a screwdriver factory unloading trucks. His parents eventually tracked him down and sent him back to Ireland to a boarding school in County Kildare
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
that his father had attended forty years earlier.
After high school Holt went to France for college, first to study French at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
and art at the Paris American Academy, and later theater at Ecole Marcel Marceau and Ecole Jacques Lecoq.
Career
His first job in the professional theater was as an apprentice actor at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, in the same apprenticeship once served by Tom Hanks, among others. He then moved back to New York City and was cast as an understudy in the Broadway production of Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The second chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy, it follows Brighton Beach Memoirs and precedes Broadway Bound....
.
McCallany landed a series of supporting parts in such films as Casualties of War
Casualties of War
Casualties of War is a 1989 war drama directed by Brian De Palma, with a screenplay by David Rabe, based on the actual events of the incident on Hill 192 in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It starred Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn....
, Alien 3, "Creepshow 2",
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
The Search for One-eye Jimmy
The Search for One-eye Jimmy is a comedy written and directed by Sam Henry Kass.-Synopsis:Set in Brooklyn, New York, the movie is the story of a California film student Les who returns to the town in which he grew up to shoot a film about it...
, Jade
Jade (film)
Jade is a 1995 erotic thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, directed by William Friedkin and starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna and Michael Biehn. The original music score was composed by James Horner...
and Rough Riders
Rough Riders (film)
Rough Riders is a 1997 three hour television miniseries about future President Theodore Roosevelt and the regiment . The series prominently shows the bravery of the volunteers at the Battle of San Juan Hill, part of the Spanish-American War of 1898. It was released on DVD in 2006...
. After playing the legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas
Teddy Atlas
Theodore A. "Teddy" Atlas, Jr. is a well-known boxing trainer and fight commentator.-Personal life:...
in the HBO telefilm, Tyson
Tyson (1995 film)
Tyson is a 1995 television film based on the life of American heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson. Directed by Uli Edel, it is an adaptation of the 1987 book Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson by José Torres, former boxer and former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission...
he became a supporter of the Atlas Foundation Charity, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping children and families with medical and financial hardships.
He continued working in films and television throughout the nineties with roles in films such as Fight Club
Fight Club (film)
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
, Three Kings, Men of Honor
Men of Honor
Men of Honor is a 2000 drama film, starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The film was directed by George Tillman, Jr...
and Below
Below (film)
Below is a 2002 World War II horror film directed by David Twohy. It was written by Lucas Sussman, Darren Aronofsky and David Twohy, and stars Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Matthew Davis, Holt McCallany, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher.It was filmed on location...
, among others. He played a detective with psychological problems who commits suicide in the season three finale of CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, and a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder on Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
. McCallany also appeared in the 2010 Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film, The Losers
The Losers (film)
The Losers is a 2010 American action based on the adaptation of the Vertigo comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle. Directed by Sylvain White, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans....
, based on the graphic novel from DC Comics. McCallany also was the star of the 2011 FX television series, Lights Out
Lights Out (2011 TV series)
Lights Out is an American television boxing drama series from the FX network in the United States. It stars Holt McCallany as Patrick "Lights" Leary, a New Jersey native, and former heavyweight champion boxer who is considering a comeback. The series premiered on January 11, 2011 at 10 pm ET/PT. On...
, playing an aging boxer ("Patrick 'Lights' Leary") forced out of retirement and into a comeback bid to regain the heavyweight title, despite having pugilistic dementia.
McCallany is a writer and producer of the film version of the true-life story of Doreen Giuliano, a Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
wife and mother, whose son John Giuca
John Giuca
John Giuca was a student of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, NY in 2004 when he was arrested in connection to the slaying of Fairfield University student Mark Fisher in 2003. Giuca was convicted under the Felony murder rule and was sentenced on October 19, 2005...
was targeted by a corrupt prosecutor and wrongfully convicted of murder. Her journey to prove her son's innocence and secure his release from prison was recently optioned by a major network.
Filmography
- Creepshow 2Creepshow 2Creepshow 2 is an American horror comedy anthology film directed by Michael Gornick, who was George A. Romero's cinematographer on the original Creepshow. Released in 1987, the screenplay for Creepshow 2 was penned by Romero , and once again based upon stories by Stephen King...
(1987) — Sam Whitemoon - ShakedownShakedown (1988 film)Shakedown, also known as Blue Jean Cop, is a 1988 crime drama/action movie starring Peter Weller and Sam Elliott. The movie is about an idealistic lawyer teaming with a veteran cop to find out the truth in a possible police corruption scandal.-Plot:...
(1988) — Roadblock Officer - Casualties of WarCasualties of WarCasualties of War is a 1989 war drama directed by Brian De Palma, with a screenplay by David Rabe, based on the actual events of the incident on Hill 192 in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It starred Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn....
(1989) — Lt. Kramer - Alien 3 (1992) — Junior
- AmateurAmateur (film)Amateur is a 1994 film written and directed by Hal Hartley starring Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan and Elina Löwensohn.-Title:The title is also an acronym, encompassing elements of the film* Accountancy* Murder* Amnesia* Torture* Ecstasy...
(1994) — Usher - The Search for One-eye JimmyThe Search for One-eye JimmyThe Search for One-eye Jimmy is a comedy written and directed by Sam Henry Kass.-Synopsis:Set in Brooklyn, New York, the movie is the story of a California film student Les who returns to the town in which he grew up to shoot a film about it...
(1994) — Les - JadeJade (film)Jade is a 1995 erotic thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, directed by William Friedkin and starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna and Michael Biehn. The original music score was composed by James Horner...
(1995) — Bill Barrett - Rough RidersRough Riders (film)Rough Riders is a 1997 three hour television miniseries about future President Theodore Roosevelt and the regiment . The series prominently shows the bravery of the volunteers at the Battle of San Juan Hill, part of the Spanish-American War of 1898. It was released on DVD in 2006...
(1997) — Sgt. Hamilton Fish - TysonTyson (1995 film)Tyson is a 1995 television film based on the life of American heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson. Directed by Uli Edel, it is an adaptation of the 1987 book Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson by José Torres, former boxer and former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission...
(1995) — Teddy AtlasTeddy AtlasTheodore A. "Teddy" Atlas, Jr. is a well-known boxing trainer and fight commentator.-Personal life:... - The PeacemakerThe Peacemaker (1997 film)The Peacemaker is a 1997 American action/thriller film starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman and directed by Mimi Leder. It is also notable as being the first film released by DreamWorks...
(1997) — Mark Appleton - Fight ClubFight Club (film)Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
(1999) — The Mechanic - Three Kings (1999) — Capt. Doug Van Meter
- FreedomFreedom (TV series)Freedom is a short-lived 2000 American science fiction television show on the UPN network. There were 12 episodes filmed, but only 7 were aired. Some episodes were further aired internationally...
(TV series) (2000–2001) — Owen Decker - Men of HonorMen of HonorMen of Honor is a 2000 drama film, starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The film was directed by George Tillman, Jr...
(2000) — MM1 Dylan Rourke - BelowBelow (film)Below is a 2002 World War II horror film directed by David Twohy. It was written by Lucas Sussman, Darren Aronofsky and David Twohy, and stars Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Matthew Davis, Holt McCallany, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher.It was filmed on location...
(2002) — Loomis - CSI: MiamiCSI: MiamiCSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
(TV series) (2003–2005) — Detective John Hagen - Against the RopesAgainst the RopesAgainst the Ropes is a 2004 drama movie. It stars Meg Ryan and Omar Epps and was directed by Charles S. Dutton, in his motion-picture directorial debut....
(2004) — Doug Doherty - Alpha DogAlpha DogAlpha Dog is a 2007 crime drama film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes, first screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2006, with a wide release the following year on January 12, 2007. The film is based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas...
(2006) — Det. Tom Finnegan - UnderfundedUnderfundedUnderfunded is a comedy-drama made-for-TV movie that aired the United States cable television channel USA Network on November 8, 2006 at 10 PM EDT. It starred Mather Zickel as Darryl Freehorn, an agent in the Canadian Secret Service .-Plot:...
(2006) — Alex Breech - Rise: Blood Hunter (2007) — Rourke
- HeroesHeroes (TV series)Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
(TV series) (2007) — Ricky McKenna - Vantage PointVantage Point (film)Vantage Point is a 2008 American political action thriller film directed by Pete Travis. It was adapted from a screenplay written by Barry L. Levy. The story focuses on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States as seen from a different set of vantage points through the eyes of...
(2008) — Agent Ron Matthews - Toxic (2008) — Van
- Burn NoticeBurn noticeA burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
(TV series) (2009) — Santora - A Perfect GetawayA Perfect GetawayA Perfect Getaway is a 2009 American psychological thriller film written and directed by David Twohy, and stars Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez and Steve Zahn. The film was shot in Puerto Rico and Hawaii, and was released on August 7, 2009 in United States, and on August 12 in the...
(2009) — Police Lieutenant - The LosersThe Losers (film)The Losers is a 2010 American action based on the adaptation of the Vertigo comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle. Directed by Sylvain White, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans....
(2010) — Wade - Lights OutLights Out (2011 TV series)Lights Out is an American television boxing drama series from the FX network in the United States. It stars Holt McCallany as Patrick "Lights" Leary, a New Jersey native, and former heavyweight champion boxer who is considering a comeback. The series premiered on January 11, 2011 at 10 pm ET/PT. On...
— Patrick "Lights" Leary