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Michael Paré

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Michael Paré
Paré at the Chiller Theatre Expo in 2014
Born
Michael Kevin Paré[1]

(1958-10-09) October 9, 1958 (age 66)
New York City, U.S.
EducationThe Culinary Institute of America
Occupation(s)Actor, chef
Years active1981–present
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1980; div. 1982)​
Marisa Roebuck
​
​
(m. 1986; div. 1988)​
Marjolein Booy
​
​
(m. 1992)​
Children1

I've been playing heroes, and heroes are not normal people. You can't find a leading man doing a nine-to-five job on Wall Street. And that hurt because they said, "You can't play a regular person." Tom Cody was also bigger than life. And in The Philadelphia Experiment, I'm a time traveler for god's sake. So for a long time, all I played was cops, heroes and soldiers.[2]

—Paré on being typecast as a macho man.

Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), Streets of Fire (1984), and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), and on the series Starhunter (2000–2004).

Early life

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Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan and Francis Paré, who owned print shops.[3] He has six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry.[4] His father died from leukemia when Paré was five, leaving his mother to raise the large family of children.

Growing up, Paré was a fan of James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Paul Newman, and Robert Mitchum, and felt he was "a kindred spirit" to them.[5] He was working as a chef in New York City when he met talent agent Yvette Bikoff, who convinced him to try acting.[6] In the early 1980s, he studied acting under Uta Hagen.[7] He shot a series of television commercials in Japan.[7]

In August 1987, noted for his physique in his macho roles in The Greatest American Hero, Eddie and the Cruisers and Streets of Fire, Paré was chosen as the cover model for the first issue of Men's Fitness.[8] The magazine was folded into Men's Journal in 2017; in 2018, Men's Journal ranked Paré's as the No. 1 cover in the former magazine's more than 300-issue history.[8]

Career

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His first starring role was as Tony Villicana on the television series The Greatest American Hero. His best-known film roles were as Eddie Wilson in Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) and its sequel Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! (1989),[9] as well as Streets of Fire (1984)[10] and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984).[11] Paré also appeared in the 2012 remake of The Philadelphia Experiment. He starred as a tortured soldier named Brad Cartowski in the 1993 action film Deadly Heroes, directed by Menahem Golan.[12][13] Other films included Moon 44 (1990), Village of the Damned (1995),[14] Bad Moon (1996),[15] Hope Floats (1998),[16] and The Virgin Suicides (1999).[17]

Paré is best known for his deep, raspy voice,[18][13] muscular physique,[8][18][19] rugged screen presence,[20] and classic action hero demeanour. In his 2017 interview for Men's Journal he revealed that as a young actor he wasn't sure if he wanted to make a career as “the muscular leading guy", and instead tried to follow in the footsteps of his idols — Marlon Brando and James Dean.[8]

Paré won the Best Actor award at PollyGrind Film Festival for the film Road to Hell, playing again the role of Tom Cody.[21]

On television, Paré starred with Michael Beck in the drama Houston Knights in 1987–1988[3] as well as the 2001 television series Starhunter.[22] The actor frequently appears in Uwe Boll's works.[23][24]

Paré has had a very busy workload in recent years, with 114 credits from 2015-24 (mostly in low-budget films and TV movies), including twenty roles in 2022 alone and another 19 in 2024.

Personal life

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He has married three times. His first wife (1980–1984) was film producer Lisa Katselas; his second wife, Marisa Roebuck (1986–1988); his present wife (since 1992) is Marjolein Booy, a former fashion model, with whom he has one child. Paré stated that he lives "a good, clean life", and trains frequently.[8] He lives in California.[8]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1981 Crazy Times Harry TV movie
1983 Eddie and the Cruisers Eddie Wilson
Undercover Max
1984 Streets of Fire Tom Cody
The Philadelphia Experiment David Herdeg
1985 Space Rage Grange
1986 Instant Justice Scott Youngblood
1987 The Women's Club Patrick
1988 World Gone Wild George Landon
1989 Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Eddie Wilson / Joe West
1990 The Dark Sun Ruggero Brickman
Moon 44 Felix Stone
The Closer Larry Freed
Dragonfight Moorpark
1991 Concrete War Jeff
Killing Streets Chris Brandt / Craig Brandt
1992 Into the Sun Captain Paul Watkins
Sunset Heat Eric Wright
Blink of an Eye Sam Browning
Empire City Joey Andre TV movie
1993 Point of Impact Jack Davis
Deadly Heroes Brad Cartowski
1994 Warriors Colin
1995 The Dangerous Random
Lunarcop Joe Brody
Village of the Damned Frank McGowan
Triplecross Teddy "T.C." Cooper TV movie
Raging Angels Colin
1996 Coyote Run Pershing
The Colony Alec Harken TV movie
Carver's Gate Carver TV movie
Bad Moon Ted Harrison
1997 2103: The Deadly Wake Tarkis
Falling Fire Daryl Boden
Strip Search Robby Durrell
Merchant of Death Jim Randell
1998 Hope Floats Bill Pruitt
Back to Even Boyle
October 22 Gary
Men of Means Rico "Bullet" Burke
1999 The Virgin Suicides Adult Trip Fontaine
Space Fury Konrad Video
2000 Peril Vincent Video
Sanctimony Jim Renart
2001 A Month of Sundays Tomas McCabe
Blackwoods Sheriff Harding
2002 Heart of America Will Prat
2003 Fate Detective Cody Martin
Red Serpent Steve Nichols
2004 Gargoyle: Wings of Darkness CIA Agent Ty "Griff" Griffin Video
2005 Crash Landing Captain Williams
Komodo vs. Cobra Mike A. Stoddard TV movie
BloodRayne Iancu
2006 Saurian Jace Randall TV movie
2007 Seed Detective Matt Bishop
Polycarp Detective Barry Harper
Postal Panhandler
BloodRayne II: Deliverance Pat Garrett Video
Furnace Detective Michael Turner
2008 Ninja Cheerleaders Victor Lazzaro
Tunnel Rats Sergeant Vic Hollowborn
100 Feet Mike Watson
Alone in the Dark II Willson Video
Far Cry Paul Summers
Dark World Harry
Road to Hell Tom Cody
2009 The Perfect Sleep Officer Pavlovich
Direct Contact Clive Connelly
Rampage Sheriff Melvoy
2010 Tales of an Ancient Empire Oda
Cool Dog Dean Warner Video
Amphibious Jack Bowman
2011 The Lincoln Lawyer Detective Kurlen
Bloodrayne: The Third Reich Commander Ekart Brand
Blubberella Commandant Ekart Brand
2012 Gone Lieutenant Ray Bozeman
Maximum Conviction Chris Blake
The Philadelphia Experiment Hagan TV movie
The Come Up Ron Zimmermann Short
2013 How Sweet It Is Mike Cicero
Real Gangsters Frank "Frankie" D'Cecco
Assault on Wall Street Frank
Suddenly Conklin
Jet Set Ryan
2014 The Last Outlaw Sheriff Atherton Video
Snapshot The President
Wings of the Dragon Jackson Lee
The Big Fat Stone Detective Farinelli
2015 24 Hours Captain Mike Ryan
A Perfect Vacation Xander
No Deposit Mickey Ryan
Checkmate Captain Raymond Mitchell Howard
The Cask of Amontillado Fortunato Short
The Vatican Tapes Detective Harris
Operator Howard
The Shelter Thomas Jacob
Sicilian Vampire Sammy
The Good, the Bad and the Dead Sheriff Olson
Bone Tomahawk Mr. Wallington
2016 Decommissioned Detective Tom Weston
Swap Captain Doug Rice
Abattoir Richard Renshaw
Traded Clay Travis
The Infiltrator Barry Seal
Nessie & Me Dad
The Red Maple Leaf Ambassador Patrick Adams Jr.
2017 Povratak Michael Shreder
A Doggone Hollywood Sheriff Evans
American Violence Martin Bigg
Global Meltdown Amos Cade TV movie
The Neighborhood Johnny "Johnny 3"
Gangster Land Captain O'Connor
The Wrong Man Gary Moore TV movie
Jason's Letter Brad Macaulay
2018 Battle Drone Karl Kess
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich Detective Brown
The Debt Collector Alex "Mad Alex"
Astro Allen Smith
The Wrong Friend Lieutenant Forni TV movie
Talk to the Animals Ted Short
Reborn Detective Marc Fox
City of Lies Detective Varney
A Christmas in Royal Fashion Dan Carson TV movie
2019 The Last Big Save Derek
Making a Deal with the Devil Pierre
Hollow Point Damian Wakefield
Mayday Adam Anderson
Once Upon a Time in Deadwood Swearengen
Manipulated Roger "Duke" Brown
Big Kill Colonel Granger
2020 Emerald Run Matteo Trino
The Insurrection Sergeant Major
Invincible Trevor Morgan
Captors Charles Dusker
Middleton Christmas Johnny
2021 The Wrong Fiancé Police Chief Sawyer TV movie
Triassic Hunt Jordan Freedman
The Resonator: Miskatonic U Professor Wallace
The Penthouse Charles [25]
Mummy Dearest Dr. Jason
Painkiller Dr. Alan Rhodes
Deceived by My Mother-In-Law Ross TV movie
Mommy's Deadly Con Artist Ross TV movie
Raunch and Roll Carl Weinstein
Mind Games Colonel Reeder
Righteous Blood Jericho
Bed Bug The Killer Short
The Wild Man: Skunk Ape Captain Stryker
South of Heaven Joey
Christmas Collision Jaggar Huntley
2022 Beyond the Resonator Professor Wallace
Curse of the Re-Animator Professor Wallace
Lockdown Roger Kinkaid
Top Gunner: Danger Zone Air Marshall Tony Wilkes
Shooting Star Sheriff Wiley
As Long As I'm Famous Older Sid
Dawn Officer Barry
Pig Killer Detective Oppal
The Red Tide Massacre Sheriff Tom Fuller
They Crawl Beneath Bill Moritz
Nix Idres
Attack on Titan Citizen Prime Ortiz
Renegades CIA Agent Donovan
Headless Horseman Devil
Bridge of the Doomed Colonel Charon
Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar Kip
2025 Armageddon Thomas Ramsey
3.3 Miles Ray
Twisted Vines Branson Wright
Alabama Rose Ethan
2023 End of Loyalty "Pops"
If I Can't Have You Mr. Sklar TV movie
Kings of L.A. Artie
The Beast Comes at Midnight Night
Wrongful Death Dr. David Moore
The Puppetman Detective Al
Alien Apocalypse Director Storm
In the Shadows Sam Hammonds
Family Ornaments Grandpa Pat
The Stairwell Hollister Short
A Christmas Intern William TV movie
America Is Sinking General Robert Glenn
Very Frightening Tales Edward Barnes
2024 Scars Tom
The Wrong Life Coach Detective Clover TV movie
Wanted Man Tinelli
Planetquake General West
Tall, Dark, and Dangerous Bill TV movie
Camp Pleasant Lake Rick Rutherford
Sentinel The President
War of the Worlds: Extinction General Andres Alfaro
Kill Craft Thomas Delon
Bedtime Stories: Tales of Love and Hate Fortunato
Steady Rudy Short
Shark Island Charlie Video
Alien: Rubicon President McCoy
In Tenebras: Into the Darkness Captain Shaw
9 Windows Agent Larry Thurgood
The Vampire and the Vigilante Gabriel
Angel with a Gun Archer
Revival Martin
Desert Fiends Leonard

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1981-1983 The Greatest American Hero Tony Villicana Main Cast: Season 1-2, Guest: Season 3
1987-1988 Houston Knights Sergeant Joey La Fiamma Main Cast
2000-2003 Starhunter Dante Montana Main Cast: Season 1, Recurring Cast: Season 2
2004 Cold Case Randy Price Episode: "Greed"
2006 South Beach Charlie Evans Recurring Cast
2007 Whatever Happened To? Himself Episode: "Rebels"
2011 Memphis Beat Dave Hargrove Episode: "Things We Carry"
House Warden Delaire Episode: "Twenty Vicodin"
2012 Leverage FBI Special Agent Dennis Powell Episode: "The Radio Job"
2017 Starhunter Transformation Dante Montana Main Cast
2017-2018 Starhunter ReduX Dante Montana Main Cast
2019 Seven Days O'Donnell Episode: "Episode #1.1"
2021-2022 Keeping Up with the Joneses Sheldon Main Cast

Music video

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Year Artist Song Role
1983 Eddie and the Cruisers "On the Dark Side" Eddie Wilson

Awards and nominations

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Awards

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PollyGrind Film Festival

  • Best Actor: 2012

References

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  1. ^ "Michael Pare Biography (1959-)". Film Reference. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  2. ^ "Mr. Beaks Talks THE LINCOLN LAWYER, EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS and STREETS OF FIRE With Michael Paré!". Ain't It Cool News. March 21, 2011. Archived from the original on 2014-03-23. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Bobbin, Jay; Lawler, Sylvia (August 16, 1987). "HOUSTON KNIGHTS' TRIES AGAIN AT 8 P.M. TUESDAYS". The Morning Call. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  4. ^ Lyman, Rick (September 28, 1983). "MICHAEL PARE: COOKING ON SCREEN, NOT IN THE KITCHEN". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. D01.
  5. ^ "Tom Cody, Pleased To Meet Ya! INTERVIEW: Michael Paré talks with TV STORE ONLINE about the cult classic STREETS OF FIRE". TV Store Online. October 30, 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-03-23. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  6. ^ Price, Jason (May 25, 2016). "BACK IN THE SADDLE: Michael Paré On His Career, Longevity and Role In 'Traded'". Icon Vs. Icon. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Frank Garcia; Mark Phillips (2013). Science Fiction Television Series, 1990-2004: Histories, Casts and Credits for 58 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 321–322. ISBN 978-0-7864-2483-2.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Perine, Shawn (2018-05-21). "Our 30 Favorite 'Men's Fitness' Magazine Covers of All Time: Michael Paré". Men's Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  9. ^ James, Caryn (August 18, 1989). "REVIEW/FILM; EDDIE DIDN'T DIE: HE JUST WENT FOR A SWIM". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  10. ^ Maslin, Janet (June 1, 1984). "SCREEN: 'STREETS OF FIRE'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  11. ^ Maslin, Janet (August 17, 1984). "SCREEN: 'EXPERIMENT,' ON PHILADELPHIA PROJECT". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  12. ^ "Dead Heroes – Full Cast & Crew – TV Guide". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  13. ^ a b motywu (July 5, 2019). "Zabili go i uciekł ('Komandosi śmierci', 1993)" [They Killed Him and He Ran Away. ("Commandos of Death", 1993)]. yippeekiyaymoviegoer.wordpress.com (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  14. ^ Maslin, Janet (April 28, 1995). "FILM REVIEW; Demons' Eye Problems Compound Creepiness". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  15. ^ Thomas, Kevin (November 2, 1996). "'Bad Moon' a Straight-Ahead Werewolf Film". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  16. ^ Thomas, Kevin (May 29, 1998). "Buoyant 'Hope'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  17. ^ Thomas, Kevin (April 21, 2000). "'The Virgin Suicides' an Affecting, Somber Tale of Repressed Lives". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  18. ^ a b Thomas, Kevin (August 18, 1989). "MOVIE REVIEW : Michael Pare Takes 'Eddie II' for a Pleasure Cruise". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  19. ^ Gene Freese (2017). Classic Movie Fight Scenes: 75 Years of Bare Knuckle Brawls, 1914–1989. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 289. ISBN 978-1-4766-6943-4.
  20. ^ "Elusive 'Eddie' – The Washington Post". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings. September 30, 1983. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  21. ^ Moore, Debi (October 22, 2012). "Road to Hell Wins Nine Awards at PollyGrind Film Festival 2012". Dread Central. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  22. ^ Vlessing, Etan (September 16, 2013). "Canadian Sci-Fi Series 'Starhunter' to Relaunch as Web Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  23. ^ Child, Ben (October 28, 2016). "The 'world's worst director': are Uwe Boll's movies really that bad?". The Guardian. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  24. ^ Martin, Brett (May 14, 2008). "And the Award for Worst Director Ever Goes to…". GQ. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  25. ^ Schaefer, Stephen (April 17, 2021). "Stephen Schaefer's Hollywood & Mine". Boston Herald. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
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