Aidan Quinn Biography

Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an American actor. He made his film debut in 1984 in Reckless. His films include Desperately Seeking Susan, The Mission, Stakeout, Benny and Joon, Legends of the Fall, Frankenstein, and Michael Collins.

He currently plays Captain Thomas "Tommy" Gregson in the CBS television series Elementary.

Early life

Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly, in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and also worked as a bookkeeper and in the travel business, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of literature. He has three brothers and a sister. His older brother, Declan Quinn, is a noted cinematographer while his younger sister Marian is an actress, director and writer. Though a roofer by trade, Quinn got his start in the Chicago theater at age 19. He trained at the Piven Theatre Workshop.

Career

His first significant film role was in Reckless, followed by a breakthrough role in Desperately Seeking Susan as the character "Dez" (the love interest of the character played by Rosanna Arquette). He made a short impressive contribution as Robert De Niro's brother in The Mission. He played escaped convict Richard "Stick" Montgomery in the action comedy Stakeout opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez. Quinn next starred in the controversial television film An Early Frost, about a young gay lawyer dying of AIDS (it was broadcast on NBC on November 11, 1985 and co-starred Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara and Sylvia Sidney). He received his first Emmy Award nomination for the role which allowed him to gain recognition in Hollywood.

In 1988 Quinn lost the role of Jesus Christ when Paramount Pictures dropped the Martin Scorsese movie The Last Temptation of Christ. When Universal Pictures picked up the film, the role went to Willem Dafoe. In the meantime, Quinn starred as protagonist in the film Crusoe, finished in 1989.

During the 1990s, he appeared in Legends of the Fall, Benny & Joon, The Handmaid's Tale, Haunted and Practical Magic. He also starred in Michael Collins, Song for a Raggy Boy, This Is My Father, and Evelyn. He played a small cameo as the captain of a doomed Arctic vessel in the Francis Ford Coppola-produced adaptation of Frankenstein.

In 2000, Quinn portrayed Paul McCartney in the VH1 television drama, Two of Us. Quinn played the main character on the NBC drama The Book of Daniel, in 2006. The show was canceled after the first three weeks of its run, and its last five episodes never aired. In 2007, Quinn received his second Emmy nomination for the television movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Quinn currently co-stars in the CBS television series Elementary.

Personal life

Quinn is married to the actress Elizabeth Bracco, sister of actress Lorraine Bracco. They have two daughters: Ava (b. 1989) and Mia (b. 1998), who appeared as a ghost in the supernatural love story film The Eclipse.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Reckless	Johnny Rourke
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan	Dez
1985	An Early Frost	Michael Pierson
1986	'	Felipe Mendoza
1987	Stakeout	Richard 'Stick' Montgomery
1989	Crusoe	Crusoe
1990	'	Nick
	'	Frankie McGuinness
	Avalon	Jules Kaye
1991	At Play in the Fields of the Lord	Martin Quarrier
	Lies of the Twins	James McEwan / Jonathan McEwan
1992	'	Tom Casey
1993	Benny & Joon	Benjamin 'Benny' Pearl
1994	Blink	Det. John Hallstrom
	Frankenstein	Cpt. Robert Walton
	Legends of the Fall	Alfred Ludlow
1995	'	Don Day
	Haunted	Prof. David Ash
1996	Looking for Richard	Richmond
	Michael Collins	Harry Boland
1997	Commandments	Seth Warner
	'	Lt. Cmdr. Annibal Ramirez/Carlos
1998	This Is My Father	Kieran O'Day	Also Executive Producer
	Practical Magic	Officer Gary Hallet	Blockbuster Entertainment Award (nominated)
1999	In Dreams	Paul Cooper
	Music of the Heart	Brian Turner
2000	Songcatcher	Tom Bledsoe	Sundance Film Festival Award (won)
	Two of Us	Paul McCartney	VH1 television film
2002	Stolen Summer	Joe O'Malley
	Evelyn	Nick Barron
2003	Song for a Raggy Boy	William Franklin
2004	Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius	Harry Vardon
	Shadow of Fear	Detective Scofield
	Return to Sender (alternate title: Convicted)	Frank Nitzche	IFTA Awards (nominated-4Xs)
	Proud	Commodore Alfred Lind
2005	Nine Lives	Henry	Gotham Awards (nominated)
2007	Dark Matter	Reiser
	32A	Frank Brennan
2008	Wild Child	Gerry
2009	'	Alec
	'	Nicholas Holden
	'	Steven Abbate
	Handsome Harry	Porter
2010	Flipped	Richard
	Festival of Lights	Adem
	Jonah Hex	President Ulysses S. Grant
	Sarah's Key	William Rainsferd
	Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright	Charlie Wright
2011	Unknown	Martin B.
	'	Sandy Hardwick
2012	Starving Artist	Man ordering whitebait

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	'	Michael Pierson	NBC television film Nominated for an Emmy Award
1987	All My Sons	Chris Keller	Television film
1989	Perfect Witness	Sam Paxton	HBO television film
1991	Lies of the Twins	James McEwan/Jonathan McEwan	Television film
1992	'	Bob Finkbine	HBO television film
1997	Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone	Henry Morton Stanley	Television film
2000	See You in My Dreams	Joe F. Brown	Television film
	'	Miles Hendon	Television film
	Two of Us	Paul McCartney	VH1 television film
2001	Night Visions	Jeremy Bell	Episode: "The Passenger List"
2003	Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor	Gen. Benedict Arnold V	A&E television film
2004	Plainsong	Tom Guthrie	CBS television film
	Cavedweller	Clint Windsor	Showtime Network television film Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award
	Miracle Run	Douglas Thomas	Lifetime Movie Network television film
2005	The Exonerated	Kerry	CourtTV television film
	Empire Falls	David Roby	HBO miniseries
	Mayday	John Berry	CBS television film
2004"05	Third Watch	Lieutenant/Captain John Miller	Episodes: "Alone Again, Naturally", "Last Will and Testament", The Hunter, Hunted", "The Greatest Detectives" and "Goodbye to Camelot"
2006	'	Daniel Webster
2007	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee	Henry L. Dawes	HBO television film Nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ben Nicholson	Episode: "Savant"
2008	Canterbury's Law	Matthew "Matt" Furey
2010	White Collar	Criminology Professor George Oswald	Episode: Copycat Caffrey
2011	Weeds	Foster "Chuck" Klein	Showtime original series: Season 7
	Prime Suspect	Lt. Kevin Sweeney	NBC original series: Season 1
2012	Elementary	Thomas "Tommy" Gregson	CBS original series: Season 1, main cast