Peter Gallagher

Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is a Golden Globe- and SAG-winning American actor, musician and writer. Gallagher was born in New York City, New York, the son of Mary, a bacteriologist, and Tom Gallagher, an advertising executive. He is of Irish Catholic background and was raised in Armonk, New York. Gallagher graduated from Tufts University, where he was very visible in the performance scene on campus, appearing in such shows as Stephen Sondheim's Company and singing with the all-male a cappella group the Beelzebubs. Gallagher appeared on Broadway with Glenn Close in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, but first achieved fame for his role in Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). He also starred as Sky Masterson in the 1992 Broadway Revival of Guys and Dolls. Gallagher played a potential career threat to Tim Robbins's studio executive in The Player (1992); the comatose "fiancé" of Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping (1995); an egotistical real estate salesman having an affair with Annette Bening in American Beauty (1999); a villainous media executive in Mr. Deeds (2002); and a political reporter exposing media ethics during a presidential debate in The Last Debate. From 2003 to 2007, Gallagher starred as Sandy Cohen, a Jewish public defender and corporate lawyer, on the Fox television show The O.C., a show which has introduced him to a whole new generation of TV viewers. He hosts an annual award ceremony named "The Sandy Cohen Awards" or The Sandys, which, in honor of his character on The O.C., gives a scholarship to a law school student at UC Berkeley who wants to become a public defender. Gallagher released an album entitled 7 Days in Memphis in 2005, on the Sony BMG label. This includes a studio recording of his performance of "Don't Give Up On Me" (originally by Solomon Burke), which was featured in an episode of The O.C. He also has a video for his single "Still I Long For Your Kiss", in which he starred with his TV-wife Kelly Rowan. Gallagher is also a keen video gamer. He has completed the "Career Mode" in Top Spin for the Xbox and is known to anonymously enter online competitions. On April 5, 2007, Gallagher received the Light on the Hill award at Tufts University. The award is given to notable alumni from Tufts who have demonstrated ambition, achievement, and active citizenship. Gallagher sang with the Beelzebubs and gave a speech to a full crowd in Cohen Auditorium.