Rob Lowe Biography

Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor. He came to prominence as a teen idol in the 1980s, appearing in teen and young adult film roles in The Outsiders (1983), Oxford Blues (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), and About Last Night... (1986). Thereafter, his film career decreased and he ventured into television, making his breakthrough as Sam Seaborn on the NBC political drama The West Wing (1999-2003), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Award nominations. Lowe appeared as Robert McCallister on the ABC television drama Brothers & Sisters (2006-2010), followed by a four-year run as Chris Traeger on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2010-14), for which he was critically acclaimed. He is currently starring as Dr. Ethan Willis on the CBS medical drama Code Black (2015-) and appears with his two sons, Matthew and Jon Owen, in the A&E reality series The Lowe Files (2017-).

In addition to his 2001 Emmy nomination for The West Wing, Lowe has six Golden Globe Award nominations, which span four of the seven categories for male actors.

Early life

Lowe was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Barbara Lynn (ne Hepler; 1939-2003), a schoolteacher and native of Connecticut, and Charles Davis Lowe (b. 1939), a trial lawyer. His parents divorced when Lowe and his younger brother Chad were very young.

Lowe was baptized into the Episcopal church. He is of German, English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. On the show Who Do You Think You Are?, Lowe found out that one of his ancestors, Christopher East, was a Hessian soldier. His ancestor was fighting under the command of Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall and was captured at the American victory at Trenton, New Jersey, on the morning of December 26, 1776. As an American POW, his ancestor was given a choice, and took the option to stay in the United States.

Lowe was raised in a "traditional American setting" in Dayton, Ohio, attending Oakwood Junior High School, before moving to the Point Dume area of Malibu, California, with his mother and brother.

Career

One of Lowe's earliest roles came in the 1983 TV film Thursday's Child, for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. His breakthrough role was his big screen debut in 1983, when he and Emilio Estevez were cast in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders. Lowe played the role of Sodapop Curtis, the brother of the main character Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell) and Darrel Curtis (Patrick Swayze). Lowe and Estevez reunited in St. Elmo's Fire, making them the two more prominent actors from the group known as the Brat Pack. About Last Night... followed, with Demi Moore (who had starred alongside Lowe in St. Elmo's Fire). He then received his second Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the mentally disabled Rory in Square Dance (1987). In August 1987 he performed on stage, playing Baron Tusenbach in Chekov's The Three Sisters at The Williamstown Theatre Festival. He recalled meeting Paul Newman there, and that the older actor encouraged him to work in the theatre in 1993 when filming a British TV production of the Tennessee Williams play Suddenly, Last Summer with (the now) Dame Maggie Smith and Natasha Richardson.

Lowe is well known for playing Sam Seaborn in the television series The West Wing from 1999 - 2003 (and briefly in 2006). His performance in the show garnered Lowe a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Lowe was drawn to the role because of his personal love of politics, and his longstanding personal relationship with Martin Sheen, who was cast as President Bartlet. When the show premiered, Seaborn was considered the lead, and the pilot centered on the character. But the acclaimed cast of the show"?including Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Dul Hill, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Martin Sheen (whose President Bartlet was initially scripted as a small role) and Stockard Channing (whose First Lady was initially scripted as a guest role)"? were all strong actors and eventually Lowe's character was no longer the lead. Lowe and series creator Aaron Sorkin soon found themselves at odds over the network's meddling with the show, most notably the network demanding changes in the Sam Seaborn character. Eventually, Lowe left the series, not long before Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme unceremoniously quit over a dispute with NBC. During the final season of The West Wing, Lowe returned to his role of Sam Seaborn, appearing in two of the final four episodes. In 2011, Lowe appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and stated that he left the show because he did not feel he was being respected, when the other lead characters received a raise and he did not.

After leaving the show, Lowe was the star and executive producer of a failed NBC drama, The Lyon's Den (2003). In 2004, he tried again in a series entitled Dr. Vegas, but it also was quickly cancelled. In 2005, he starred as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee in a London West End production of Sorkin's play A Few Good Men, the first time the two had worked together since The West Wing. Although Lowe had expressed unhappiness about his decreased role on that show at the time of his departure, he has now repeatedly said that any animosity between them is over and that he was pleased to be working once more with Sorkin, whose talents as a writer Lowe highly regards. Lowe passed on the role of Dr. Derek Shepherd of Grey's Anatomy, which eventually went to Patrick Dempsey.

Despite his two cancelled TV series and flops like View From the Top and the made-for-TV movie Perfect Strangers during his post-West Wing run, Lowe found success in the TV miniseries genre. The year 2004 marked his return to this genre; he had appeared in 1994's The Stand, based on Stephen King's book of the same name. In 2004 Lowe starred in the TNT remake of the Stephen King miniseries Salem's Lot which was the highest rated cable program of that summer and the highest ratings TNT original programming had at the time. In 2005 Lowe starred in the miniseries Beach Girls on the Lifetime network, based on the Luanne Rice novel of the same name. The series premiere received the highest ratings for a movie premiere in Lifetime history. In that same year, Lowe filmed his role as a movie agent in the 2006 independent film Thank You for Smoking. In 2006 he filmed The Perfect Day for TNT, in which he took a pay cut to film in New Orleans in order to help the hurricane-ravaged area. That same year, Lowe filmed Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming, the sequel to the 1999 Kevin Bacon thriller Stir of Echoes.

In 2006, it was announced that Lowe would join the cast of Brothers & Sisters for a guest run of several episodes. In January 2007, ABC announced that Lowe would be staying on Brothers and Sisters as a "special guest star" for the rest of Season 1 after Lowe's initial appearance on the show in November 2006 brought the best ratings and demographic showing for the show since its premiere. Soon after ABC announced an early Season 2 renewal for Brother & Sisters in March 2007, Lowe announced he would be returning for the show's second season. He continued to appear in the series until the end of the 2009-10 season. Unhappy with the stories and his lack of screen time in the fourth season, Lowe announced he would leave. In an episode broadcast on May 16, 2010, his character was part of a multi-vehicle crash involving a large truck and was put into a coma, the storyline was wrapped up in the first episode of the fifth season; Lowe did not appear in the episode.

In June 2006, he was the guest host for an episode in the third series of The Friday Night Project for the United Kingdom's Channel 4. Lowe has also appeared in a televised advertisement for 'Visit California', along with other celebrities including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (In the advertisement campaign, he was usually pictured in a white tee-shirt printed with the California state flag.) Lowe had a supporting role in the 2009 movie The Invention of Lying and a leading role in Too Late to Say Goodbye.

In 2010, he appeared in the biography of the Brat Packers called: Brat Pack: Where Are They Now? He also appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Lowe is currently teaming up with 44 Blue to produce a reality series entitled Potomac Fever about young adults living in Washington, D.C.

In July 2010, it was announced that Lowe would be providing the voice for the superhero Captain Marvel in the upcoming animated series, Young Justice. It was also announced in July 2010 that Lowe would become a series regular on the series Parks and Recreation. In 2011, Lowe guest starred in a recurring role on Showtime's comedy Californication. Lowe featured as the troubled but in-demand actor Eddie Nero - a character based upon "about ten people", according to Lowe but somewhat contradicted by sources at Showtime itself - employed to portray Hank in a film version of his book, Fucking and Punching.

In 2011, Lowe wrote a memoir titled Stories I Only Tell My Friends, which was released in May 2011. During his promotional tour for Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Lowe told Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show that during his five-day press visit to Australia in 1990, he was so badly affected by the overuse of painkillers that the only two things he remembers from the trip were being at the Sydney Zoo and getting a tattoo, although he states in his book that he does not remember getting the tattoo. In 2014, Lowe wrote a second book titled Love Life, which was released in April that year. He uses stories and observations from his life in a poignant and humorous series of true tales about men and women, art and commerce, fathers and sons, addiction and recovery, and sex and love.

In 2014, Lowe starred in a pilot for the single-camera comedy The Pro as Ben Bertrahm, a former professional tennis player. The pilot was not picked up for series.

In 2014, Lowe narrated The '90s: The Last Great Decade? on the National Geographic Channel, which aired in July of that year.

In 2015, Lowe starred in the satirical thriller Pocket Listing.

Lowe has been a commercial spokesman for DirecTV since fall 2014. Commercials featuring Lowe contrast him with some alternate, less appealing form of Lowe, who instead has cable. The advertisements were pulled in April 2015 after the National Advertising Division, acting on a complaint by Comcast, found DirecTV's claims about its customer satisfaction, quality, and ranking to be less than truthful.

In February 2015, Fox announced they had greenlit a pilot for the comedy The Grinder starring Rob Lowe and directed by Jake Kasdan. The pilot, unfortunately, was never ordered to series by Fox.

Since November 2015, Lowe voices Simba in the Disney movie and series The Lion Guard.

In December 2015, Lowe was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located in front of the Musso and Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard.

In 2015, Lowe launched Profile, a men's skincare product line. The line features a collection of five antiaging products specially formulated for men. It is currently sold at Nordstrom stores and online. The product collection includes a cleanser, a shave gel, an aftershave serum, a moisturizer, and an eye serum in the price range of $24.50 to $59.50. In 2016, Lowe launched a fragrance product line called 18 Amber Wood with the Profile brand.

On August 27, 2016, a TV special for Comedy Central Roasts was recorded and aired on September 5, 2016, with Rob Lowe as the Roastee and David Spade as Roast Master. Amongst the Roasters were Jewel, Nikki Glaser, Ralph Macchio, Pete Davidson, Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle, Jimmy Carr, Ann Coulter and the "Roast Master General" Jeff Ross.

On April 21, 2017, KFC released a campaign featuring Lowe as astronaut Colonel Sanders giving a JFK speech spoof/homage about launching the Zinger chicken sandwich into space. Lowe said in a statement that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to meet Harland Sanders.

In late autumn 2017, Rob began a reality series with his two sons, 24-year-old Matthew and 22-year-old Jon Owen, on A&E titled The Lowe Files. With the exception of the hour-long pilot, the series features 30-minute road trips with the Lowe boys, and occasional TV guest stars known in the field, investigating common urban myths and legends that Rob has loved since he was a young boy and has shared with his boys throughout their growth, sometimes to the frustration of the boys' mom and Lowe's wife, Sheryl. Some of the topics being explored are Bigfoot/Sasquatch, the alleged unidentified "submerged" objects that may have a base right off the coast from L.A., alien abduction, and ghosts and their direct responses to stumuli. The series debuted on August 2, 2017.

Personal life

Family and relationships

Lowe married Sheryl Berkoff in 1991. They met twice, once at a speed dating session, and again on the set of Lowe's movie, Bad Influence. The couple have two sons: Matthew Edward Lowe (b. 1993), and John Owen Lowe (b. 1995).

Sex tape

In 1988, Lowe was involved in a sex scandal over a videotape of him having sex with a 16-year-old girl he met in a nightclub. They were videotaped the night before the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. As the age of consent in Georgia was 14 at the time (until 1995 when it was raised to 16), both were of legal age to engage in sexual activity, although 18 was the legal age to be involved in such a recording. At the time, Lowe was campaigning for Michael Dukakis.

Another part of the same tape was leaked at the time, showing Lowe and his friend Justin Moritt both having vaginal and oral sex with a young American model named Jennifer, who was never identified, in a hotel room in Paris. This part of the original tape was sold as one of the first commercially available celebrity sex tapes, damaging Lowe's public image. Eventually, his career rebounded, and Lowe mocked his own behavior during two post-scandal appearances as host of Saturday Night Live.

Nanny lawsuit cases

In April 2008, Lowe filed separate lawsuits against three former employees accusing them of breach of contract, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lowe accused an ex"?nanny of engaging in a scheme to hurt the couple by spreading "malicious lies". Another former nanny was accused of falsely claiming to have had a personal and intimate relationship with Lowe, and also repeatedly expressing romantic interest in Lowe, claiming Lowe sexually harassed her and that Sheryl Lowe was an abusive employer. Rob Lowe claimed a former chef engaged in sex on their bed when the family was out of town, stole prescription drugs from the Lowes, broke several security cameras, overcharged them for food, and allegedly made statements to various people that Sheryl was heartless, cold and unclean.

Jessica Gibson, Lowe's 24-year-old former nanny, made 12 allegations against Lowe involving sexual harassment claims and labor-code violations. On June 19, 2008, Santa Barbara, California, Superior Court Judge Denise de Bellefeuille dismissed two allegations regarding labor-code violations due to lack of legal basis. The legal battle ended in May 2009, the press reported that court records showed that lawsuits filed by both nannies and Lowe were dismissed in Santa Barbara. Attorneys for both women and Lowe sought the dismissals.

Philanthropy

Lowe was the first male spokesperson for the 2000 Lee National Denim Day fundraiser, which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and education. His grandmother and great-grandmother both suffered from breast cancer, and his mother died of the disease in late 2003.

Lowe is a founder of the Homeowner's Defense Fund, a Santa Barbara County non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to local control of land-use planning and transparency in government. The average price of tract homes in Santa Barbara in early 2006 was US$1,100,000, which motivated some to propose denser housing on existing lots. While in favor of increasing housing density, Lowe sought to build a mansion for himself on an empty lot in Montecito, California. His protest over the appearance of the address of the empty lot in the Santa Barbara News-Press precipitated a mass resignation of senior employees at that newspaper on July 6, 2006.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	The Outsiders	Sodapop Curtis
1983	Class	Franklin 'Skip' Burroughs IV
1984	The Hotel New Hampshire	John Berry
1984	Oxford Blues	Nick De Angelo
1985	Go-Go's: Prime Time	Hunk at the dance
1985	St. Elmo's Fire	Billy Hixx
1986	Youngblood	Dean Youngblood
1986	About Last Night	Danny Martin
1987	Square Dance	Rory	aka Home Is Where the Heart Is
1988	Masquerade	Tim Whalen
1988	Illegally Yours	Richard Dice
1990	If the Shoe Fits	Francesco Salvitore
1990	Bad Influence	Alex
1991	The Finest Hour	Lawrence Hammer
1991	The Dark Backward	Dirk Delta
1992	Wayne's World	Benjamin Kane
1994	Frank and Jesse	Jesse James
1995	Tommy Boy	Paul Barish	Uncredited
1997	For Hire	Mitch Lawrence
1997	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	Decapitated henchman's friend	Uncredited
1997	Living in Peril	Walter Woods
1997	Contact	Richard Rank
1997	Hostile Intent	Cleary
1998	One Hell of a Guy	Nick
1998	Crazy Six	Billie, a.k.a. Crazy Six
1999	Dead Silent	Kevin Finney
1999	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Number Two from 1969
2000	The Specials	The Weevil/Tony
2001	Proximity	William Conroy
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Middle Number Two
2003	View from the Top	Co-Pilot Steve Bench
2005	Thank You for Smoking	Jeff Megall
2009	Majesty	Himself
2009	The Invention of Lying	Brad Kessler
2009	Too Late To Say Goodbye	Bart Corbin
2011	I Melt with You	Jonathan
2011	Breakaway	Coach Dan Winters
2012	Knife Fight	Paul Turner
2014	Sex Tape	Hank Rosenbaum
2014	The Interview	Himself	Uncredited cameo
2016	Pocket Listing	Frank Hunter
2016	Monster Trucks	Reece Tenneson
2017	How to Be a Latin Lover	Rick the Gigolo
2017	Mune: Guardian of the Moon	Sohone (voice)
2018	Super Troopers 2	Guy Le Franc	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979-80	A New Kind of Family	Tony Flannagan	11 episodes
1980	ABC Afterschool Special	Charles Elderberry	Episode: "Schoolboy Father"
1981	ABC Afterschool Special	Jeff Bartlett	Episode: "A Matter of Time"
1983	Thursday's Child	Sam Alden	Television film
1990-2000	Saturday Night Live	Host	3 episodes
1993	Great Performances	Doctor Cukrowicz	Episode: "Suddenly, Last Summer"
1994	The Stand	Nick Andros	Television miniseries; 4 episodes
1995	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself	Episode: "The Bump"
1995	Midnight Man	Sean Dillon	Television film
1996	On Dangerous Ground	Sean Dillon	Television film
1996	First Degree	Det. Rick Mallory	Television film
1998	Stories from My Childhood	Ivan (voice)	Episode: "Ivan and His Magic Pony"
1998	Outrage	Tom Casey	Television film
1999	Atomic Train	John Seger	Television film
1999	Winding Roads	Partygoer	Television film
1999-2006	The West Wing	Sam Seaborn	79 episodes
2000	Under Pressure	John Spencer	Television film
2001	Jane Doe	David Doe	Television film
2002	Framed	Det. Mike Santini	Television film
2002	The Christmas Shoes	Robert Layton	Television film
2003	The Lyon's Den	Jack Turner	13 episodes
2004	Dr. Vegas	Dr. Billy Grant	10 episodes
2004	Salem's Lot	Ben Mears	2 episodes
2004	Perfect Strangers	Lloyd Rockwell	Television film
2005	Beach Girls	Jack Kilvert	6 episodes
2005	The Christmas Blessing	Robert Layton	Television film
2006-10	Brothers & Sisters	Robert McCallister	77 episodes
2006	A Perfect Day	Rob Harlan	Television film
2007	Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming	Ted Cogan	Television film
2007-09	Family Guy	Stanford Cordray/Himself (voice)	Episodes: "Road to Rupert" and "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven"
2010-15	Parks and Recreation	Chris Traeger	76 episodes
2011	Young Justice	Captain Marvel (voice)	2 episodes
2011-14	Californication	Eddie Nero	6 episodes
2012	Drew Peterson: Untouchable	Drew Peterson	Television film
2013	Prosecuting Casey Anthony	Jeff Ashton	Television film
2013	Behind the Candelabra	Dr. Jack Startz	Television film
2013	Killing Kennedy	John F. Kennedy	Television film
2013	Franklin & Bash	Himself	Episode: "Shoot to Kill"
2015	Beautiful & Twisted	Ben Novack, Jr.	Television film
2015	Moonbeam City	Dazzle Novak (voice)	10 episodes
2015-16	The Grinder	Dean Sanderson	22 episodes
2015	You, Me and the Apocalypse	Father Jude Sutton	8 episodes
2015	The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar	Simba (voice)	Television film
2016-present	The Lion Guard	Simba (voice)	13 episodes
2016	Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe	Himself/Roastee	Television special
2016-present	Code Black	Dr. Ethan Willis
2017	The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar	Simba (voice)
2017-present	The Lowe Files	Rob Lowe	Himself/ Series lead

Video game

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Fox Hunt	Edison Pettibone	Live action

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1983	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Thursday's Child
1988	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture	Square Dance
2000	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor - Television Series Drama	The West Wing
2001	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor - Television Series Drama	The West Wing
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The West Wing
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The West Wing
2002	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The West Wing
2003	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The West Wing
2014	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Behind the Candelabra
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Killing Kennedy
2016	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy	The Grinder
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Actor in a New TV Series	The Grinder