Lee Allen Tergesen (born July 8, 1965) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is best known for his roles as
Tobias BeecherTobias Beecher is a main fictional character on the television show Oz, played by American actor Lee Tergesen.-Character overview:Prisoner 97B412. Convicted July 5, 1997 - Driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in four. Parole denied in 2001. Granted...
in HBO’s prison drama
OzOz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz aired for six seasons...
and as
Evan WrightEvan Wright is an American writer, journalist, author and television writer and producer. Wright attended Vassar College in New York, where he majored in medieval history. In 1995, he became the entertainment editor and chief pornographic film reviewer for Hustler magazine...
in
Generation KillGeneration Kill is a 2008 HBO television miniseries based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright, and adapted for television by David Simon, Ed Burns, and Wright. The series premiered on July 13, 2008 and spanned seven episodes. It is produced by Simon, Burns, Nina K...
.
Tergesen was born in
IvorytonIvoryton is a small village in the town of Essex in the state of Connecticut in the United States. It was known for its production of pianos in the early 20th century and takes its name from the ivory industry that imported tusks to be shaped into the covering for piano and organ keys...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
and graduated from
Valley Regional High SchoolValley Regional High School is located in Deep River, Connecticut, United States. It serves all three towns of Regional School District #4: Essex, Chester, and Deep River.- Administration :...
in
Deep RiverDeep River is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,610 at the 2000 census. The town center is also designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
.
While Lee was in high school his grandmother worried about his choice of acting as a career. He recounts that when she asked "What are you going to fall back on?", he responded, "'Well, grandma, if I have something to fall back on, won't I fall back?', which is sort of a youthful attitude, but I've always followed my gut".
Lee moved to
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the age of 18 to try to become an actor.
Lee Allen Tergesen (born July 8, 1965) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is best known for his roles as
Tobias BeecherTobias Beecher is a main fictional character on the television show Oz, played by American actor Lee Tergesen.-Character overview:Prisoner 97B412. Convicted July 5, 1997 - Driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in four. Parole denied in 2001. Granted...
in HBO’s prison drama
OzOz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz aired for six seasons...
and as
Evan WrightEvan Wright is an American writer, journalist, author and television writer and producer. Wright attended Vassar College in New York, where he majored in medieval history. In 1995, he became the entertainment editor and chief pornographic film reviewer for Hustler magazine...
in
Generation KillGeneration Kill is a 2008 HBO television miniseries based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright, and adapted for television by David Simon, Ed Burns, and Wright. The series premiered on July 13, 2008 and spanned seven episodes. It is produced by Simon, Burns, Nina K...
.
Early life
Tergesen was born in
IvorytonIvoryton is a small village in the town of Essex in the state of Connecticut in the United States. It was known for its production of pianos in the early 20th century and takes its name from the ivory industry that imported tusks to be shaped into the covering for piano and organ keys...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
and graduated from
Valley Regional High SchoolValley Regional High School is located in Deep River, Connecticut, United States. It serves all three towns of Regional School District #4: Essex, Chester, and Deep River.- Administration :...
in
Deep RiverDeep River is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,610 at the 2000 census. The town center is also designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
.
While Lee was in high school his grandmother worried about his choice of acting as a career. He recounts that when she asked "What are you going to fall back on?", he responded, "'Well, grandma, if I have something to fall back on, won't I fall back?', which is sort of a youthful attitude, but I've always followed my gut".
Lee moved to
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the age of 18 to try to become an actor. He graduated from the
American Musical and Dramatic AcademyThe American Musical and Dramatic Academy , is a college conservatory for the performing arts located in New York City and Los Angeles, California....
in
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
(two-year program). In 1986 - 89 he worked at the Empire Diner in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. "I wasn't a great waiter. I was funny, but I gave a lot of attitude," he said in
Rosie Magazine, March 2002. However, he said, "The place is like a vortex for me." Two marriages and a career came out of there, he explained. Both Tanya Lewis and Leslie Howitt worked there. And, in 1989, the diner was where he met
Tom FontanaTom Fontana is an American writer and producer.-TV career:Fontana has been a writer/producer for such series as Oz , The Jury, The Beat, The Bedford Diaries, Homicide: Life on the Street and St...
(Writer and Director of
Oz), who lived around the corner from the diner.
Lee did some stage work during this time. "I was doing plays all the time, but there's no money in it," Lee said in a
1995 Los Angeles Times article, "After graduation, I thought I'd be making a living at it". His big brother, Chris Tergesen, kept him on track, "If you love it, you have to stick with it" he told Lee.
Lee grew his hair long to counteract the straight-arrow type of roles his agents thought he should try for. He went to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
to help
Tom FontanaTom Fontana is an American writer and producer.-TV career:Fontana has been a writer/producer for such series as Oz , The Jury, The Beat, The Bedford Diaries, Homicide: Life on the Street and St...
move house. While dining at a restaurant on the day after arriving in L.A., a casting director and friend of Fontana's asked Lee if he was an actor. "He told me there was a part in this movie and at that time, I couldn't imagine what it could be," Lee told the
L.A. Times. The movie ended up being "
Point BreakPoint Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term "point break"....
," starring
Keanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Lebanese-born Canadian-American actor, best known for his portrayals of a spaced-out metalhead in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and in two action films that were both financial and critical successes: the "ticking time bomb" thriller...
and
Patrick SwayzePatrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best-known for his roles as romantic leading men in the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries...
. "It was the beginning of me never having to do anything else but act," Lee said on
LT.com in 1990.
Career
Tergesen began his career with a bit role in the 1991 prime-time aired pilot,
Acting SheriffActing Sheriff is an unsold, half-hour television pilot created by Walt Disney Television for television network CBS that aired across the United States on Saturday, August 17, 1991 at 10:30 PM...
. Tergesen then starred in
Wayne's WorldWayne's World is a 1992 comedy film starring Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based cable access television show Wayne's World...
(
1992The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films :source: - Awards :Academy Awards:*Article 99B...
) and
Wayne's World 2Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 comedy film starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a cable access television show from Aurora, Illinois. The movie was adapted from a sketch on NBC's Saturday Night Live and is the sequel to Wayne's World....
(
1993The year 1993 in film involved many significant films. -Events:...
), the
1994The year 1994 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1994.For the American TV schedule, see: 1994-95 United States network television schedule.-Events:...
series
Weird ScienceWeird Science is a mid-1990s American comedy series made for television, based on the 1985 movie of the same name.-Plot:The show follows the adventures of Gary Wallace and Wyatt Donnelly , two socially inept high school students in an unspecified town in California...
and a recurring role in the first season of
Homicide: Life on the StreetHomicide: Life on the Street was an American television police procedural series chronicling the work of a fictional Baltimore Police Department homicide unit. It ran for seven seasons on the NBC network from 1993 to 1999 and then was followed by a 2000 TV-movie that served as a de facto series...
. Tergesen's career took off in 1997 with his critically acclaimed portrayal of
Tobias BeecherTobias Beecher is a main fictional character on the television show Oz, played by American actor Lee Tergesen.-Character overview:Prisoner 97B412. Convicted July 5, 1997 - Driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in four. Parole denied in 2001. Granted...
on HBO's
Oz, a role he played until the series ended in 2003.
His film credits include
Point BreakPoint Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term "point break"....
,
Shaft,
MonsterMonster is a 2003 biographical-crime-drama-thriller about serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a former prostitute who was executed in 2002 for killing seven men in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Wuornos was played by Charlize Theron, and her lover, Selby Wall, was played by Christina Ricci...
,
The Forgotten,
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The BeginningThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, a 2006 horror film, functions as a prequel to the remake of the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper , it had its North American release on October 6, 2006...
, and
Wild Iris. He has made several appearances in TV shows such as
ERER is an American medical drama series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 1994 to April 2009. It is set primarily in the emergency room of fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment in...
,
Rescue MeRescue Me is an American television drama series which premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictional Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse....
,
The 4400The 4400 is a science fiction TV series produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Sky Television, Renegade 83 and American Zoetrope for USA Network. The show was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, and it stars Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie...
,
Law & OrderLaw & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, which premiered on NBC on September 13, 1990. Created by Dick Wolf, the series is set in New York City, and follows the professional lives of several police officers and prosecutors who represent the public interest in...
, and one of its
spin-offA spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator...
s,
Law & Order: Criminal IntentLaw & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural TV series, which premiered on September 30, 2001. The series is about the Major Case Squad in a fictional version of the New York City Police Department set in New York City's One Police Plaza and is the second spin-off of the...
. He also plays an
Alcoholics AnonymousAlcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship of men and women who share a desire to stop drinking alcohol, and subsequently maintain their sobriety...
sponsor in the second season of
Desperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, becoming romantically involved with Bree Hodge. Tergesen played U.S. Marshall Eddie Drake in the
TNTTNT is an American cable TV channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner which also owns Cartoon Network. However, despite the fact that it is a channel, it is seen all across the United States, much like a television...
series
WantedWanted is a 2005 American primetime police drama television series broadcast on the TNT network. The series was created by Louis St. Clair and Jorge Zamacona, and executive produced by Aaron Spelling, E...
. Recently, he appeared in the
USA NetworkUSA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1977. The channel shows a variety of original and second-run programming, from syndicated TV series to edited movies...
series
Royal PainsRoyal Pains is a USA cable network television series starring Mark Feuerstein. The pilot was filmed on location on Long Island, New York in spring and fall of 2008. The Hollywood Reporter reported on January 5 that the series was picked up for a 12-episode season. The theme song is "Independence"...
. He plays Evan Wright in the HBO mini-series
Generation KillGeneration Kill is a 2008 HBO television miniseries based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright, and adapted for television by David Simon, Ed Burns, and Wright. The series premiered on July 13, 2008 and spanned seven episodes. It is produced by Simon, Burns, Nina K...
.
Personal life
Tergesen's mother died of breast
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
in 1989. Lee has a tattoo on the back of his calf of the Japanese
kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
character for 'Mother' inside a sun.
He has no feeling in one of his index fingers due to an injury he sustained while banging his hands on the prison bars in his first scene as
Tobias BeecherTobias Beecher is a main fictional character on the television show Oz, played by American actor Lee Tergesen.-Character overview:Prisoner 97B412. Convicted July 5, 1997 - Driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in four. Parole denied in 2001. Granted...
on HBO's
Oz.
He is the brother-in-law of actress
Toni LewisToni Lewis is an actress best known for playing Terri Stivers on Homicide: Life on the Street. The role led to her receiving a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She is also known for playing Valerie Murphy on As The World Turns.She is married...
through her marriage to Lee's brother, Chris Tergesen.
External links