Lee Tergesen
Encyclopedia
Lee Allen Tergesen is an American
actor
. He is best known for his roles as Tobias Beecher
in HBO’s prison drama Oz
and as Evan Wright
in Generation Kill
.
and graduated from Valley Regional High School
in nearby Deep River
.
He moved to New York
at the age of 18 to try to become an actor. He graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy
's two year program in Manhattan
, where, from 1986 to 1989, he worked at the Empire Diner. "I wasn't a great waiter. I was funny, but I gave a lot of attitude", he told Rosie Magazine in March 2002. He added: "The place is like a vortex for me." In 1989, the diner was where he met Tom Fontana
(Writer and Director of Oz), who lived around the corner from the diner.
He did some stage work during this time. "I was doing plays all the time, but there's no money in it", Tergesen said in a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, "After graduation, I thought I'd be making a living at it". He went to Los Angeles
to help Tom Fontana
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," Tergesen told the L.A. Times. The movie ended up being Point Break
, starring Keanu Reeves
and Patrick Swayze
. "It was the beginning of me never having to do anything else but act", he told LT.com in 1990.
. Tergesen then starred in Wayne's World
(1992) and Wayne's World 2
(1993), the 1994 series Weird Science
, and a recurring role in the first season of Homicide: Life on the Street
. Tergesen's career took off in 1997 with his critically acclaimed portrayal of Tobias Beecher
on HBO's Oz, a role he played until the series ended in 2003.
His film credits include Point Break
, Shaft
, Monster, The Forgotten, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
, and Wild Iris. He has made several appearances in TV shows such as ER
, Rescue Me
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
episode 517, Criminal Minds
episode 511, The 4400
, House
, Law & Order
and two of its spin-offs
, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
.
He played an Alcoholics Anonymous
sponsor in the second season of Desperate Housewives
, becoming romantically involved with Bree Hodge. He appeared in the USA Network
series Royal Pains
and in Seasons 4-5 of the Lifetime Network series Army Wives
. He plays Evan Wright in the HBO mini-series Generation Kill
.
through her marriage to Lee's brother, Chris Tergesen (who served as the music supervisor on Oz).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor 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 Beecher
Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher is a main character on the television show Oz, played by Lee Tergesen. He is one of only eight regular characters to survive the entire run of the show...
in HBO’s prison drama Oz
Oz (TV series)
Oz 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 premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...
and as Evan Wright
Evan Wright
Evan Wright is an American writer, journalist, author and television writer and producer. He has reported extensively on subcultures for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. His latest work is American Desperado, a book he co-wrote with Jon Roberts, who was featured in the documentary the Cocaine...
in Generation Kill
Generation Kill (TV series)
Generation Kill is a 2008 HBO television miniseries based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright about his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was adapted for television by David Simon,...
.
Early life
Tergesen was born in Ivoryton, ConnecticutIvoryton, Connecticut
Ivoryton 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. In the beginning combs, buttons, toothpicks, billiard balls, and...
and graduated from Valley Regional High School
Valley Regional High School
Valley Regional High School is located in Deep River, Connecticut, United States. It serves the three towns of Regional School District #4 - Essex, Chester, and Deep River.Since 2006, the school has had a high turnover in administrative leadership...
in nearby Deep River
Deep River, Connecticut
Deep River is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,629 at the 2010 census. The town center is also designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place...
.
He moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by 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 Academy
American Musical and Dramatic Academy
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy , is a college conservatory for the performing arts located in New York City and Los Angeles, California....
's two year program in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, where, from 1986 to 1989, he worked at the Empire Diner. "I wasn't a great waiter. I was funny, but I gave a lot of attitude", he told Rosie Magazine in March 2002. He added: "The place is like a vortex for me." In 1989, the diner was where he met Tom Fontana
Tom Fontana
Tom 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, St...
(Writer and Director of Oz), who lived around the corner from the diner.
He did some stage work during this time. "I was doing plays all the time, but there's no money in it", Tergesen said in a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, "After graduation, I thought I'd be making a living at it". He went to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune 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 Fontana
Tom Fontana
Tom 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, 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," Tergesen told the L.A. Times. The movie ended up being Point Break
Point Break
Point Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term point break, where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline.The film was a box office success upon...
, starring Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
and Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...
. "It was the beginning of me never having to do anything else but act", he told LT.com in 1990.
Career
Tergesen began his career with a bit role in the 1991 prime-time aired pilot, Acting SheriffActing Sheriff
Acting 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 World
Wayne's World (film)
Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris and starring Mike Myers in his film debut as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based Public-access television cable TV show Wayne's World...
(1992) and Wayne's World 2
Wayne's World 2
Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 comedy film starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a Public-access television cable TV show from Aurora, Illinois. The film was adapted from a sketch on NBC's Saturday Night Live and is the sequel to Wayne's World....
(1993), the 1994 series Weird Science
Weird Science (TV series)
Weird Science is a mid-1990s American comedy series made for television, based on the 1985 film of the same name.-Plot:The series 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 Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
. Tergesen's career took off in 1997 with his critically acclaimed portrayal of Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher is a main character on the television show Oz, played by Lee Tergesen. He is one of only eight regular characters to survive the entire run of the show...
on HBO's Oz, a role he played until the series ended in 2003.
His film credits include Point Break
Point Break
Point Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term point break, where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline.The film was a box office success upon...
, Shaft
Shaft (2000 film)
Shaft is a 2000 American action-crime film directed by John Singleton, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Pat Hingle, Toni Collette, Busta Rhymes, Vanessa L. Williams, and Mekhi Phifer. This film is not a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, but rather a sequel,...
, Monster, The Forgotten, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, a 2006 American slasher film, functions as a prequel to the 2003 remake of the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper , the film went into release in North America on October 6,...
, and Wild Iris. He has made several appearances in TV shows such as ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, Rescue Me
Rescue Me (TV series)
Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
episode 517, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
episode 511, The 4400
The 4400
The 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...
, House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
and two of its spin-offs
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
.
He played an Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
sponsor in the second season of Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, becoming romantically involved with Bree Hodge. He appeared in the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
series Royal Pains
Royal Pains
Royal Pains is a USA Network television series that premiered on June 4, 2009, starring Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint and Reshma Shetty. The series is based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies...
and in Seasons 4-5 of the Lifetime Network series Army Wives
Army Wives
Army Wives is an American drama series that follows the lives of four army wives, their families, and an army husband whose wife is in the army. The series, shot at ABC Studios, premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007...
. He plays Evan Wright in the HBO mini-series Generation Kill
Generation Kill (TV series)
Generation Kill is a 2008 HBO television miniseries based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright about his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was adapted for television by David Simon,...
.
Personal life
He is the brother-in-law of actress Toni LewisToni Lewis
Toni 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...
through her marriage to Lee's brother, Chris Tergesen (who served as the music supervisor on Oz).