Date of Birth
11 October 1965, Mansfield, Ohio, USA
Birth Name
Coy Luther Perry III
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Luke Perry (born Coy Luther Perry III; October 11, 1965) is an American actor. Perry starred as Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role he played from 199095, and then from 19982000. Much publicity was garnered over the fact that even though he was playing a sixteen year old when 90210 began, Perry was actually in his mid-twenties at that time. Perry returned to 90210 in 1998 (this time billed as a permanent "Special Guest Star") and remained with the series until its conclusion in 2000.
After appearing in the music video "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" for the band Twisted Sister alongside Alice Cooper, Perry's earliest roles were in the daytime soap operas Loving (198788) and Another World (198889).
Following this, he then won the role of brooding millionaire's son Dylan McKay on Fox's appealing teen drama, Beverly Hills 90210. Ironically, he had auditioned for the role of Steve Sanders, a role that went to actor Ian Ziering before being cast as Dylan McKay. While starring on 90210, Perry then won a supporting role in the original film version of the Joss Whedon-written Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992). Even though the film wasn't very successful, Perry had already become a very popular teen idol in the early 1990s. Perry also starred in Terminal Bliss in 1992.
Perry starred as Lane Frost in 8 Seconds in 1994. In an attempt to find more mature roles, he decided to leave Beverly Hills 90210 in 1995. In the same year, he took a part in the Italian movie Vacanze di Natale '95, playing himself. Although he announced that 90210 was behind him, his departure would eventually turn out to be for only three years. During that time, Perry starred in the independent film Normal Life opposite Ashley Judd, starred in the TV sci-fi movieInvasion (1997), a Rodney King-era drama Riot (1997) and also had a small role in Luc Besson's sci-fi adventure film The Fifth Element (1997). Even though Perry had left 90210 in 1995, he returned in 1998 due to financial reasons. Perry starred in the 1999 film Storm. He then went on to star in a 2002 television movie called The Triangle.
From 2002 to 2004, he starred in the post-apocalyptic TV series Jeremiah. In 2006, Perry co-starred in the ensemble drama series Windfall, about a group of friends who win the lottery. The series ran for 13 episodes during the summer of 2006 on NBC. In 2007, he landed the role of Tommy "Santa" Santorelli on the film The Sandlot: Heading Home and in the 2008 western A Gunfighter's Pledge.
Perry appeared in the HBO series John from Cincinnati, which premiered on June 10, 2007, and ran for 10 episodes, with the series finale airing on August 12, 2007.
Perry also stars in the Swedish film ?ntligen Midsommar (Finally Midsummer) which was released in the summer of 2009.
Perry appeared on Broadway in 2001 in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show playing Brad Majors.
In 2004 he appeared in the London production of When Harry Met Sally as Harry, alongside Alyson Hannigan as Sally.
Perry was born in Mansfield, Ohio and raised in Fredericktown, Ohio, where he was the school mascot, the Fredericktown High School Freddie. His mother, Ann Bennett, was a homemaker, and his father, Coy Luther Perry, Jr., a steelworker. Perry likes to get home annually for the Fredericktown Tomato Show, an annual street fair. For the 2009 Tomato Show, he has agreed to be Grand Marshall of the parade.
He was married to former model Rachel Minnie Sharp from 1993 to 2003. The couple share joint custody of their two children, Jack (born June 1997) and Sophie (born June 2001). He had also dated actresses Yasmine Bleeth, Kelly Preston and his former Buffy co-star Kirsty Swanson. In 2002 he dated his former co-star of 90210 and of the 1997 film Invasion Rebecca Gayheart. In 2007 he dated award winning actress Renee Zellweger.
In the fall of 2008 he appeared at a rally with Bruce Springsteen and encouraged people to vote for Barack Obama.
Perry said of his role on Beverly Hills 90210 as bad boy Dylan McKay, Im going to be linked with him until I die, but thats actually just fine. I created Dylan McKay. Hes mine, however he has revealed he will definitely not be reprising his role on the spin-off. When you're in the professional acting business, he begins, you have to look into all these offers and I don't mean anything bad about it but creatively it's something I have done before and I don't know how it will benefit me if I do it again. He finally revealed a major reason as to why he doesn't want to be part of this revival, citing the show's long-time producer Aaron Spelling. The difference between CW bringing something back and Aaron Spelling doing something back is significant, he says. And I cannot do it without Aaron. However, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling will be reprising their roles.
During the 90s, Luke Perry was a very popular teen idol. He revealed that the crowd once got too big at a shopping mall and because of this he had to be escorted outside in a trolley by security. Luke once mentioned in an interview that he wished to sing along side Britney Spears.
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