Tom Berenger Biography
Born: May 31, 1949
Date of Birth: May 31, 1949
Birth name: Thomas Michael Moore
He may have won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination for his stark performance as the sadistic, battle-weary sergeant in Oliver Stone's Platoon, but Tom Berenger is equally adept at portraying confident, easy-going charmers.
Berenger's rugged good looks found him instant work in soap operas, with a recurring role in One Life To Live. That led to film work in 1977's Looking for Mr. Goodbar (he wasn't Mr. Goodbar) and as a surrogate Paul Newman in the prequel, Butch and Sundance: The Early Years. His charismatic charm was also put to good use when he played a TV star (mirroring real life) in The Big Chill.
From a singing cowboy in Rustler's Rhapsody to the brutal Sergeant Barnes of Platoon was a huge leap for Berenger, but one that won him acclaim and pointed his career in a new direction. From this point on, Berenger would alternate between playing the dark brooders of Sliver and The Substitute with laid back nice guys like Major League's Jake Taylor.
A surprise nice guy role for Berenger was that of Kirstie Alley's boyfriend in the last few episodes of Cheers, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. He landed a regular role on the USA Network's western series Peacemakers in 2003, and although the show was short-lived, he shared a Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Factual or Fictional Drama with his co-workers. Although he still makes the occasional film appearance, these days Berenger concentrates his efforts in TV movies and mini-series such as The Detective, Sniper 3, Capital City and The Junction Boys.
Married three times, Berenger has two children with his first wife and three daughters with his second wife. He's been married since 1997 to his third wife, Patricia, with whom he has a daughter named Scout.