Anthony Edwards was born in Santa Barbara, California, on July 19,
1962, to a well-blended family. He is the youngest of five children,
and the son of Erika Kem (Weber), a landscape painter and artist, and
Peter Edwards, an architect. His mother was of German descent, and his
father was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Spanish-Mexican ancestry.
Edwards's parents encouraged him to act at age 16, which eventually led
him to attending a summer workshop in London before graduating from
high school. Returning to the United States, Edwards worked in
commercials, jobs that helped him pay his education at The University
of Southern California, where he studied acting. However, he dropped
out of college and, in that same year, he had a small role in the movie
Ich glaub' ich steh' im Wald (1982),
starring Sean Penn. The movie was a
box office smash and Edwards was looking forward to doing more films.
His first movie role was that of teen-aged "John Muldowney" in
...und wenn der letzte Reifen platzt (1983) and
his first starring role as nerdy "Gilbert Lowell", in
Die Rache der Eierköpfe (1984).
Edwards didn't need to worry about being typecast as a
socially-challenged loser. After starring in
Der Volltreffer (1985) and
Gotcha! - Ein irrer Trip (1985), he landed another
big-time successful movie Top Gun (1986),
in which he played Tom Cruise's ill-fated
easy-going navigator/best friend, Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. As Cruise
rode Top Gun (1986) into the Hollywood
stratosphere, Edwards also found his flight to stardom, at the same
time. After Top Gun (1986), he reprised
his role as Gilbert in the movie
Die Supertrottel (1987),
before he starred in
Summer Heat (1987). He also starred
in Mr. North - Liebling der Götter (1988), and
Die Nacht der Entscheidung (1988), although they
weren't too successful.
Edwards began working in TV movies and continued to star in more box
office movies such as Hawks - Die Falken (1988),
Die Uni meiner Träume (1989),
Downtown (1990),
Friedhof der Kuscheltiere 2 (1992),
Fluch der Erinnerung (1992) and
Delta Heat - Erbarmungslose Jagd (1992). The '90s won
Edwards his best reviews for his recurring role of the quirky "bubble
man" Mike Monroe on the popular television series
Ausgerechnet Alaska (1990).
He was nominated for a Cable Ace Award in HBO's
Sexual Healing (1993), and the
following year, he starred in
Charlie's Ghost (1995),
before he played law clerk "Clint Von Hooser" in the
John Grisham movie
Der Klient (1994). This led to his
most prominent role, as easy-going charismatic physician "Dr. Mark
Greene" on the very popular TV series
Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994).
For his work on Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994), he was
nominated for an Emmy Award four times For Outstanding Lead Actor in a
Drama Series, but has never won. However, he has won a Golden Globe
Award For Best Performance by an Actor-in-a-TV-Series, and was
nominated four times, and also has two Screen Actor's Guild Awards.
Prior to playing Dr. Greene, he also played bank breaker turned
cold-blooded killer, "Dick Hickock" in the TV movie remake of
Truman Capote's
Kaltblütig (1996),
which was the best TV movie of the 1996-97 season. During Edwards'
hiatus on Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994), he went back to the
box office circuit to star and to produce the movie
Ein traumhaftes Missverständnis (1999),
a complex movie which wasn't a big hit. Edwards, once again, returned
to the set of Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994), and this time, he
signed up for a salary that almost no actor could be paid, so his
decision was to stay on the show for 3 more years and possibly to save
the money in order to spend a lot of family time and to work on
directing later.
His first big roles after Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994) were
that of "Brains" in the movie
Thunderbirds (2004), and as "Jim
Paretta" in Die Vergessenen (2004).
In the many years that he starred on
Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994), that show gave him more success
in working on and off the set. Also, it gave him a spiritual blessing
that so many popular actors have had over the years.
