John Corbett

John Corbett

Actor
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Life Story

John Corbett is an American actor who received Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Chris Stevens in Northern Exposure (1990), and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Aidan Shaw in Sex and the City (1998).

John was born John Joseph Corbett on May 9, 1961 in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Sandra (Pavilack) and John Marshall Corbett. He is of English, Irish, Lithuanian, and Russian-Jewish descent. John was raised Catholic, and graduated from Wheeling Central Catholic High School in 1979. He subsequently worked at a boiler-making factory in California for six years. After sustaining an injury, he left the factory to enroll at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California to study hairdressing, and took acting classes in the evenings.

Corbett began his acting career with a guest role in The Wonder Years (1988). His breakthrough role came two years later when he was cast as Chris Stevens in Northern Exposure (1990), for which he received Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He then played the lead role in The Visitor (1997), for which he received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor. Corbett portrayed one of Sarah Jessica Parker's love interests in Sex and the City (1998), for which he received his second Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2002, he starred as the male lead opposite Nia Vardalos in the blockbuster romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), and reprised his role in its sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016). Corbett also starred as the husband of Toni Collette's character in United States of Tara (2009), and portrayed guitarist Josiah 'Flash' Bacon in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2015).

Corbett has been in a relationship with actress Bo Derek since 2002, and the couple reside on a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. Aside from acting, he has released two country music albums, "John Corbett" in 2006 and "Leaving Nothin' Behind" in 2013.

 
Family

No info available

Trivia

Was a licensed hairstylist.
Is a part owner of a club in Seattle called the Fenix Underground.
Resides in Seattle, Washington (2002).
Plays guitar and piano.
Earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for playing disc jockey Chris Stevens on Northern Exposure (1990).
Developed a hunk status as Sarah Jessica Parker's former fiancé, Aidan Shaw, on Sex and the City (1998), and as Nia Vardalos's suitor, Ian Miller, in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). He was the only lead in the film to turn down a role in the TV spin-off.
Did a slew of TV commercials in his early years of acting, including a stint as spokesman for Ford Motor Company.
Worked in California as a steel laborer for six years, until a back injury forced him to look elsewhere. He then studied hairdressing by day at Cerritos College, and took acting classes by night.
Due to his commitment to Lucky (2003), he was not able to reprise his My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) role in the film's spin-off series, My Big Fat Greek Life (2003).
Good friends with Daryl Hannah.
Lives with his girlfriend Bo Derek on a ranch in Santa Ynez, California.
Released his debut, self-titled album in April 2006.
He met girlfriend Bo Derek on a blind date in 2002.
Reunited with Nia Vardalos, his My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) co-star, in I Hate Valentine's Day (2009), a romantic comedy that she directed.
Is the spokesperson for Applebee's restaurants.
His maternal grandfather was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, and his maternal grandmother was from a Lithuanian (Catholic) family. They both moved from Pennsylvania to West Virginia.

 

Personal Quotes 

Acting is a win-win situation. There is no risk involved. That's why I get tired of hearing actors who try to make out that there's a downside to it. Fame is an odd thing. It bugs you a little bit, but it's really not bad.
In Hollywood if you're good looking, tall, have okay teeth and nice skin, the odds of being successful are great. If you're short and fat, it's a different story. But as long as you look like a leading man type, half your job is done already.
Acting may be how I've made my living, but music has always been my passion.
Extra work [in film] is boring for the extras, and I started to feel like an extra with lines -- it wasn't that challenging to me. So I made a record and...the Nashville community really embraced me. But I gotta tell you, after a couple of years of being out on the road with three other guys in a van...you have a real appreciation of somebody coming to your trailer door and saying, "Mr. Corbett, can we get you a cappuccino?" What I found was, in the two years that I stopped doing it, I really missed it and liked the environment of a movie set and the relationships.
My job [on the set] is to suck it in and try not to [mess] up my words.
I was raised Catholic and I was an altar boy, though my father was a Jehovah's Witness and my mother was Jewish. I become a born-again Christian for a short time in the '80s; I've been to some Buddhist temples. I don't have any labels on me now...

 
Filmography

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