Dylan McDermott

The Weight of a Borrowed Name

Dylan McDermott wasn't born Dylan. Mark Anthony was the name on his birth certificate until he decided to take the one his mother wanted to give her second son. She was shot and killed when he was five years old, and that trauma marked his childhood in Connecticut but also gave him a strange drive to survive in an industry that devours the weak.

His debut came with Hamburger Hill in 1987. It was a raw, uncompromising war film that didn't do well at the box office. But it got casting directors to take notice of that square-jawed young man with the intense stare. The shoot in the Philippines was a physical hell that almost made him quit acting before he'd even started.

Rejection became routine.

Over the following years, he piled up supporting roles in films like Steel Magnolias in 1989 and In the Line of Fire in 1993. On the latter, he shared scenes with Clint Eastwood and learned that in film, it's sometimes better to stay quiet than to talk too much. His paycheck back then barely covered his agent's fees and the rent on his apartment in Los Angeles.

The Courtroom and the Dark Reinvention

In 1997 he signed the contract that would change his bank account. David E. Kelley cast him to star in The Practice. For seven seasons he played Bobby Donnell and became the familiar face of legal drama on television. He won a Golden Globe in 1999 after convincing critics he could carry a hit series.

And television turned its back on him for a while.

After leaving the series, interesting projects stopped knocking on his door. He appeared in forgettable productions and pilots that never aired. But his professional relationship with Ryan Murphy brought him back into the spotlight in 2011. In the first season of American Horror Story, he played an unfaithful psychiatrist in a haunted house. It was a smart move, because it left behind his traditional leading-man image to embrace far more twisted characters.

In 2020, he reunited with Murphy for the miniseries Hollywood. He played Ernie, the owner of a gas station that served as a front for a male prostitution ring. He agreed to wear prosthetics and makeup to look older and move away from his 1990s look for good. The industry rewarded that effort with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

His ability to stay on the air was confirmed again in 2022. He joined FBI: Most Wanted to replace Julian McMahon in the role of Remy Scott. Filming the third season required an immediate move to New York under a three-year contract that included absolute availability clauses for possible crossovers between CBS franchises.

The deal was closed for a figure close to seven million dollars per season.