Michael Pare

[sweetspice]

Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor.

Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan, a homemaker, and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. He had six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry and his mother of Irish ancestry. His father died from leukemia when Paré was five, leaving his mother to raise the large family of children. A good athlete, his primary sport in high school was wrestling. Paré first studied to be a chef at the Culinary Institute of America, and was working in that trade when he was approached to work as a male model. This opened the door into acting, having been discovered by agent and casting director Joyce Selznick, and in the 1980s he studied acting under Uta Hagen.

His first starring role was as Tony Villicana on the television series The Greatest American Hero. He has had numerous B movie roles. His most well known film roles were as Eddie Wilson in Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) and its sequel Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! (1989), as well as his lead role in The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). Other films included Streets of Fire (1984), Moon 44 (1990), Deadly Heroes (1994), Village of the Damned (1995), Bad Moon (1996), 2103:The Deadly Wake (1997), Hope Floats (1998), The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness (2004). He also appeared in the 2006 film BloodRayne, and its 2007 direct to DVD sequel BloodRayne II: Deliverance. He is set to appear in Uwe Boll's film adaptation of the video game Far Cry as well as Seed and Postal.

He was not the original choice to portray the Marvel Comics character Frank Castle (also known as The Punisher), in the 1989 film adaptation The Punisher (the part eventually went to Dolph Lundgren). However, in 2009 he appeared against Dolph Lundgren in Direct Contact.

On television, Paré starred with Michael Beck in the CBS police drama "Houston Knights" from 1987-1988, and he starred in the short-lived science fiction TV series Starhunter in 2001.

Paré works in the Brian Yuzna project Amphibious 3D.

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