Adrian Pasdar
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Adrian Pasdar was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to
Rosemarie Pasdar (née Sbresny), who
owns a travel agency, and Homayoon Pasdar, a prominent heart surgeon.
His father is Iranian and his mother, who was born in Germany, is of
German, and some Polish, descent. At the age of 2, his father moved the
family to Powelton, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In high
school, he excelled at football, eventually leading to a football
scholarship at the University of Florida in 1983. Football may have
been a promising future, had it not been for a terrible accident during
his freshman year that left his face scarred and his legs badly
injured. A very driven Adrian finished his freshman year in a
wheelchair, doing intensive physical therapy and turning his attention
to campus stage productions and rediscovered a childhood interest in
writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of
school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group "People's
Light and Theatre Company". Here, he worked on sound, lighting and set
construction. While constructing a set, he cut off the end of his left
thumb. Adrian, having the ability to turn tragedy into triumph, used
his medical compensation to pay for attendance at the famous
Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. At the
age of 19, he auditioned for a role in
Top Gun (1986). Director
Tony Scott was so impressed that he
wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in
Solarbabies (1986),
Streets of Gold (1986), and
Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 cult vampire
movie Near Dark (1987), with Adrian in
the lead role of "Caleb Colton". He also appeared in
Vital Signs (1990). Adrian has always
been an actor ahead of his time, opting for roles in independent and
cable movies long before they were considered fashionable for feature
actors to do. In 1992, feeling completely out-of-touch with reality,
Adrian left Hollywood to return to New York. He worked as a cashier for
room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as
"Frankie" in Brian De Palma's
Carlito's Way (1993). Another major
break came in 1995, when Adrian was cast as the title character on the
short-lived Fox series Profit (1996).
He continues to act in supporting roles and has now added directing to
his already impressive body of work. He wrote and directed the short
film Beyond Belief (1999) and also directed a feature film entitled
Cement (2000).
