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Denis Leary (Tommy Gavin)
Well known to millions of fans for his rapid-fire, acidic wit and astute cultural observations, Denis Leary also brings an unusual mix of raw, gritty intensity and poignancy to Rescue Me in the lead role of veteran fire-fighter Tommy Gavin.
It is that recognition of our public servants' sacrifices that also came across in Leary's gritty performance as hard driving, hard living NYPD Detective Mike McNeil in the acclaimed cop series The Job (ABC, 2001-02) that earned him recognition from the Television Critics Association Awards, with a nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy.
Raised in and around Boston, from Irish immigrant parents (Nora and Jon Leary), Denis Leary attended Boston's Emerson College and later with his love for the theatre taught acting there (classmates included comedian Steven Wright). Leary then co-founded a comedy workshop in Boston and later performed across the U.S. in various stand-up showcases during the 1980s.
Ironically, though, Leary found his star rise in England, where he hosted a cable TV comedy showcase called London Underground from 1990-92. It was during that time living in London when Leary wrote and fine-tuned his one-man show, No Cure For Cancer, which propelled him onto the world comedy stage.
The success of No Cure For Cancer, which was later recorded to album and shot for a Showtime telefilm in 1993 (by noted, late director Ted Demme), also led MTV to sign Leary as the host of ground-breaking promotional spots for the hip music network.
The exposure on MTV served as a springboard for Leary to his debut motion picture role in Strictly Business (1992), followed by a half-a-dozen other films ranging from comic cameos (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1) to evil heavies (Judgment Night) to regular guy roles (The Sandlot). Leary received his first starring movie role in Ted Demme's The Ref (1994).
In 1995, Leary teamed up with New York-based producer Jim Serpico to form their own production company, Apostle Pictures. He and Serpico would later team Apostle with DreamWorks SKG on The Job.
His versatility went beyond acting, with Leary making his directing debut in the "Lust" segment of Showtime's National Lampoon's Favourite Deadly Sins anthology telefilm (1996), which was written by his wife Ann Lembeck. The first-time director earned a CableACE Award for his effort.
From there, Leary proceeded into his first screenwriting foray with Lembeck and Mike Armstrong on Two If By Sea, (1996), which he co-starred in with Sandra Bullock. In 1997, Leary acted in five more motion pictures, including the critically received political satire Wag The Dog and the dark mob comedy The Suicide Kings. A year later, Demme again directed Leary in the mob drama Monument Avenue (also titled Snitch), which Leary co-wrote (uncredited) with Mike Armstrong.
Leary also lent his distinctive voice to a trio of computer-generated hit movies, Small Soldiers (1998), A Bug's Life (1998) and Ice Age (2002). He also continued to land important roles in live-action films, including the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). As an avid believer in the creative freedom offered by independent film, Leary also went to serve as executive producer of the critically received drug culture picture Blow (2001).
Rescue Me comes to TV as a personal calling to Leary, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, in recognizing fire-fighters lost in action - including six Worcester fire-fighters killed after responding to a major warehouse blaze in December 1999.
Memorialised as the "Worcester 6," among the perished fire-fighters were Leary's cousin Jerry Lucey and boyhood/high school friend Tommy Spencer. Their deaths served to inspire Denis to form The Leary Fire-fighters Foundation in early 2000, which raises funds through an annual celebrity hockey event, to construct of a state-of-the-art burn tower and training facility in Worcester.
The catastrophic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which took the lives of 343 New York City fire-fighters in the collapses of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, also spurred The Leary Fire-fighters Foundation to create a star-studded annual "BASH for New York's Bravest" charitable auction.
Leary resides with his wife, screenwriter Ann Lembeck, and their two children, in New York.
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