Dennis Christopher

Dennis Christopher Carrelli, known professionally as Dennis Christopher, was born on December 2, 1950, in Philadelphia, the youngest of four children of Vincent Albert Carrelli, an insurance salesman, and Anna Marie Doogan, who had married in 1936. He grew up alongside two brothers, Vincent Carrelli Jr. and Edward Carrelli, and a sister, Patricia Kratzinger Laros. Christopher graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in 1968 and briefly attended Temple University before leaving in 1969.

His professional career began early, with a guest appearance in 1967 on The Time Tunnel in the episode "Merlin the Magician." A chance encounter with Federico Fellini, who was filming in Rome at the time, resulted in Christopher being cast as a hippie in Roma (1972). Before his film career gained momentum, he worked as an assistant to fashion designer Halston.

Christopher's breakthrough came with the coming-of-age film Breaking Away (1979), in which he played Dave Stohler. The role earned him the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer, the Youth in Film Award for Best Juvenile Actor in a Motion Picture, and a Golden Globe nomination. He had previously appeared alongside Paul Dooley in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978), playing Dooley's son — a dynamic the two would reprise in Breaking Away and again in a 2003 episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

Among his other film credits, Christopher portrayed American track athlete Charlie Paddock in Chariots of Fire (1981) and played the film-obsessed antagonist Eric Binford in Fade to Black (1980). Additional film roles include Damon in The Falling (1985), Nathan Flowers in A Sinful Life (1989), Leech in Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994), and Desmond Floyd in Jake Speed (1986). He played Eddie Kaspbrak in the television adaptation of Stephen King's It (1990) and appeared as Bellegarde in the HBO series Deadwood. Christopher also guest starred in two Star Trek episodes, one for Deep Space Nine and one for Enterprise, and appeared as the demon-sorcerer Cyvus Vail in three episodes of Angel. In December 2006, he portrayed Dr. Martin Ruber in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room, and he held a recurring role as "Jack of All Trades" in the Profiler television series.

One of his later notable film appearances came in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012), in which he played Leonide Moguy. Christopher learned through his agent that the screenplay had been revised specifically to include him, and Tarantino later told him he had seen every one of his films during the week each was released.

Alongside his screen work, Christopher appeared on Broadway between 1981 and 1983, with credits that include Blood Brothers and The Little Foxes.