Harry Hamlin

Harry Robinson Hamlin was born on October 30, 1951, in Pasadena, California, to Bernice Robinson, a socialite, and Chauncey Jerome Hamlin, Jr., an aeronautical engineer. As a teenager he attended Flintridge Preparatory School near Pasadena and The Hill School, a private boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where he played soccer and lacrosse and took part in school productions. He also studied at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Hamlin went on to earn dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in drama and psychology from Yale University in 1974, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the American Conservatory Theater in 1976. During his time there he starred in a production of Equus, which drew the attention of director Stanley Donen. He had previously attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as president of the Theta Zeta chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon in 1972.

Hamlin's screen career began with a 1976 television production of Taming of the Shrew, followed by the title role in the 1979 miniseries Studs Lonigan and a supporting part opposite George C. Scott in Movie Movie in 1978, the latter earning him his first Golden Globe nomination. His most prominent early film role came in the 1981 Greek mythology epic Clash of the Titans, in which he played Perseus. Subsequent films included Making Love in 1982, produced by Twentieth Century Fox and notable as the first gay-themed love story from a major studio, and Blue Skies Again in 1983. He returned to television with the miniseries Master of the Game in 1984 and Space in 1985, both adapted from novels.

From 1986 to 1991, Hamlin starred as attorney Michael Kuzak on the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, receiving three Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Television Series — Drama during that run. In 1987, People magazine named him Sexiest Man Alive. He reprised the role of Kuzak in an L.A. Law reunion television film in 2002. In 1992, he guest starred in two episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, voicing Cameron Kaiser and Anthony Romulus. Beginning in 2004, Hamlin played recurring character Aaron Echolls, a fading action hero and troubled father, on Veronica Mars, appearing from the sixth episode of the first season through the second season finale. His real-life wife, Lisa Rinna, played his character's wife on the series. In 2006, he competed in the third season of Dancing with the Stars alongside Ashly DelGrosso before being eliminated in the third week. He starred in the 2009 series Harper's Island as Uncle Marty and joined the cast of Army Wives as a recurring member beginning in June 2010.

Beginning in April 2013, Hamlin appeared in several episodes of AMC's Mad Men as ad executive Jim Cutler, a role introduced following the merger of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and Cutler Gleason and Chaough during the show's sixth season, set in 1968. His performance earned him a 2013 Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, specifically for the episode "A Tale of Two Cities." Later television work included a recurring role on the Epix comedy Graves in 2016, a role on the USA Network series Shooter in 2017 as Addison Hayes, and the role of Cortland Mayfair in AMC's Mayfair Witches in 2022, based on Anne Rice's gothic supernatural trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Witches. In 2007, Hamlin reprised the voice of Perseus for the Santa Monica Studio video game God of War II.

On Broadway, Hamlin made his debut in 1984 playing Moe Axelrod opposite Frances McDormand in the revival of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing. In 1996, he returned to Broadway as Michael Buchanan in Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke at the Roundabout Theater. He also appeared on Broadway in Chicago. Away from Broadway, Hamlin played the title role in Hamlet at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, and performed as Faust in Doctor Faustus at the same venue the following year. In 1994, his portrayal of the title role in Henry V at the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C., earned him a Helen Hayes Award nomination.

In 2010, Hamlin authored Full Frontal Nudity: The Making of an Accidental Actor, published by Scribner, in which he recounts stories from his early life before his film career. That same year, he and Rinna starred in the reality series Harry Loves Lisa, developed by TV Land and premiering on October 6, 2010. In 2012, Hamlin co-launched The Lisa Rinna Collection with his wife for QVC and also served as president and CEO of the Belle Gray women's clothing boutiques in Los Angeles. An advocate for fusion energy, Hamlin was an angel investor and co-founder of TAE Technologies, formerly Tri Alpha Energy, and served as a board member of Advanced Physics Corporation. He also sits on the board of governors of the National Space Society and delivered a talk on fusion at the TEDx LA conference in 2016.

Hamlin met actress Ursula Andress on the set of Clash of the Titans in 1979, and the two had a son, Dimitri, in 1980, though they never married and ended their relationship in 1983. He was subsequently married to actress Laura Johnson from 1985 to 1989 and to actress Nicollette Sheridan between 1991 and 1992. Since 1997, Hamlin has been married to actress Lisa Rinna, whom he first met in 1992. They have two daughters, Delilah, born in 1998, and Amelia, born in 2001.