Jason Patric

Jason Patric, born John Anthony Miller III on June 17, 1966, in the Queens borough of New York City, is an American actor working across film, television, and stage. He is the eldest son of Academy Award–nominated actor and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Jason Miller and actress Linda Miller, whose father was actor and comedian Jackie Gleason. Patric has an older sister, Jennifer, and had a younger brother, Jordan, who died on January 10, 2024. His half-brother is actor Joshua John Miller. He grew up in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, where he attended Cavallini Middle School and Don Bosco Preparatory High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Ramsey, New Jersey. He later attended Saint Monica Catholic High School in Santa Monica, California. His ancestry is primarily Irish with some German heritage.

Patric's screen career began with a role in the television drama Toughlove alongside Bruce Dern, followed by a part in Solarbabies with Peter DeLuise, Jami Gertz, Lukas Haas, James LeGros, and Adrian Pasdar. His breakout came in 1987 when director Joel Schumacher cast him as teenage vampire Michael Emerson in The Lost Boys, a film that was both a critical and commercial success. His appearance in the role drew comparisons to The Doors vocalist Jim Morrison, and he was considered for the lead in Oliver Stone's 1991 biographical film The Doors before the part went to Val Kilmer. He later reunited with Dern in After Dark, My Sweet and co-starred with George Dzundza and Stephen Baldwin in The Beast. He turned down the lead role in The Firm in 1993, which was ultimately taken by Tom Cruise, and his scenes in The Thin Red Line were cut before the film's release.

Patric earned strong critical notices for his portrayals of undercover narcotics officers in Rush in 1991 and Narc in 2002. In 1993, he appeared in Geronimo: An American Legend alongside Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall, playing 1st Lt. Charles B. Gatewood. In 2004, he portrayed Jim Bowie in The Alamo, depicting the historical figure who died during the 1836 battle. Additional film credits include Sleepers in 1996, Speed 2: Cruise Control in 1997, Your Friends and Neighbors in 1998, My Sister's Keeper in 2009, and The Losers in 2010.

Patric's Broadway career spans 2003 to 2011 and includes two notable productions. In 2005, he played Brick in a revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, appearing opposite Ashley Judd, Ned Beatty, and Margo Martindale. His second Broadway credit was a revival of That Championship Season, the play written by his father, Jason Miller, which originally debuted in 1972 and won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award. The revival began previews on February 9, 2011, and closed on May 29, 2011, with a cast that included Brian Cox, Chris Noth, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jim Gaffigan.

In his personal life, Patric dated actress Julia Roberts beginning in June 1991, shortly after she and Kiefer Sutherland, Patric's co-star from The Lost Boys, canceled their planned wedding. Patric and Roberts separated in 1992. He and Sutherland later reconciled in the mid-2000s after more than a decade without contact, and their renewed friendship led to their appearing together in the 2011 Broadway revival of That Championship Season. Patric subsequently had a relationship with Danielle Schreiber lasting approximately ten years, during which they conceived a son through in vitro fertilization. Following their separation in May 2012, a legal dispute arose over Patric's parental rights. After losing at the trial court level, Patric lobbied the California legislature on behalf of sperm donors seeking parental recognition. The California Court of Appeal ruled that the California Family Code did not prevent Patric from establishing presumed parentage based on his conduct after the child's birth, and in late 2014 he was legally recognized as his son's father, a decision that was upheld on appeal.