Raised in Dayton, Ohio, Rob Lowe began his career at the age of 8 in local television and summer stock. After his family relocated to Los Angeles, he starred in the television series "A New Kind of Family" and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in Hallmark Hall of Fame�s "Thursday�s Child." In 2001 Lowe received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work on the three time Emmy Award winning drama series "The West Wing."

      Lowe made his feature-film debut in Francis Ford Coppola�s "The Outsiders" and went on to star in "Class," "The Hotel New Hampshire," "Oxford Blues," "Youngblood," "St. Elmo�s Fire" with Demi Moore, "About Last Night" and "Square Dance," for which he received his second Golden Globe nomination. He then starred in "Masquerade," "Bad Influence� and the comedy smash "Wayne�s World" with Mike Myers, as well as "Tommy Boy." Lowe also appeared in "Mulholland Falls" with Nick Nolte and in Robert Zemeckis' "Contact" with Jodi Foster and Matthew McConaughey. He recently re-teamed with Myers in the huge box-office hit "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."

      Lowe starred in the miniseries "Stephen King�s 'The Stand'" and "Atomic Train," as well as Jack Higgins� bestseller "On Dangerous Ground" and "Midnight Man." He also appeared in "Great Performance�s 'Suddenly Last Summer'" for PBS and Francis Ford Coppola�s television production of "Outrage."

      In 1992, Lowe made his Broadway debut in "A Little Hotel on the Side." He recently wrote and directed an acclaimed short film for cable television, "American Untitled/Desert�s Edge."

      Currently, Lowe is working on "Union Pacific," a film starring Bill Paxton, which he wrote and will direct for producer Gale Anne Hurd.

      Lowe and his wife, Sheryl, have two sons. His birthday is March 17.

Bio pilfered from NBC: The West Wing.

Trivia

- Is deaf in his right ear.

- Brother is actor Chad Lowe and sister-in-law is Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank.

- Grew up in the same city as Martin Sheen and Allison Janney.

- Voted one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2000.

- Lost the role of Cal in Titanic to Billy Zane.

- Plays a man named John Spencer in the movie Under Pressure (2000).

- Has quite a repertoire of impressions including Robert Wagner and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.


Quotes

- "The great thing about this show for Rob is that Rob has never had a part that's as smart or as funny as he is. He can fire on all cylinders." - Bradley Whitford