# Andrew McCarthy

Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Weekend at Bernie's. He is ranked No. 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars of all-time list. As a director, he is known for his work on Orange Is the New Black.

## Early life and education

McCarthy was born in Westfield, New Jersey, the third of four boys. His mother worked for a newspaper, and his father was involved in investments and stocks. McCarthy moved to Bernardsville, New Jersey, as a teenager and attended Bernards High School and the Pingry School, a preparatory academy. At Pingry, he played the Artful Dodger in Oliver!, his first acting role. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at NYU for acting, but was expelled after two years.

## Career

McCarthy's first major role was in the 1983 comedy Class opposite Jacqueline Bisset. He was a member of the 1980s Hollywood group of young actors dubbed by the media as the "Brat Pack". The group starred in a few films, among them St. Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink. McCarthy appeared in the 1987 films Mannequin and Less than Zero, a cinematic adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel. In 1985, McCarthy starred with Donald Sutherland and Kevin Dillon in Heaven Help Us (also known as Catholic Boys) as Michael Dunn. McCarthy made his Broadway debut in The Boys of Winter. He quickly returned to Hollywood in 1988 to star in several films, such as Fresh Horses and Kansas. He had another hit with the 1989 comedy film Weekend at Bernie's.
He returned to Broadway to star in Side Man, and the production won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play. In 2003, McCarthy was set to guest star in two episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Due to bad relations with actor Vincent D'Onofrio, series creator Dick Wolf decided against it. Wolf later stated, "Mr. McCarthy engaged in fractious behavior from the moment he walked on the set." McCarthy fired back in a statement of his own saying, "I was fired because I refused to allow a fellow actor to threaten me with physical violence, bully me and try to direct me." Despite this incident, he later guest starred in a 2007 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (with Chris Noth, not D'Onofrio). In 2004, he played Dr. Hook in Kingdom Hospital. He appeared in five episodes of the 2005 NBC television series E-Ring. In 2008, he starred in the NBC television series Lipstick Jungle as billionaire Joe Bennett and had a minor role in The Spiderwick Chronicles.
McCarthy directed several episodes of the hit CW television series Gossip Girl, including "Touch of Eva" in the fourth season. In 2010 and 2011, he appeared in the hit USA show White Collar. He returned to the series in the next season to direct the episode "Neighborhood Watch". In 2015, he directed three episodes in Season 2 of the NBC hit television show The Blacklist starring James Spader and Megan Boone. In 2016, he starred in the short-lived ABC drama The Family. From 2020 to 2021, he had a recurring role in NBC's TV series Good Girls. In 2022, McCarthy joined the cast of The Resident as Ian Sullivan, a renowned pediatric surgeon and Cade's estranged father.

## Writing

McCarthy began travel writing and served as an Editor at Large at National Geographic Traveler magazine. In 2010, McCarthy was escorted out of an underground church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, for entering the site without documentation. He had been in the church on assignment for the travel magazine Afar. McCarthy's book The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down was published in 2012.
In February 2015, National Geographic published McCarthy's account, titled "A Song for Ireland", of his return to the house in the townland of Lacka West in the parish of Duagh in County Kerry in Ireland from which his great-grandfather John McCarthy had emigrated in the late 1800s.
McCarthy has received several awards from SATW (Society of American Travel Writers), including Travel Journalist of the Year in 2010.
In 2017, Algonquin Books published McCarthy's YA novel, Just Fly Away. The novel became a New York Times bestseller.
McCarthy's memoir about his life and career in the 1980s, titled Brat: An '80s Story, was released in May 2021 by Grand Central Publishing.
In 2023, Grand Central Publishing released Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain, McCarthy's memoir about walking the Camino de Santiago with his son Sam in the summer of 2021.

## Personal life

In 1992, McCarthy entered a detoxification program and has been sober since that time. In 2004, he announced that he once had a serious alcohol problem, which began at age 12.
On October 9, 1999, McCarthy married his college sweetheart Carol Schneider almost 20 years after they first dated. He later stated his reasons for tracking her down after they had drifted apart: "I ran into someone who said they had seen Carol and her boyfriend and they seemed really happy, and for some reason it bothered me for a week. I called her and asked her if she was really with this guy and asked her out for coffee." In 2002, Schneider gave birth to a son, Sam, who also became an actor. McCarthy and Schneider divorced in 2005.
On August 28, 2011, McCarthy married Irish writer and director Dolores Rice. They have two children, Willow and Rowan.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | Class | Jonathan Ogner | |
| 1984 | The Beniker Gang | Arthur Beniker | |
| 1985 | Heaven Help Us | Michael Dunn | a.k.a. Catholic Boys |
| 1985 | St. Elmo's Fire | Kevin Dolenz | |
| 1986 | Pretty in Pink | Blane McDonnagh | |
| 1987 | Mannequin | Jonathan Switcher | |
| 1987 | Waiting for the Moon | Henry Hopper | |
| 1987 | Less than Zero | Clay Easton | |
| 1988 | Kansas | Wade Corey | |
| 1988 | Fresh Horses | Matt Larkin | |
| 1989 | Weekend at Bernie's | Larry Wilson | |
| 1990 | Quiet Days in Clichy | Henry Miller | a.k.a. Jours tranquilles à Clichy |
| 1990 | Dr. M | The Assassin | |
| 1991 | Year of the Gun | David Raybourne | |
| 1992 | Only You | Clifford Godfrey | |
| 1993 | Weekend at Bernie's II | Larry Wilson | |
| 1993 | The Joy Luck Club | Ted Jordan | |
| 1994 | Getting In | Rupert Grimm | a.k.a. Student Body |
| 1994 | Dead Funny | Reggie Barker | |
| 1994 | Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle | Eddie Parker | |
| 1995 | Night of the Running Man | Jerry Logan | Direct-to-video release |
| 1995 | Dream Man | David Mander | Direct-to-video release |
| 1996 | Mulholland Falls | Jimmy Fields | |
| 1996 | Everything Relative | Howard | |
| 1996 | Things I Never Told You | Don Henderson | a.k.a. Cosas que nunca te dije |
| 1997 | Stag | Peter Weber | |
| 1998 | Bela Donna | Frank | |
| 1998 | I Woke Up Early the Day I Died | Cemetery Cop | |
| 1998 | I'm Losing You | Bertie Krohn | |
| 1999 | A Twist of Faith | Henry Smith | |
| 1999 | New World Disorder | Kurt Bishop | |
| 1999 | New Waterford Girl | Cecil Sweeney | |
| 2000 | Nowhere in Sight | Eric Shelton | |
| 2001 | Heaven Must Wait | Raymond Cane | |
| 2002 | Anything But Love | Elliot Shephard | a.k.a. Standard Time |
| 2004 | 2BPerfectlyHonest | Josh | |
| 2004 | News for the Church | — | Director, writer; Short film |
| 2005 | The Orphan King | Charles King | |
| 2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Richard Grace | |
| 2009 | The Good Guy | Cash | |
| 2009 | Camp Hell | Michael Leary | |
| 2010 | Main Street | Howard Mercer | |
| 2011 | The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best | Brian | |
| 2011 | Snatched | Frank Baum | |
| 2019 | Finding Julia | Mike Chamonix | |
| 2024 | Brats | — | Documentary; Also director |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Amazing Stories | Edwin | Episode: "Grandpa's Ghost" |
| 1991 | Tales from the Crypt | Edward Foster | Episode: "Loved to Death" |
| 1992 | Screen Two | Martin Musgrove | Episode: "Common Pursuit" |
| 1995 | The Courtyard | Jonathan Hoffman | Television film |
| 1996 | Escape Clause | Richard Ramsay | Television film |
| 1996 | Hostile Force | Rabbit (Mike) | Television film |
| 1996 | The Christmas Tree | Richard Reilly | Television film |
| 1998 | A Father for Brittany | Keith Lussier | Television film (a.k.a. A Change of Heart) |
| 1998 | Perfect Assassins | Ben Carroway | Television film |
| 2000 | A Storm in Summer | Stanley Banner | Television film |
| 2000 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Randolph Morrow | Episode: "Slaves" |
| 2000 | The Sight | Michael Lewis | Television film |
| 2000 | Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis | Robert F. Kennedy | Television film |
| 2002 | Georgetown | | Television pilot |
| 2002 | The Secret Life of Zoey | Mike Harper | Television film |
| 2003 | Straight from the Heart | Tyler Ross | Television film |
| 2003 | Law & Order | Attorney Finnerty | Episode: "Absentia" |
| 2003 | The Twilight Zone | Will Marshall | Episode: "The Monsters Are on Maple Street" |
| 2003 | Monk | Derek Philby | Episode: "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School" |
| 2004 | Kingdom Hospital | Dr. Hook | Miniseries |
| 2004 | The Hollywood Mom's Mystery | Kit Freers | Television film |
| 2005 | Crusader | Hank Robinson | Television film |
| 2005 | E-Ring | Aaron Gerrity | 5 episodes |
| 2006 | The Way | Henry Warden | Television pilot |
| 2007 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | A.D.A. Gene Hoyle | Episode: "Offense" |
| 2008–2009 | Lipstick Jungle | Joe Bennett; Director | 20 episodes |
| 2009 | Gossip Girl | Rick Rhodes | Episode: "Valley Girls" |
| 2009 | Royal Pains | Marshall David Bryant IV | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | The National Tree | Corey Burdoc | Television film |
| 2010–2012 | Gossip Girl | Director | 6 episodes |
| 2011 | White Collar | Vincent Adler | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | A Christmas Dance | Jack | Television film (a.k.a. Come Dance with Me) |
| 2013–2019 | Orange Is the New Black | Director | 15 episodes |
| 2013–2014 | Alpha House | Director | 4 episodes |
| 2015–2017 | Turn: Washington's Spies | Director | 3 episodes |
| 2015–2022 | The Blacklist | Director | 22 episodes |
| 2016 | The Family | Hank Asher | 12 episodes |
| 2017 | The Blacklist: Redemption | Director | Episode: "Hostages" |
| 2018 | Nightflyers | Director | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | New Amsterdam | Director | Episode: "As Long as it Takes" |
| 2018–2020 | Condor | Director | 5 episodes |
| 2019 | The Enemy Within | Director | Episode: "Sequestered" |
| 2019–2020 | Good Girls | Director | Episode: "Jeff"/"Au Jus"/"Vegas Baby" |
| 2020–2021 | Good Girls | Mr. Fitzpatrick | 5 Episodes |
| 2020 | The Sinner | Director | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | 13 Reasons Why | Mr. St. George | Episode: Prom |
| 2022–2023 | The Resident | Ian Sullivan | Guest (season 5) Main cast (season 6) |
| 2023 | The Blacklist | Edward | Episode: Arthur Hudson |

## Awards and nominations

Fantafestival
* 1987: Won, "Best Actor" – Mannequin
Rhode Island International Film Festival
* 2004: Won, Grand Prize for "Best Short Film" – News for the Church – qualifying it as an Official Entry with the Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short Film
Full Info Including Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD produced by Al Gomes and A. Michelle of Big Noise
Sedona International Film Festival
* 2005: Won, "Best Short Film" – News for the Church