# Grant Show

Grant Show (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor. He is best known for his role on Melrose Place as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997. From 2017 to 2022, he portrayed Blake Carrington in the soap opera reboot Dynasty.

## Early life

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Show is the son of Ed and Kathleen Show (née McMillion), and has a sister, Kelly, with whom he was raised in the Milpitas, California, area. He is a graduate of UCLA, where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

## Career

He broke into show business during college. His first major role was on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope, in which he played Rick Hyde from 1984–1987. During his last year on the show, he received a Daytime Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Young Actor in a Daytime Drama Series". Also during his time on the soap, Show dated fellow Ryan's Hope actor Yasmine Bleeth. Hyped as the series' leading heart-throb, he even had a pin-up poster issued during the series' run but later became dissatisfied with acting in soaps and went to London in order to improve his craft. Returning to the US in the late 1980s, he landed occasional primetime television acting jobs.
He auditioned for (but did not receive) the part of J.D in the 1990 film Thelma and Louise, which was a break-out role for Brad Pitt. The other two actors who missed out after auditioning with Geena Davis were Mark Ruffalo and George Clooney, whom she did not recognise until he reminded her of his disappointment at missing out on the role several years later, a tale she recounted on the Graham Norton Show.
His appearances on television attracted the attention of producer Aaron Spelling, who felt he had star potential and decided to cast him as Jake Hanson on a few episodes of the popular series Beverly Hills, 90210 in order to spin off the character as the lead in his next series Melrose Place. Debuting with much fanfare (Show was on the covers of both TV Guide and People immediately after the series' debut), the series' ratings in its first season were not up to expectations, and the show was revamped in the middle of the first season from an episodic strait-laced drama format to a melodramatic soap opera serial format in the tradition of Dynasty, one of Spelling's earlier hits. The series made Show one of the most popular and best-known actors on American television during the 1990s. He also played Jake in a guest appearance in the pilot of the Melrose spin-off Models Inc., making him the only actor to play the same character on the first three shows in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise.
During his time on Melrose Place, Show also appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Laura Leighton. In 1997, Show, Laura Leighton (an off-screen girlfriend of Show's for a period), Doug Savant, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Marcia Cross left Melrose Place, which led the show into a major decline. It was cancelled two years later, though Show later regretted his decision to leave, despite his dislike of the scripts during his final season.
He has since starred in a number of television movies, including Blessed Assurance with Cicely Tyson, Between Love and Honor with Robert Loggia, and Homeland Security with Tom Skerritt and was one of the leads in the short-lived Fox Network supernatural drama Point Pleasant in 2005. He made a guest appearance for three episodes in HBO's acclaimed series Six Feet Under in 2002, and in 2006 he guest-starred on two episodes of the ABC Family show Beautiful People, alongside former Melrose Place co-star Daphne Zuniga.
In 2007, Show appeared in three episodes of the FX show Dirt, playing a closeted gay action movie hero, Jack Dawson. In 2008, Show starred in the short-lived CBS summer drama series Swingtown as an airline pilot, Tom Decker. Show was also featured in a recurring role in episodes of Private Practice in the 2008–2009 season. He starred opposite Jenna Elfman in the 2009 series Accidentally on Purpose, his first sitcom. In the 2010 and 2011 season, he appeared in the recurrent role of Michael Sainte, the Goji Guru, on the HBO series Big Love. He has acted in a number of stage productions. In 1990, he played the lead in an adaptation of On the Waterfront and after his stint on Melrose Place he appeared in a production of The Glass Menagerie. He was on Broadway in 1999 playing a doctor in Wit. In 2012, he appeared in the film The Possession, directed by Ole Bornedal, alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick. In 2013, he began his role as Spence Westmore on Devious Maids. In March 2017, he was cast in The CW's Dynasty reboot as Blake Carrington.

## Personal life

Grant Show married model and actress Pollyanna McIntosh in 2004. The couple met when they posed together for a Lane Bryant ad in 2003. They were divorced in 2011. In July 2012, Show became engaged to actress Katherine LaNasa. They married on August 18, 2012. They had a daughter, Eloise McCue Show, on March 25, 2014.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1992 | A Woman, Her Men, and Her Futon | Randy | |
| 1992 | ”Coopersmith” | CD Coopersmith | |
| 2004 | Marmalade | Aiden | |
| 2007 | Raw Footage | Mitch Graham | Short film |
| 2007 | The Girl Next Door | Mr. Moran | |
| 2009 | All Ages Night | Jeff Markham | |
| 2011 | Action Figures | Bruce | |
| 2011 | Fxxxen Americans | John | Short film and also co-producer |
| 2011 | Born to Race | Jimmy Kendall | |
| 2011 | Coming Up for Air | Bill | Short film |
| 2012 | Mindfield | Murphy | Short film |
| 2012 | The Possession | Brett | |
| 2014 | Born to Race: Fast Track | Jimmy Kendall | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1984−1987 | Ryan's Hope | Rick Hyde | Series regular; 5 episodes |
| 1985 | ABC Afterschool Special | Gregory Prince III | Episode: "Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale" |
| 1986 | The Love Boat | Christopher Stuart | 2 episodes |
| 1989 | When We Were Young | Michael Stefanos | TV movie |
| 1989−1990 | True Blue | Cadet Casey Pierce | Series regular; 12 episodes |
| 1990 | Lucky Chances | Marco | Miniseries |
| 1992 | Treacherous Crossing | Chief Stevens | TV movie |
| 1992 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Jake Hanson | 2 episodes |
| 1992 | Coopersmith | C.D. Coopersmith | TV movie |
| 1992–1997 | Melrose Place | Jake Hanson | Series regular; 158 episodes |
| 1994 | Burke's Law | Dash Thornton | Episode: "Who Killed the Starlet?" |
| 1994 | Models Inc. | Jake Hanson | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1994 | Texas | William B. Travis | TV movie |
| 1995 | Between Love and Honor | Steve Allie Collura | TV movie |
| 1995 | Saturday Night Live | Jake Hanson | 1 episode |
| 1996 | Hope and Gloria | Himself | 1 episode |
| 1996 | Pretty Poison | Dennis Pitt | TV movie |
| 1997 | Mother Knows Best | Ted Rogers | TV movie |
| 1997 | The Price of Heaven | Jerry Shand | TV movie |
| 1998 | Ice | Robert Drake | TV movie |
| 1999 | Partners | Elliott Thompson | Episode: "A Beautiful Day" |
| 1999 | The Alchemists | Connor Malloy | TV movie |
| 2000 | Ed | Troy McCallum | Episode: "Your Life Is Now" |
| 2001 | UC: Undercover | John Keller | 2 episodes |
| 2002 | Six Feet Under | Scott Axelrod | 3 episodes |
| 2002 | Arli$$ | Trevor Lawson | Episode: "Playing It Safe" |
| 2003 | Encrypt | Garth | TV movie |
| 2003 | Sex and the Single Mom | Alex Lofton | TV movie |
| 2004 | Strong Medicine | Ben Sanderson | 5 episodes |
| 2004 | Mystery Girl | Christopher Sullivan | TV Short film |
| 2004 | Homeland Security | Bradley Brand | TV movie |
| 2005−2006 | Point Pleasant | Lucas Boyd | Series regular; 13 episodes |
| 2005 | More Sex and the Single Mom | Alex Lofton | TV movie |
| 2005−2006 | Beautiful People | Daniel Kerr | 4 episodes |
| 2007 | Dirt | Jack Dawson | 4 episodes |
| 2008 | Swingtown | Tom Decker | Series regular; 13 episodes |
| 2008−2011 | Private Practice | Dr. Archer Montgomery | 7 episodes |
| 2009 | Grey's Anatomy | Dr. Archer Montgomery | Episode: "Before and After" |
| 2009 | Natalee Holloway | George "Jug" Twitty | TV movie |
| 2009−2010 | Accidentally on Purpose | James | Series regular; 16 episodes |
| 2010 | Scoundrels | Alan Markham | Episode: "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" |
| 2011 | Big Love | Goji Guru | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | Justice for Natalee Holloway | George "Jug" Twitty | TV movie |
| 2011 | Burn Notice | Max | 3 episodes |
| 2011−2012 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Agent Viggo McQuaid | 2 episodes |
| 2013−2016 | Devious Maids | Spence Westmore | Series regular; 44 episodes |
| 2013 | The Exes | Alex | Episode: "Zero Dark Forties" |
| 2015 | Criminal Minds | Colton Grant | Episode: "The Forever People" |
| 2015 | Satisfaction | Arthur Waverly | Recurring role; 7 episodes (Season 2) |
| 2016 | The Family | Governor Charlie Lang | 10 episodes |
| 2017–2022 | Dynasty | Blake Carrington | Main role; director: "The British Are Coming" and "There's No One Around To Watch You Drown" |
| 2019 | Write Before Christmas | Tom | TV movie |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Work | Result |
| 1987 | Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series | Ryan's Hope | Nominated |
| 1986 | Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Man in a Drama Series | Ryan's Hope | Nominated |