Adrian Pasdar

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**Adrian Pasdar** (born April 30, 1965) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is known for playing Jim Profit on the TV series *Profit*, for his roles in *Near Dark*, *Carlito's Way*, *Mysterious Ways* and as Nathan Petrelli on *Heroes*. Additionally, he directed the feature film *Cement*. Pasdar is the voice of Iron Man in *Marvel Anime* as well as in the animated series *Ultimate Spider-Man* and *Avengers Assemble*. He also played district attorney Alec Rybak on *The Lying Game* and had a recurring role as Glenn Talbot on *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*. He has appeared on the American TV drama *Grand Hotel* as Felix.

## Early years

Pasdar was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father, Homayoon Pasdar (born 1935), was an Iranian immigrant who was a cardiac surgeon, with a practice near Philadelphia. His mother, Rosemarie Sbresny, worked as a travel agent. He graduated from Marple Newtown High School where he played football and studied acting.

His sister, Anamarie Pasdar, is a theatrical artistic director and producer.

## Career

### Early career

Pasdar turned his attention to campus stage productions and rediscovered an early interest in writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group, People's Light and Theatre Company. There he worked on sound and lighting as part of the stage crew responsible for set construction. He had a painful accident on the set, cutting off the end of his left thumb. His resulting medical compensation paid for attendance at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York City.

Pasdar was also selected to play a bit part as a police officer in the Dixie Chicks video for their song, "Goodbye Earl". The music video won both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association's Video of the Year Awards in 2000.

### Film

At the age of 19, he auditioned for a role in *Top Gun*. Director Tony Scott was so impressed that he wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in *Solarbabies* (1986), *Streets of Gold* (1986), and Kathryn Bigelow's cult vampire movie *Near Dark* (1987), with Pasdar in the lead role of Caleb Colton. Other major roles include *Vital Signs* (1990). Pasdar got his biggest break in movies, when he starred as a beautiful woman opposite Julie Walters in the British movie *Just Like a Woman*. In 1992, he left Hollywood and returned to New York, working as a cashier for room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as Frankie in Brian De Palma's *Carlito's Way* (1993).

Adrian Pasdar wrote and directed the short film *Beyond Belief* and directed his first feature film, the art-house neo-noir *Cement*, a contemporary re-telling of *Othello*, in 1999. The $1.7 million independent feature, which won Best Picture awards on the festival circuit, starred Chris Penn, Jeffrey Wright, Sherilyn Fenn, Henry Czerny and was written by *Farscape* screenwriter Justin Monjo. "I've used every ounce of energy and every drop of money I had to make *Cement*," Pasdar said.

### Television

Pasdar's major break into television came in 1996, when he was cast as the title character on the Fox series *Profit*. He also guest starred in the 2 hour season finale of the fourth season of *Touched by an Angel*. From 2000 to 2002, Pasdar played the lead role of Anthropology Professor Declan Dunn in the spooky cult drama series *Mysterious Ways* on PAX.

Pasdar played David McClaren in the final two seasons of the CBS drama *Judging Amy* from 2003 through 2005. In 2006, he had a high-profile guest role as Gabrielle Solis's sleazy lawyer in *Desperate Housewives*.

He starred as Nathan Petrelli in the NBC superhero drama *Heroes*. Pasdar based his mysterious character on "the most morally liquid characters" that he's encountered in his life. The character is not based on one particular political figure, but on a melange of different ones, both good and bad. Pasdar's character was killed off in an episode that aired November 30, 2009.

Pasdar voices Hawkeye in the animated series *The Super Hero Squad Show* and voiced Captain America in the *Black Panther* animated series. Having also voiced Iron Man in the English dub of the *Iron Man* anime series, Pasdar reprised the role in *Marvel's Avengers Assemble* (seasons 1–3), *Ultimate Spider-Man*, and *Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.*.

Pasdar also played a role on *The Lying Game* as Alec Rybak, a corrupt district attorney. From 2014 to 2018, he played the recurring role of Glenn Talbot on the Marvel TV series *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D* and, from 2016 to 2017, recurred as Nolan Burgess on the series *Colony*. He also starred in the pilot of the Amazon Studios series *The After*. He also portrays the DC Comics character Morgan Edge in season 3 of The CW's *Supergirl*.

## Personal life

Pasdar married musician Natalie Maines of The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) on June 24, 2000. They have two sons, Jackson Slade Pasdar (born March 15, 2001) and Beckett Finn Pasdar (born July 14, 2004). On July 5, 2017, Maines announced that she and Pasdar were divorcing after 17 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized on December 19, 2019. The divorce took over 2 years as Pasdar was contesting the validity of the pre-nuptial agreement and attempted to plead poverty to the court to obtain spousal support, despite reporting over $400,000 in income in 2018, according to court documents. Maines said that The Chicks' 2020 album *Gaslighter* includes songs with deeply personal themes, written during the divorce. The album surrounds the topic of a husband gaslighting and cheating on his wife, ending with the dissolution of the marriage.

Pasdar is a guitarist for charity rock band Band from TV. Part of the proceeds from the band's concerts go to his nominated charity, the Rush Epilepsy Center.

## Awards and nominations

**Award Wins for Acting**

* 2009: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television, *Heroes*

**Award Wins for Directing**

* 2000: AngelCiti film festival: Audience Award, *Cement*

**Other Award Wins**

* 2009 (ensemble): Hollywood Note Foundation's Change the World Awards, Humanitarian Award of Inspiration: *Band From TV*

## Audiobook narration

In 2010, Pasdar narrated an audiobook edition of the cult novel *Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room* by the British writer Lee Henshaw. It was released in early 2011.

## Further reading

Template:Refbegin

* Bridget Byrne. "Adrian Pasdar's television, film career working in *Mysterious Ways*" *Chicago Sun-Times*. August 13, 2000.
* Adrienne Papp. "Heroes Among Us". Westside Today. Retrieved on May 5, 2008.

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## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Adrian Pasdar Biography". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/adrian-pasdar/bio/138247/.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Adrian Pasdar Biography (1965?-)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/53/Adrian-Pasdar.html.  Source notes that some sources gives birth year as 1967.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "'Iron Man': 'Heroes' flying man Adrian Pasdar takes on anime", Hero Complex.
4. ↑ "Pittsfield's Grammy girls", *Berkshire Eagle, The* (February 13, 2007).
5. ↑ /amp/s/www.phillymag.com/news/2007/06/19/exit-interview-adrian-pasdar/%3famp
6. ↑ Pasdar, quoted in "Adrian Pasdar's television, film career working in *Mysterious Ways*" Template:Webarchive by Bridget Byrne. *Chicago Sun-Times*. August 13, 2000.
7. ↑ Maddox, Dante. "Heroes Season Finale: Adrian Pasdar". Craveonline.com. http://www.craveonline.com/filmtv/articles/04647952/heroes\_season\_finale\_adrian\_pasdar.html.
8. ↑ Keveney, Bill (November 30, 2009). "Adrian Pasdar 'never better,' 'Heroes' character never deader", Usatoday.com.
9. ↑ "Marvel Television Announces Adrian Pasdar & Milo Ventimiglia For Iron Man & Wolverine Anime Series To Air On G4 July 2011" (Press Release). Anime News Network. April 3, 2011. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2011-04-02/marvel-television-announces-adrian-pasdar-and-milo-ventimiglia-for-iron-man-and-wolverine-anime-series-to-air-on-g4-july-2011.
10. ↑ "Amazon Not Moving Forward with Chris Carter's The After - Dread Central". January 5, 2015. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/84106/amazon-not-moving-forward-chris-carters/.
11. ↑ Bucksbaum, Sydney (July 22, 2017). "DC TV Watch at Comic-Con: All the Highlights From 'Supergirl,' 'Black Lightning,' 'Arrow' and More". *The Hollywood Reporter*. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dc-tv-watch-supergirl-black-lightning-arrow-flash-legends-tomorrow-comic-con-2017-1023590.
12. ↑ "Names &", *The Washington Post* (March 17, 2001).
13. ↑ "Natalie Maines gives birth to baby boy". *Today*. July 23, 2004. http://www.today.com/popculture/natalie-maines-gives-birth-baby-boy-wbna5498075.
14. ↑ "Natalie Maines, Adrian Pasdar Divorce: What Went Wrong?". http://www.christianpost.com/news/natalie-maines-adrian-pasdar-divorce-what-went-wrong-190828/.
15. ↑ "Natalie Maines Files For Divorce From Adrian Pasdar After 17-Year Marriage". https://www.yahoo.com/news/natalie-maines-files-divorce-adrian-100703601.html.
16. ↑ Whitaker, Sterling. "Natalie Maines Asks Court to Validate Prenup in Ongoing Divorce" (in en). https://tasteofcountry.com/dixie-chicks-singer-natalie-maines-prenup-divorce/.
17. ↑ Naumann, Ryan (March 4, 2020). "Natalie Maines Trashes Ex-Husband Adrian Pasdar On New Dixie Chicks Song 'Gaslighter'". https://theblast.com/c/dixie-chicks-natalie-maines-trashes-ex-husband-adrian-pasdar-new-song-gaslighter.
18. ↑ Rowles, Dustin (March 9, 2020). "The Dixie Chicks' 'Gaslighter' Is About Natalie Maines' Divorce, But She Can't Talk About It". https://www.pajiba.com/celebrities\_are\_better\_than\_you/the-dixie-chicks-gaslighter-is-about-natalie-maines-divorce-from-adrian-pasdar-but-she-cant-talk-about-it.php.
19. ↑ Shaffer, Claire (September 20, 2019). "Natalie Maines Details New Dixie Chicks Album Inspired By Her Divorce". *Rolling Stone*. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/dixie-chicks-natalie-maines-divorce-album-gaslighter-887858/.
20. ↑ "Band From TV Charities". Bandfromtv.org. http://www.bandfromtv.org/charities/.
21. ↑ "Saturn Award Winners 2009". http://www.saturnawards.org/sa\_35th\_062409.doc.
22. ↑ "Band From TV News". Bandfromtv.org. May 31, 2009. http://www.bandfromtv.org/news/?jid=26.
23. ↑ Template:Cite episode
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25. ↑ Template:Cite episode
26. ↑ Template:Cite episode
27. ↑ Template:Cite video game
28. ↑ "Listen to Queer Fish audio book read by Adrian Pasdar!". legendpress.co.uk. February 20, 2010. http://forward.legendpress.co.uk/mainsite/2010/09/listen-to-queer-fish-audio-book-read-by-adrian-pasdar.html.

## External links

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