Jeff Fahey was one of 13 children born to a suburban Buffalo couple. Fahey led a peripatetic early adulthood, holding down a multitude of jobs in a variety of countries. A stint with the Joffrey Ballet led to Broadway chorus work, which in turn led to speaking roles on both the New York and London stage. From 1982 to 1985, Fahey played Gary Corelli on the ABC soaper One Life to Live. His first film was Silverado (1985), in which he appeared as the villainous Tyree. He was subsequently seen as sleazy musician Dwayne Duke in Psycho III (1987), wide-eyed screenwriter Peter Verrill (a character based on real-life scrivener Peter Viertel) in Clint Eastwood's White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) and human guinea pig Jobe Smith in Lawnmower Man (1992). In 1995, Jeff Fahey returned to television as Winston MacBride on the weekly The Marshal.
Jeff Fahey
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- Is the sixth of 13 children from an Irish-American family.
- Left home when he was 17, and subsequently hitchhiked to Alaska, backpacked through Europe and worked on a kibbutz in Israel.
- Just eight months after beginning lessons, he was accepted into Chicago's Joffrey Ballet, where he danced for three years.
- Before breaking into acting, worked a number of odd jobs, including selling vacuum cleaners and teaching ballroom dancing.
- Made his big-screen debut as Deputy Tyree in Lawrence Kasdan's 1985 Western Silverado.
- First TV role was on the long-running soap One Life to Live, playing Gary Corelli in the early '80s.
- Has been named a Global Ambassador for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.