Occasionally credited as John Mallory Asher, John Asher is the adopted son of beach movie directorial mainstay William Asher. John attained recognition -- much of it negative -- for two achievements that went hand in hand: his marriage to former Playboy Playmate-turned-actress Jenny McCarthy, and his decision to direct McCarthy's script for the obscene sex comedy Dirty Love (2004), a critically reviled picture that scandalized everyone who had the misfortune of stumbling into it unawares. At the time of its release, the film also reportedly did much to destroy the McCarthy-Asher marriage; they filed for divorce not long before the debacle hit theaters.
Before directing Dirty Love, Asher was more often in front of the camera than behind it -- with character roles in such films as Frozen Assets (1992), Double Dragon (1994), and Space Cowboys (2000). He also appeared occasionally on the small screen, usually in guest spots, but he landed a co-starring role in 1994 on the sci-fi comedy series Weird Science (adapted from the 1985 film), which lasted for five seasons. Asher also directed a few other films, most notably Diamonds (1999), a sweet-natured, character-driven comedy about a father (Kirk Douglas) and son (Dan Aykroyd) who team up to locate a cache of loot that the dad supposedly hid in Vegas decades earlier. The film drew mostly negative reviews (though, mercifully, it fell shy of complete excoriation). Asher then moved into occasional supporting roles in such films as Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys (2000), and took on TV directing, for several episodes of the teen drama series One Tree Hill.
