Brad Chase of Boston Legal

Background:

American actor who began his career in Germany Mark Valley first came to the attention of American public playing attractive journalist Jack Deveraux on the NBC daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives” (1994-1997). After memorable recurring roles in ABC's “Once and Again” (2000-2001) and “ER” (2000-2003) as well as a regular role in “Pasadena” (2001-2002), the handsome performer was cast in the break-out role of the tough, sharp-tongued, non-nonsense New York detective Eddie Arlette on the prime time series “Keen Eddie” (2003-2004) and picked up a Teen Choice nomination for his work on the show. However, Valley is probbaly best-recalled by TV audiences for playing attorney Brad Chase on the hit series “Boston Legal”(2004-2007), from which he netted three SAG nominations.

“From James Spader I’m learning what to take seriously, from William Shatner I’m learning what not to take seriously and from Candice Bergen I’m learning the wisdom to know the difference.” Mark Valley

The graduate of West Point Academy has also acted in several movies, including John Schlesinger's “The Innocent” (1993), Edward Zwick's “The Siege” (1998), John Schlesinger's “The Next Best Thing” (2000) and “Jericho” (2000).

Valley has a daughter, Sherri Ann Valley, with his former girlfriend. He was once romantically linked to Katherine Kendall. Valley enjoys outdoors activities like mountain biking, hiking and climbing. He owns a cat named Cairo.

Soldier

Childhood and Family:

Mark Thomas Valley was born on December 24, 1964, in Ogdensburg, New York, to Martha and Michael Valley. He has three younger sisters: Marnie, Jennifer and Lynn.

Mark showed an interest in acting as a high school student, but put his dreams on the back burner when he was accepted at the United States Military Academy (aka. West Point Academy). He graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1987 and was then sent to Germany. During his five-year stay, he had the opportunity to put his training into action when he joined Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia, and upon returning to Berlin, he caught the attention of an agent who persuaded him to try acting. After leaving the military, Mark studied acting at the Berlin-based Etage School of Arts and started to get small roles in German television.

Mark is the father of a 20-year-old named Sherri Ann Valley. She currently lives with her mother, a former girlfriend of Mark.

Days of Our Lives

Career:

Although he was attracted to acting in high school, Mark Valley was forced to put his ambitions on hold and did not pursue it professionally until after completing his military service. Spotted by a talent agent while in Berlin, the Ogdensburg, New York-born began appearing in German television and after collecting some credits on his resume, also including a few stage performances, he headed back to the United States to further launch his new career.

As a struggling actor in NYC, Valley supported himself by working in commercials. In 1993, he made his feature acting debut when he landed a bit part in the John Schlesinger-directed “The Innocent,” which starred Anthony Hopkins and Isabella Rossellini. The thriller, however, was not released until 1995. Still in 1993, Valley broke into American TV with his role as a priest named Pete on the NBC daytime drama “Another World,” and moved on to prime time in the following year with the syndicated TV- film “Vanishing Son IV,” a drama costarring Russell Wong and Chi Moui Lo.

Valley's first big break also arrived in 1994 when he joined the cast of the long-running NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives.” As pleasing and attractive journalist Jack Deveraux, he became the forth actor to play the character, but soon charmed the doubting audiences with his fine acting. Valley remained with the show until 1997.

Valley went on to have a noted supporting role as Robert F. Kennedy on the TNT biopic “George Wallace,” starring Gary Sinise in the titular role, and a small part in the comedy film “Breast Men” (both 1997), which starred David Schwimmer. His subsequent film credits were the comedy “Some Girl” (1998, starred Marissa Ribisi and Juliette Lewis), the Edward Zwick action/thriller “The Siege” (1998, opposite Denzel Washington, Annette Bening and Bruce Willis) and the John Schlesinger-directed “The Next Best Thing” (2000, starred Madonna). He also played the title role in the 2000 Western “Jericho” and supported Tom Selleck and Laura Linney in the drama/comedy made-for-TV “Running Mates” (2000).

Returning to series TV, Valley took the recurring roles of Marin Hinkle's hunky love interest, Will Gluck, on the ABC drama “Once and Again” (2000-2001) and the ex-husband of Maura Tierney, Richard Lockhart, on the hit medical drama “ER” (2000-2003). While working on both shows, he was cast as an ill-natured affluent guy named Robert Greeley on the highly praised but short-lived Fox series “Pasadena” (2001-2002) and guested in such popular shows as “Diagnosis Murder,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Spin City.” On stage, he was discovered writing a one-man show called “ Walls, Wars and Whiskey” (2001), about his experiences in the military.

2003 saw Valley graduate to a leading role when he was cast as the titular New York City police detective, Eddie Arlette, on the prime time series “Keen Eddie.” He was nominated for a Teen Choice for Choice TV Breakout Star – Male for his work on the show, which fortunately only lasted for 13 episodes. Actress Sienna Miller also starred in the series as Eddie's unanticipated flatmate.

After the cancellation of the show, Valley played the recurring role of Warren Lytell on “The 4440” (2004), but it was his subsequent gig that put the actor back on the limelight. Cast as attorney Brad Chase on the David E. Kelley-created drama series “Boston Legal” from 2004 to 2007, the gifted performer proved himself outstanding against such big names as James Spader and William Shatner and jointly netted three Screen Actors Guild nominations in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006, 2007, 2008).

In 2006, Valley branched out to another series by playing Reese Callahan on the short-lived comedy “Emily's Reasons Why Not,” opposite Heather Graham, and signed on to appear in the documentary “Nanking,” about the 1937 massacre of the Chinese city. The next year, he appeared with Krista Allen in the TV pilot “Business Class,” supported Eva Mendes and David Krumholtz for the comedy film “Live!” and lent his voice for the animated film “Shrek the Third,” as Cyclops.

In November 2007, Valley appeared as Jake Keegan in an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” He then was seen as Brad Davis in a 2008 episode of the CBS new drama series “Swingtown.” He currently plays John Scott on the Sci-fi/thriller series “Fringe” (2008), penned by J.J. Abrams.

Awards:
---