Thirtysomething

Background:

Peter Horton is an American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Gary Shepherd on the ABC hit series “ Thirtysomething” (1987-1991), where he also directed several episodes. His feature film directing debut, “The Cure” (1995), won Audience Award from the Cinekid. Horton is also best recognized as one of producers of the ABC hit medical drama “Grey's Anatomy” (2005-2006), from which he shared two Emmy nominations and a PGA Award. He was given another Emmy nomination as well as a DGA nomination for directing the show's pilot, “A Hard Day's Night” (2005), and received his second DGA nomination for the 2006 episode “It's the End of the World (As We Know It).” Horton also directed episodes of “Once and Again” (2000-2001) and “The Shield” (2003-2004) as well as executive produced “Six Degrees” ( 2006-2007) and “The Philanthropist” (2009). Horton, who was named one of People magazine's “One of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1991,” is also a musical composer.

Currently, Horton lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Nicole Deputron and two daughters. His first marriage to actress Michelle Pfeiffer lasted for seven years (1981-1988).

Pfeiffer's Ex

Childhood and Family:

Peter William Horton was born on August 20, 1953, in Bellevue, Washington, to a father who worked in the shipping business. As a result of his father's job, the family traveled around the world during his youth, and a young Peter even experienced an upbringing in Hong Kong. The family eventually settled in Northern California, where Peter attended Redwood High School in Larkspur, along with Robin Williams. As a young, Peter studied classical piano and dreamed of becoming a music conductor. After graduating from high school in 1971, he attended Pricipia College, a Christian Science college in Illinois, before finally earning a degree in Music Composition from the University of California in Santa Monica. However, after appearing in several plays, he started to consider acting as a true career. He relocated to Los Angeles and studied at Beverly Hills Playhouse, among other places.

On October 5, 1981, Peter married Michelle Pfeiffer, whom he met at Beverly Hills Playhouse when they both were struggling actors. They divorced in 1988 following a seven year of marriage. Peter then married Nicole Deputron in 1995. The couple have two children, Lily (born in October 1999) and Ruby (born in 2002).

Grey's Anatomy

Career:

Peter Horton began his professional acting career in 1979 with guest spots in television shows like “Eight Is Enough” (as Eric), “The White Shadow” (as Raymond Collins), “Kaz,” “The Runaways” and “Dallas” (as Wayne). The same year, he also made his television movie debut in “She's Dressed to Kill,” a crime/mystery starring John Rubinstein, Jessica Walter and Connie Sellecca. Horton segued into the big screen with “Fade to Black” (1980), a comedy/horror film starring Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson and Gwynne Gilford and writtena nd directed by Vernon Zimmerman. There he played the supporting role of Joey. He also had a featured role in the comedy film “Serial” (1980), starring Martin Mull, Tuesday Weld and Jennifer McAllister.

Horton offered a notable turn as Jack O'Callahan in the fact based TV film “Miracle on Ice” (ABC, 1981), starring Karl Malden, Andrew Stevens and Steve Guttenberg as Herb Brooks, Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig, respectively, supported Mare Winningham, Jennifer Warren and Tony Bill in the TV movie drama “ Freedom” (ABC, 1981) and guest starred in an episode of “Flamingo Road” (1981) before scoring his first TV series regular role in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” which loosely based on the 1954 musical film. Cast as Crane McFadden, Horton was on the show throughout its one season run from September 19, 1982 to March 23, 1983. While working on the show, Horton also worked with Michael O'Keefe, Karen Allen and Peter Fonda in the 1982 drama film “Split Image” and portrayed Tom Sawyer in the 1983 TV film “Sawyer and Finn,” opposite Michael Dudikoff as Huckleberry Finn.

After the cancellation of the show, Horton had a two episode arch in NBC's “St. Elsewhere” (1983, as Barry Dorn) as well as acted in such films as “Choices of the Heart” (1983, TV), “Children of the Corn” (1984), where he played the leading role of Burt, and “Where the River Runs Black” (1986). In 1985, he tried his hand in directing with “ABC Afterschool Specials,” “One Too Many,” starring a then wife Michelle Pfeiffer, Val Kilmer, and Mare Winningham. He followed it up with 1987's “Amazon Women on the Moon” segments “Two I.D.'s” and “The Unknown Soldier.” He also starred in a segment titled “Hospital.”

In 1987, Horton returned to series television as a regular when he was cast as Michael's best friend, Gary Shepherd, on the popular ABC drama series “Thirtysomething,” opposite Ken Olin, Mel Harris, Melanie Mayron, Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig, Patricia Kalember, Polly Draper and David Clennon. He stayed with the show throughout its entire four seasons run until 1991. Horton also directed such episodes as “Separation” (1988), “Whose Forest Is This?” (1988), “In Re: The Marriage of Weston” (1988), “First Day/Last Day” (1989), “Deliverance” (1989) and “Post-Op” (1990).

Horton co-starred with C. Thomas Howell and Courtney Thorne-Smith in “Side Out” (1990), a comedy/drama film directed by Peter Israelson and written by David Thoreau, had a small role in the Cameron Crowe film “Singles” (1992), starring Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott and Kyra Sedgwick, starred as Jim Harrison in the TV film “Children of the Dark” (1994), and appeared with Schuyler Fisk, Bre Blair and Rachael Leigh Cook in the comedy film “The Baby-Sitters Club” (1995). Horton further explored his directing skills by helming Craig T. Nelson, Morgan Weisser and Samantha Mathis in the TV film “Extreme Close-Up” (1990), as well as the pilot (also appeared as Professor Hartman) and one episode of Fox's “Class” (both 1993) and the short lived ABC medical series “Birdland” (1994). In 1995, he made his feature film directing debut with “The Cure,” a comedy/drama about two boys looking for the cure of AIDS, from which one of them is suffering. Starring Brad Renfro and Joseph Mazzello, the film earned Horton Cinekid's Audience Award.

Horton continued to appear in several films throughout the 1990s, including “Death Benefit” (1996, TV), “ Crazy Horse” (1996, TV), “2 Days in the Valley” (1996), “Murder Live!” (1997, TV), with which he also made his debut as executive producer, “The End of Violence” (1997), “ Into Thin Air: Death on Everest” (1997, TV) and “T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous” (1998). He also appeared in episodes of “Gun” (1997) and the TV miniseries “ From the Earth to the Moon” (1998). Horton played the lead role of NYC police detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Stone on the short lived supernatural series “Brimstone,” which originally aired on Fox from October 23, 1998 to February 12,1999. He also served as the show's producer.

Entering the new millennium, Horton was cast as boyfriend Max Ryan on the ABC sitcom “The Geena Davis Show,” starring Geena Davis. The show ran for one season from October 10, 2000 to July 10, 2001. Between 2000 and 2001, Horton also directed several episodes of “Once and Again.” He went on to helm episodes of “Mds” (2002), “Line of Fire” (2003) and the Emmy winning FX drama“The Shield” (2003-2004) as well as act in episodes of “Karen Sisco” (2003), “ LAX” (2004) and in the films “ Thoughtcrimes” (2003), “ Capital City” (TV, 2004), “ While I Was Gone” (2004, TV) and “The Dust Factory” (2004).

In 2005, Horton began his stint as executive producer on the ABC medical drama series “Grey's Anatomy,” starring Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers, among other actors. Since its debut in March 2005, the show has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim. Horton shared two Emmy nominations in the category of Outstanding Drama Series and a PGA Award for Television Producer of the Year Award in Episodic, Drama in 2007. Horton, who directed several episodes during 2005-2006, was nominated an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and a Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series' – Night for directing the 2005 episode “A Hard Days Night” and another DGA Award for “It's the End of the World (As We Know It).” Also in 2005, Horton made his last film appearance to date in “Happy Endings.”

Horton served as executive producer on “ Six Degrees” (2006-2007) and executive produced and directed th pilot of “Dirty Sexy Money” (2007). He executive produced the TV film “Body Politic” (2007), the TV series “The Philanthropist” (2009), where he also directed the pilot, as well as directed and executive produced the TV film “True Blue” (2010) and the TV series “Lone Star” (2010). In the meantime, he also made a guest appearance in “In Treatment” (2008) and “ Life Unexpected” (2010).

Recently, in 2011, Horton executive produced and directed the TV film “ Reconstruction,” starring Rachelle Lefevre, Emma Bell and Martin Henderson.

Awards:

• PGA: Television Producer of the Year Award in Episodic, Drama, “Grey's Anatomy,” 2007

• Cinekid: Audience Award, “The Cure,” 1995