Dermot Patrick Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles in a wide variety of genres, including romantic comedy, western, and drama films. After making his film debut in Sunset (1988), Mulroney gained recognition for his starring role in the films Young Guns (1988) and Career Opportunities (1991). In the 1990s, Mulroney starred in the films Point of No Return (1993), Bad Girls (1994), Copycat (1995), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), and My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), the last of which became his highest grosser at the box office.
In the 2000s, Mulroney starred in the films About Schmidt (2002), The Wedding Date (2005), Must Love Dogs (2005), The Family Stone (2005), and Zodiac (2007). In the 2010s, Mulroney starred in the films The Grey (2011), Jobs (2013), August: Osage County (2013), Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), and Dirty Grandpa (2016); however, he primarily worked in television, with main roles as Francis Gibson on the NBC thriller series Crisis (2014) and Dr. Walter Wallace on the CBS medical drama series Pure Genius (2016–2017), as well as a recurring role as Sean Pierce on seasons 5 and 6 of the Showtime series Shameless (2015–2016).
In the 2020s, Mulroney continued his television work, with main roles as John Carmichael on the Amazon Prime Video series Hanna (2020–2021), President James Ritson on the Disney+ series Secret Invasion (2023), and Chief Dom Pascal on the NBC series Chicago Fire (2024–present). He also starred in the films Scream VI (2023), Shooting Stars (2023), and Anyone But You (2023).
Outside of acting, Mulroney is also a cellist. He has played the cello for scores of multiple films, including Jurassic World (2015), Zootopia (2016), Rogue One (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Incredibles 2 (2018), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
Early life
Mulroney was born on Halloween, 1963, in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C. His father, Michael Mulroney of Elkader, Iowa, was a law professor at Villanova University School of Law beginning in the 1990s; before that time, he had a private practice in tax law for thirty years in Washington, D.C. Mulroney's mother, Ellen, was a regional theater actress who was originally from Manchester, Iowa. Mulroney is of Irish and German descent, and is the middle child among five siblings. He has two older brothers, Conor and Sean; a younger brother, Kieran Mulroney, who is an actor and screenwriter; and a younger sister, Moira.
Mulroney attended Matthew Maury Elementary School and played cello in school and city youth orchestras, as well as acted in children's community theater. He finished 9th and 10th grades at George Washington High School, before attending T. C. Williams High School (class of 1981) in Alexandria, Virginia. During his sophomore year in high school, he attended the Interlochen Arts Camp as a cellist. where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and graduated in 1985.
Mulroney has a scar on his upper lip from a childhood accident, about which he explained, "I was 3½ and I was carrying a dish for our pet rabbits. And I tripped and it broke, and I fell on it."
Acting career
1986–1996
thumb|Mulroney at the [[2013 Toronto International Film Festival]]
In his senior year in college, Mulroney responded to a sign-up sheet and auditioned in front of WMA agent Barbara Gale, In his first decade acting, Mulroney appeared in a slew of drama films often dealing with heavy subject matter: Sin of Innocence (1986), in which he played a stepbrother romantically involved with his stepsister after their parents marry; Daddy (1987), in which he played the boyfriend in a couple struggling with teenage parenthood; the Lee Grant sibling family drama Staying Together (1989); Unconquered (1989), in which he portrayed the son of Richmond Flowers Sr., an opponent of Alabama Governor George Wallace's segregationist policies; Longtime Companion (1989), in which he portrayed the first HIV/AIDS patient to die of the disease in a widely released film; Where the Day Takes You (1992), in which he plays the leader of a group of teenage runaways trying to survive in the streets of Los Angeles; and supporting roles in the Emmy Award-nominated Family Pictures (1993), which dealt with the struggles of raising a child with autism, and Bastard out of Carolina (1996), which dealt with abuse and molestation.
In 1988, Mulroney appeared in the baseball flick Long Gone, for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie at the CableACE Awards. In 1989, he appeared in Survival Quest, during which he met Catherine Keener. While filming, in 1986, The couple would go on to appear together in four other films: Living in Oblivion (1995), Heroine of Hell (1996), Box of Moonlight (1996) and Lovely & Amazing (2001). Mulroney's roles in Samantha (1991) and Where the Day Takes You (1992) awarded him Best Actor at the Seattle International Film Festival. In 1993, he wrote the song "Someone Else's Used Guitar" for Peter Bogdanovich's The Thing Called Love, in which he also starred. Mulroney also had a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix–directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside.
Mulroney appeared in a number of western films throughout this period, namely Young Guns in 1988, Silent Tongue and The Last Outlaw in 1993, and Bad Girls in 1994. The Sam Shepard-directed Silent Tongue would mark the second in a series of four collaborations, with the two previously appearing together on screen in Bright Angel (1990), for which Mulroney won the Jury Special Prize at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema. Mulroney co-starred in the comedy-drama films: Staying Together (1989); The Thing Called Love (1993), the second of two collaborations with River Phoenix before his death; and There Goes My Baby (1994), originally filmed in 1990. In 2007, Mulroney appeared in the fifth season of The Batman as Green Lantern / Hal Jordan. In 2011, he directed the feature film Love, Wedding, Marriage.
In 2012, Mulroney played the love interest of Zooey Deschanel, Russell, in the Fox series New Girl. In 2013, he played the title starring role in the psychotronic horror film The Rambler, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He also starred alongside Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, and Stefanie Scott in the 2015 horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 3. He is the narrator of Legends & Lies (2015–2016) executive produced by Bill O'Reilly for Fox News Channel. He also appeared in the hit Showtime series Shameless as Sean, a recovering drug addict who runs a restaurant. In 2023, Mulroney starred in the sixth installment of the Scream franchise and starred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Secret Invasion.
Musical career
Mulroney is an accomplished cellist. In 1996, he was part of a band called the Low and Sweet Orchestra that released an album in 1996, Goodbye to All That. In 2005, he appeared alongside Boyd Tinsley for Alanis Morissette's show at the House of Blues in Hollywood. He played the cello in the films The Thing Called Love, where he portrayed an aspiring country singer, the 1987 made-for-TV movie Daddy, and Samantha, where he portrayed a college student studying music. He played cello in the song "Place Your Hand" from Melissa Etheridge's 1992 album Never Enough, on the EP for Rain Phoenix's band Papercranes, and on the scores for Mission: Impossible III (2006), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). In 2016, his band, Cranky George, released its debut album Fat Lot of Good. Most recently, he portrayed a cello soloist in the second and third seasons of Mozart in the Jungle.
Personal life
thumb|Dermot Mulroney in 2018
Mulroney married actress Catherine Keener in 1990 after they met in 1986 when filming Survival Quest. In 2010, he married Italian Tharita Cesaroni, who changed her name to Prima Apollinaare in 2015. They have two daughters. Mulroney filed for divorce from Apollinaare on June 23, 2025.
Mulroney was included in Peoples Sexiest Men of the Year issue in 2005 as its "Sexiest Jack of Arts".
Filmography
{| class="wikitable"
|+Key
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|
|Denotes works that have not yet been released
|}
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"| Notes
! class="unsortable"| Reference(s)
|-
| rowspan="2"|1988
| Sunset
| Michael Alperin
|
| rowspan="16"|
|-
| Young Guns
| Dirty Steve Stephens
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|1989
| Staying Together
| Kit McDermott
|
|-
| Survival Quest
| Gray Atkinson
|
|-
| Longtime Companion
| John
|
|-
| 1990
| Bright Angel
| George Russell
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1991
| Career Opportunities
| Nestor Pyle
|
|-
|Samantha
| Henry
|
|-
| 1992
| Where the Day Takes You
| King
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|1993
| Silent Tongue
| Reeves McCree
|
|-
| Point of No Return
| J. P.
|
|-
| The Last Outlaw
| Eustis
|
|-
| '
| Kyle Davidson
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|1994
| Bad Girls
| Josh McCoy
|
|-
| There Goes My Baby
| Pirate
|
|-
| Angels in the Outfield
| Mr. Bomman
|
|-
| Scene Six, Take One
| Wolf
| Short film
|
|-
| Kansas City
| Johnny O'Hara
|
| rowspan="13"|
|-
| rowspan="3"|2005
| '
| Nick Mercer
|
| rowspan="3"|
|-
| Griffin & Phoenix
| Henry Griffin
|
|
|-
| Trade of Innocents
| Alex Becker
|
|
|-
| Gone in the Night
| Nicholas Barlow
|
| rowspan="5"|
|-
| You're Killing Me
| Congressman Schroder
|
|
|-
| Shooting Stars
| Keith Dambrot
|
|
|-
| Breakwater
| Ray Childress
|
|
|-
|The Warrant: Breaker's Law
| Yule Bronson
|
|
|-
| Ruthless
| Harry
|
|
|-
| Anyone but You
| Leo
|
| rowspan="4"|
|-
| rowspan="7" | 2025
| Laws of Man
| Benjamin Bonney
|
|
|-
| Like Father Like Son
| Gabe McKennan
|
|
|-
| When I'm Ready
| Keith
|
|
|-
| Killing Mary Sue
| Bradley Weiner
|
|
|-
| Swiped
| Matthew Slate
|
|
|-
| Long Shadows
| Dallas Garrett
|
|
|-
| rowspan="6" |
|
| Andrew Gregg Curtin
| Voice; In-production
|
|-
|
|
| Post-production
|
|-
|
| Jake
|Post-production
|
|-
|
| Sheriff Weaver
|Post-production
|
|-
|
| Charles Nicoletti
|Post-production
|
|-
|
|
|Post-production
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"| Notes
! class="unsortable"| Reference(s)
|-
| rowspan="3"|1986
| Sin of Innocence
| Tim McGary
| Television film (CBS)
|
|-
| Kingpin
| Narrator
| 4 episodes
| rowspan="10"|
|-
|Secret Invasion
| President James Ritson
| Main cast, 4 episodes
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2025–2026
| Chicago Med
| rowspan="2"| 2 episodes
| rowspan="2"|
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year !! Event !! Category !! Nominated work !! Result
|-
| 1988
| CableACE Awards
| Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
| Long Gone
|
|-
| 1990
| Torino International Festival of Young Cinema
| Jury Special Prize
| Bright Angel
|
|-
| 1992
| Seattle International Film Festival
| Best Actor
| Samantha<br>Where the Day Takes You
|
|-
| 1996
| MTV Movie Awards
| Best Kiss
| How to Make an American Quilt
|
|-
| 2007
| Philadelphia Film Festival
| Artistic Achievement Award
| Himself
|
|-
| 2013
| Seattle Film Critics Society
| Award for Best Ensemble
| rowspan="3" |August: Osage County
|
|-
| 2013
| Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|
|-
| 2013
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards
| Best Ensemble
|
|}