Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), Streets of Fire (1984), and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), and on the series Houston Knights (1987–1988).
Early life
Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. He has six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry. His father died from leukemia when Paré was five, leaving his mother to raise the large family of children.
Growing up, Paré was a fan of James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Paul Newman, and Robert Mitchum, and felt he was "a kindred spirit" to them. He was working as a chef in New York City when he met talent agent Yvette Bikoff, who convinced him to try acting. In the early 1980s, he studied acting under Uta Hagen. He shot a series of television commercials in Japan. The magazine was folded into Men's Journal in 2017; in 2018, Men's Journal ranked Paré's as the No. 1 cover in the former magazine's more than 300-issue history. as well as Streets of Fire (1984) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). Paré also appeared in the 2012 remake of The Philadelphia Experiment. He starred as a tortured soldier named Brad Cartowski in the 1993 action film Deadly Heroes, directed by Menahem Golan. Other films included Moon 44 (1990), Village of the Damned (1995), Bad Moon (1996), Hope Floats (1998), and The Virgin Suicides (1999).
Paré is best known for his deep, raspy voice, rugged screen presence, and classic action hero demeanour. In his 2017 interview for Men's Journal he revealed that as a young actor he wasn't sure if he wanted to make a career as “the muscular leading guy", and instead tried to follow in the footsteps of his idols — Marlon Brando and James Dean.
On television, Paré starred with Michael Beck in the drama Houston Knights in 1987–1988 The actor frequently appears in Uwe Boll's works.
Paré has had a very busy workload in recent years, with 114 credits from 2015–2024 (mostly in low-budget films and TV movies), including twenty roles in 2022 alone and another 19 in 2024.
Personal life
He has married three times. His first wife (1980–1984) was film producer Lisa Katselas; his second wife, Marisa Roebuck (1986–1988); his present wife (since 1992) is Marjolein Booy, a former fashion model, with whom he has one child. Paré stated that he lives "a good, clean life", and trains frequently.
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| Mummy Dearest
| Dr. Jason
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| Painkiller
| Dr. Alan Rhodes
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| Deceived by My Mother-In-Law
| Ross
| TV movie
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| Mommy's Deadly Con Artist
| Ross
| TV movie
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| Raunch and Roll
| Carl Weinstein
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| Mind Games
| Colonel Reeder
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| Righteous Blood
| Jericho
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| Bed Bug
| The Killer
| Short
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| The Wild Man: Skunk Ape
| Captain Stryker
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| South of Heaven
| Joey
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| Christmas Collision
| Jaggar Huntley
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| rowspan="20" | 2022
| Beyond the Resonator
| Professor Wallace
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| Curse of the Re-Animator
| Professor Wallace
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| Lockdown
| Roger Kinkaid
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| Top Gunner: Danger Zone
| Air Marshall Tony Wilkes
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| Shooting Star
| Sheriff Wiley
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| As Long As I'm Famous
| Older Sid
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| Dawn
| Officer Barry
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| Pig Killer
| Detective Oppal
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| The Red Tide Massacre
| Sheriff Tom Fuller
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| They Crawl Beneath
| Bill Moritz
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| Nix
| Idres
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| Attack on Titan
| Citizen Prime Ortiz
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| Renegades
| CIA Agent Donovan
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| Headless Horseman
| Devil
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| Bridge of the Doomed
| Colonel Charon
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| Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar
| Kip
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| 2025 Armageddon
| Thomas Ramsey
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| 3.3 Miles
| Ray
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| Twisted Vines
| Branson Wright
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| Alabama Rose
| Ethan
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| rowspan="13" | 2023
| End of Loyalty
| "Pops"
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| If I Can't Have You
| Mr. Sklar
| TV movie
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| Kings of L.A.
| Artie
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| The Beast Comes at Midnight
| Night
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| Wrongful Death
| Dr. David Moore
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| The Puppetman
| Detective Al
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| Alien Apocalypse
| Director Storm
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| In the Shadows
| Sam Hammonds
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| Family Ornaments
| Grandpa Pat
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| The Stairwell
| Hollister
| Short
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| A Christmas Intern
| William
| TV movie
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| America Is Sinking
| General Robert Glenn
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| Very Frightening Tales
| Edward Barnes
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|rowspan="19"| 2024
| Scars
| Tom
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| The Wrong Life Coach
| Detective Clover
| TV movie
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| Wanted Man
| Tinelli
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| Planetquake
| General West
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| Tall, Dark, and Dangerous
| Bill
| TV movie
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| Camp Pleasant Lake
| Rick Rutherford
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| Sentinel
| The President
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| War of the Worlds: Extinction
| General Andres Alfaro
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| Kill Craft
| Thomas Delon
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| Bedtime Stories: Tales of Love and Hate
| Fortunato
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| Steady
| Rudy
| Short
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| Shark Island
| Charlie
| Video
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| Alien: Rubicon
| President McCoy
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| In Tenebras: Into the Darkness
| Captain Shaw
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| 9 Windows
| Agent Larry Thurgood
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| The Vampire and the Vigilante
| Gabriel
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| Angel with a Gun
| Archer
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| Revival
| Martin
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| Desert Fiends
| Leonard
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|rowspan="18"| 2025
| Mundije
| CIA Chief
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| The Land That Time Forgot
| Admiral Christopher Jackman
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| Death 4 Dinner
| Detective Noah Rafferty
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| Alien Invasion: Rise of the Phoenix
| Dr. Jonathan Wright
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| Elite Target
| Disappointed Man
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| Morgan: Killer Doll
| John
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| Bloodstorm
| Police Chief
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| Clutch
| Marty
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| Bury 'Em Deep
| Sheriff Sykes
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| Shark Terror
| Captain Schaeffer
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| Wrongful Death 2: Bloodlines
| Dr. David Moore
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| Helloween
| John Parker
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| Kung Fu Slayers
| Steven Steinberg
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| 3: The Movie
| Father Joe
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| Rocky's Galaxy
| Colonel Subblet
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| Sacred Grounds: Forbidden
| Marshal Wilson
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| A Christmas Murder Mystery
| Harold Sterling
| TV movie
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| Fight Pride
| Gil
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| 2026
| Order of the Dragon
| Henry Wyatt
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Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
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| 1981-1983
| The Greatest American Hero
| Tony Villicana
| Main Cast: Season 1-2, Guest: Season 3
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| 1987-1988
| Houston Knights
| Sergeant Joey La Fiamma
| Main Cast
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| 2000-2003
| Starhunter
| Dante Montana
| Main Cast: Season 1, Recurring Cast: Season 2
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| 2004
| Cold Case
| Randy Price
| Episode: "Greed"
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| 2006
| South Beach
| Charlie Evans
| Recurring Cast
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| 2007
| Whatever Happened To?
| Himself
| Episode: "Rebels"
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| rowspan="2" | 2011
| Memphis Beat
| Dave Hargrove
| Episode: "Things We Carry"
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| House
| Warden Delaire
| Episode: "Twenty Vicodin"
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| 2012
| Leverage
| FBI Special Agent Dennis Powell
| Episode: "The Radio Job"
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| 2017
| Starhunter Transformation
| Dante Montana
| Main Cast
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| 2017-2018
| Starhunter ReduX
| Dante Montana
| Main Cast
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| 2019
| Seven Days
| O'Donnell
| Episode: "Episode #1.1"
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| 2021-2022
| Keeping Up with the Joneses
| Sheldon
| Main Cast
|}
Music video
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
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! Year
! Artist
! Song
! Role
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| 1983
| Eddie and the Cruisers
| "On the Dark Side"
| Eddie Wilson
|}
Awards and nominations
Awards
PollyGrind Film Festival
- Best Actor: 2012