TV & Media Hunk of the Week 10/7/08: Neal McDonough

[auntiehill]

This week's choice is one of my personal favorites, American actor Neal McDonough (pronounced Mc-Dun-Uh).

McDonough was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the son of Catherine and Frank McDonough, motel owners who emigrated from Ireland, with his mother coming from County Tipperary and his father from County Galway.He grew up in Barnstable, Massachusetts, graduated from Barnstable High School, and attended Syracuse University, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1988. His roommate in college was Brett Pollock, current broadcaster for the Huntsville (Ala.) Stars of the Southern League. From there, McDonough trained for a short time at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

In 1991, he won the Best Actor Dramalogue for "Away Alone". McDonough has made many television and film appearances since then, including Boomtown, Band of Brothers, Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report and The Hitcher. Appearing in Star Trek was apparently a life-long dream of his, and claims that, in his childhood, he had three pictures in his room: one was a picture of his mom, the other the Holy Virgin Mary, and the third was William Shatner as Captain Kirk.

McDonough is married to Ruvé Robertson, with whom he has a son, Morgan, and a daughter, Catherine.

Neal McDonough currently plays husband to Nicollette Sheridan's character, Edie Britt, on the fifth season of Desperate Housewives.

A skilled amateur boxer, Neal was recently signed to star in the film version of the video game, Street Fighter.

Star Trek: First Contact

Ravenous

Band of Brothers

Minority Report

Timeline

Boomtown

Walking Tall (04)

The tv series Medical Investigation

The Hitcher (07)

88 Minutes

Tin Man

Traitor

Desperate Housewives

Publicity Shots

 

[Orac Zen]

Meh. Blondes / fair haired blokes do little or nothing for me, as a rule.

(I actually remembered to vote. )

 

[RJDiogenes]

I never realized Hawk and Tin Man were the same guy.

McDonough was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts

Wow. I lived in Dorchester until I was nine. I bet he was born at St. Margaret's, where I worked for eight years. Thumbs Up for the fellow Dorchester guy.

 

[WillsBabe]

I think he's okay. I really rather like Hawk from First Contact and I'm sure this has influenced my opinion of him. But I'm not sure he's aged that well. So, something of a sideways vote from me.

 

[DAK]

That "First Contact" picture is awful, and based on that alone I would have voted thumbs down. But he actually looks better as he aged, but not quite enough for a thumbs up. So I went with Meh.

 

[auntiehill]

I first really noticed him in Minority Report and, of course, "Boomtown." I was so fascinated by David McNorris that I simply HAD to find out more about the actor.

And then, this Sunday, on Desperate Housewives, there was this one scene where he is installing lights for one of the neighbors, and you get this great shot of him--from behind. I couldn't help but think, DAMN--in his 40s and he still has a great ass!

THAT'S when I knew he would be this week's selection.

--side note---apparently, Neal didn't start dying his until 1998 or 1999. One of his friends dared him to do it. He was on the brink of giving up his acting career at the time. After he dyed it, he thought it looked horrible, and couldn't wait to change it back. Before he could, he got called in to audition, and got the part. It was Ravenous; they loved his look. That lead to Minority Report, which led to Band of Brothers. He had tried to let it grow out while filming Timeline, but then got "Boomtown" which wanted him to be blonde. He then got called back for re-shoots of Timeline, but his hair was already a different color. If you watch the early lab scenes, you'll see that there's one scene where he goes brunette to blonde and back again within seconds!

Of course, now he's gone gray--or white, actually--so it looks blonde anyway.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Excellent actor, but only a meh for sex appeal.

 

[Trippy]

Hell, I have no idea who he is...I don't even recognize him from First Conatct! (who did he play?)

A meh.

 

[OmahaStar]

He's quite nice looking with dark hair, thumbs way up. As a blond, very thumbs down.

 

[DAK]

Hell, I have no idea who he is...I don't even recognize him from First Conatct! (who did he play?)

I don't remember him either. I guess he didn't make much of an impression, huh?

 

[Aragorn]

He didn't play a big role. His name wasn't even in the opening credits. He was Lt. Hawk, Enterprise-E flight controller who went out with Picard and Worf onto the deflector dish and got turned into a Borg. The end.

But outside of the movie, people who had nothing to do with production kept trying to run with the false rumor that Hawk was originally going to be Trek's first openly gay character, which a couple of the novels even ran with.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Does nothing for me. Thumbs down.

 

[TrekNut87]

Nope, nothing doing for me. Thumbs down.

 

[Emher]

He gets a straight mans Thumbs Up from me since he's a GREAT actor who while he always seems to have work, does deserve more appreciation.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I first really noticed him in Minority Report and, of course, "Boomtown." I was so fascinated by David McNorris that I simply HAD to find out more about the actor.

Yeah, Boomtown was cool, wasn't it? I think I remember Neal saying something about the episode where McNorris wakes up, hungover, in his garage, with his car bloodied and damaged, and he thinks he may have killed someone, one of his favorite acting bits.

 

[Ohappydagger]

He's funny-lookin'.

 

[auntiehill]

I first really noticed him in Minority Report and, of course, "Boomtown." I was so fascinated by David McNorris that I simply HAD to find out more about the actor.

Yeah, Boomtown was cool, wasn't it? I think I remember Neal saying something about the episode where McNorris wakes up, hungover, in his garage, with his car bloodied and damaged, and he thinks he may have killed someone, one of his favorite acting bits.

That was one HELL of an episode.

The only good thing about the attempted second season was that bit with him in rehab. They're all in their group, listening to this guy tell his sob story about how getting his DUI. McNorris can't help but interrupt the guy, ask him what judge he has and then tell him how to manipulate the judge into letting him off.

 

[auntiehill]

OK, who should we use for this week? I was thinking either Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Jake Gyllenhaal or Michael C. Hall.

Any thoughts?

 

[Aragorn]

Christian Slater's new show debuts this week.

 

[sidious618]

Thumbs up!