American actor best known for his performance on the hit TV show “The Practice,” a legal drama and McDermott’s first starring role in a series. McDermott’s success on the small screen has not led to movie stardom by 2001 but his presence is increasingly visible.
The son of teenage parents, Richard “Mac” and Diane, his father earned money to support the family by hustling pool, and the marriage ultimately ended in divorce. In 1967, his mother was accidentally shot and killed by her boyfriend while he was reportedly cleaning his gun. Dylan and his younger sister Robin, only six months old, went to live with their grandmother, Avis Marino. His father, by this time a bar owner, and his third wife Eve Ensler, an actress and playwright, asked 15-year old Dylan to live with them in Greenwich Village. Dylan’s troubled childhood had taken its toll, and he was fighting and drinking heavily. His stepmother, who later adopted him, changed his life by encouraging his interest in the theater. She gave him a part in her play, “Believe It, See It, Survival,” and he soon decided to attend Fordham University, where he majored in drama. He continued his studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse, studying with famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, and then perfected his skills on the stage.
His Broadway debut in “Biloxi Blues,” 1985, led directly to a role in his first feature film, “Hamburger Hill,” 1987, a Vietnam drama for which McDermott underwent grueling military training. Although it was an auspicious beginning to his career, his next few films were failures, and it wasn’t until 1989’s “Steel Magnolias” that again he received favorable notice from Hollywood. A part in the asinine flop “The Cowboy Way,” 1994 proved to be the final straw, prompting McDermott to take a break from acting to direct his first stage production, “Short Eyes.”
Over the years, McDermott was romantically linked with several actresses, including Julia Roberts. They met during filming of “Steel Magnolias,” in 1988-89, and their on-screen romance turned into an off-screen relationship and brief engagement. Roberts broke off their engagement when she began a new relationship, in the process earning herself a reputation as “career heartbreaker.” He later married to Shiva Afshar, an actress. The actor and his wife Shiva Rose had their second child on September 8, 2005. Their daughter, named Charlotte Rose, joins their older daughter Colette, age 9 at the time of her sister’s birth.
Link to Wikipedia biography