D.W. Moffett

For D W Moffett, acting was not the road he chose after college, but one he pursued after he tired of the agribusiness and hotel banking work he was involved with in Chicago. The lanky, dark-haired, appealing player began to take evening acting classes taught at David Mamet's St. Nicholas Theatre. Within six months, he had quit the business world, joined the St. Nicholas Theatre, and soon after became a founding member of the Remains Theatre Company. Moffett acted in and directed productions with the Remains Theatre until 1983 when fellow Chicago actor-director John Malkovich cast him in a revival of Lanford Wilson's "Balm in Gilead," which eventually transferred off-Broadway in NYC. He then made his Broadway debut replacing Peter Gallagher in a small role in Tom Stoppard's award-winning "The Real Thing" (1984) The following year, Moffett landed the featured role of Felix, a gay reporter for THE NEW YORK TIMES who succumbs to complications from AIDS in Larry Kramer's searing landmark drama "The Normal Heart." That season, he also in the Broadway production of "The Boys of Winter" alongside Matt Dillon, Wesley Snipes and Andrew McCarthy. His subsequent stage work has included "Established Price" (at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, 1989-90) and a return to the Remains Theatre in Chicago in 1993 for David Marshall Grant's "Snakebit." TV and films have kept Moffett busy. He made his small screen debut in the heralded 1985 TV-movie "An Early Frost" (NBC), one of the first productions to focus on AIDS, as Aidan Quinn's lover. In 1987, Moffett had his first series, "The Oldest Rookie" (CBS), as Tony Jonas, the detective partner of Paul Sorvino in the title role. In 1991, Moffett was the lead in the short-lived "Palace Guard" (CBS), playing a master thief who becomes the security chief of a hotel. He has also continued to appear in TV-movies, such as "Danielle Steele's 'Fine Things'" (NBC, 1990) and Counterfeit Contessa" (Fox, 1994), opposite Tea Leoni. In 1998, he began his run as co-star of "For Your Love," a sitcom revolving around three couples who live in the same neighborhood. Moffett made his feature film debut in "The Misfit Brigade" (1986), a kind of switch on "The Dirty Dozen," in which he was among German prisoners conscripted by the Nazis. He followed with a turn opposite Debra Winger in "Black Widow" (1987) and played a seductively murderous stalker in the thriller "Lisa" (1990). He subsequently has supporting parts in "Pacific Heights" (also 1990) and "Falling Down" (1993), before playing a man estranged from his wife who puts the strong moves on Liv Tyler in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" (1996). In 2000, the actor was briefly seen as an advisor to the newly appointed drug czar (essayed by Michael Douglas) in "Traffic."