Gary Sinise

As one of the founding members of the renowned Steppenwolf Theater, actor Gary Sinise honed his skills on the stage before becoming an accomplished supporting and lead actor on television and in films. Sinise began his rise to prominence with a taped stage performance of Sam Shepard's "True West" (PBS, 1984), which was previously performed off-Broadway to great acclaim. But his first real forays into Hollywood were as a director, not an actor - he helmed episodes of "Crime Story" (NBC, 1986-88) and "thirtysomething" (ABC, 1987-1991), while making his feature directorial debut with "Miles from Home" (1988), before finally stepping in front of the camera for a memorable performance as an emotionally fragile soldier in "A Midnight Clear" (1992). He next received high praise for both his directing and acting with his adaptation of "Of Mice and Men" (1992). But Sinise soon delivered his most enduring role, playing Lt. Dan in the winning drama "Forrest Gump" (1994), a role many fans identified with the actor for the rest of his career. Following a pivotal supporting turn in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" (1995), he went on to deliver two powerful leading performances of historical figures, playing "Truman" (HBO, 1995) and "George Wallace" (TNT, 1997); the latter of which earned him an Emmy Award. A string of varied roles, playing both hero and villain in movies like "Reindeer Games" (2000), "Mission to Mars" (2000) and "The Human Stain" (2003) soon followed. But he took an unpredictable turn toward series television, landing the lead role in the hit spin-off procedural, "CSI: NY" (CBS, 2004-2013). While the show took him away from features, Sinise nonetheless remained a prominent performer capable of maintaining a high-level of public interest and critical acclaim. After that series folded in 2013, Sinise moved into a similar role in another procedural spin-off, "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders" (CBS 2016- ).