Michael Paré: Biography

Best remembered for playing Eddie in Eddie & the Cruisers (1983) and its sequel, Eddie & the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives! (1989), Michael Pare makes his living appearing in B-movies and straight-to-video actioners. The Brooklyn-born Pare started out as a New York Culinary Institute-trained sous chef and then a model. He started acting at a friend's suggestion and studied under Uta Hagen and Marvin Nelson. His first break came from playing tough student Tony Villicana on the adventure/comedy series The Greatest American Hero (1981). This led to the leading role in the made-for-television film Crazy Times (1981). Following his work in Eddie & the Cruisers, Pare starred in The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). His shot for major movie stardom came from director Walter Hill, whose own career was taking off following the success of his Eddie Murphy vehicle 48 Hrs. (1982). Hill cast Pare in the lead of Streets of Fire (1984). The director had originally meant for it to be the first of an action trilogy starring Pare, but the film failed at the box office. Subsequently Pare became the star of numerous low- and medium-budget features and the occasional made-for-cable television movie. In 1987, he starred in the short-lived television series Houston Knights. He reappeared in a big-budget feature, Village of the Damned, in 1995, but despite it's fairly big-name cast, it was unsuccessful, and Pare returned to B-movies such as Raging Angels (1995) and Bad Moon (1996). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide