Jon Cryer's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Two and a Half Men Alan Harper The Famous Teddy Z Teddy Zakal… Getting Personal Sam Wagner The Trouble with Normal Zack Mango

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Cryer was born in New York City, New York. His mother, Gretchen (née Kiger), is a playwright, songwriter actress, and singer; his father, Donald David Cryer, is an actor and singer who originally studied to be a minister. Cryer's paternal grandfather, Rev. Dr. Donald W. Cryer, was a well-known Methodist minister. He has two sisters, Robin and Shelly. He also has a step-sister, Hannah Douglas-Cryer. Cryer has English, German, Swiss-German, Dutch, Scottish, and Swedish ancestry. When Cryer was twelve years old, he decided that he wanted to become an actor. When his mother heard this, she thought he should have a backup plan, and joked: "Plumbing is a pretty good career." Cryer attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center for several summers as a teenager, and is a 1983 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. He was classmates with screenwriter and film director Boaz Yakin. To his mother's "great disappointment", Cryer skipped college and went to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, United Kingdom.



TRIVIA:

• Son of 'David Cryer (I)' (qv) and 'Gretchen Cryer' (qv), Broadway actors.
• Attended Stagedoor Manor Theatre Camp.
• Once an usher at the Equity Library Theatre where he was often mistaken for actor 'Matthew Broderick (I)' (qv).
• He and 'Evan Lam' (qv) both played a character with the name 'Duck' in a movie. Cryer played Duckie in Pretty in Pink and Lam played Ducky in God of Vampires.
• Has one sister, Robin.
• He was asked to audition for the role of Chandler Bing on _"Friends" (1994)_ (qv), while he was doing a play in London. His reading was videotaped by a British casting agent but the tape failed to arrive in the U.S. before the network had made its final decision.
• Graduate of The Bronx High School of Science (a.k.a. Bronx Science), class of 1983.
• Friend of 'Paget Brewster' (qv).