Early life

McCarthy was born in Westfield, New Jersey. His mother worked for a newspaper and his father was involved in investments and stocks. McCarthy moved to Bernardsville, New Jersey, as a teenager and attended the Pingry School. He also attended the town's public school, Bernards High School, for part of a year.

Acting/directing career

McCarthy gained recognition in Hollywood during the 1980s. His boy-next-door looks continually had him placed as the sincere and kind leading man. His breakout role was in the 1983 theatrical film Class. As McCarthy's career grew, he involuntarily became a member of the '80s Hollywood group of young actors known as the "Brat Pack"; McCarthy's better-known films include the Brat Pack films St. Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink. He starred in the 1987 box office hits, Mannequin and Less Than Zero, a theatrical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' popular novel. In 1985 McCarthy starred with Donald Sutherland and Kevin Dillon in Heaven Help Us (also known as Catholic Boys) playing Michael Dunn. In 1985, McCarthy made his Broadway debut in The Boys of Winter. He quickly returned to Hollywood in 1988 to star in several films, such as Fresh Horses and Kansas.

He had another hit in the 1989 comedy film Weekend at Bernie's. In 1991 he played the lead role in the motion picture Year of the Gun, a thriller which received mixed reviews from critics. In 1992 he starred in the romantic comedy film Only You. In 1993 he reprised the lead role of Larry Wilson in the sequel to the box office hit Weekend at Bernie's, Weekend at Bernie's II, the sequel was successful in the box office. He also had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed The Joy Luck Club. In 1994 he starred in the motion pictures Getting In, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and Dead Funny. In 1994, he starred in the motion picture Escape Clause. In 1996 he starred in the motion picture I'm Losing You, a theatrical adaptation of the novel I'm Losing You. He also starred in the period piece, Mulholland Falls. In 1997 he starred in the motion picture Stag. He also starred in the 1999 theatrical film A Twist of Faith as a police detective.

He returned to Broadway theatre to star in Side Man, McCarthy's version of the play won a Tony Award for Best Play in 1999. In 2003 McCarthy was set to guest star in two episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Due to bad relations with actor Vincent D'Onofrio, series creator Dick Wolf decided against it. Wolf later stated, "Mr. McCarthy engaged in fractious behavior from the moment he walked on the set." McCarthy fired back in a statement of his own saying, "I was fired because I refused to allow a fellow actor to threaten me with physical violence, bully me and try to direct me." Despite this incident, he later guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (with Chris Noth, not D'Onofrio) that originally aired in November 2007. In 2004 he played Dr. Hook in Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. He appeared in five episodes of the now-cancelled NBC television series E-Ring. In 2008 he starred in the NBC television series Lipstick Jungle as a billionaire, but was eventually cancelled, and had a minor role in The Spiderwick Chronicles. He is ranked #40 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars of all-time list. McCarthy recently directed several episodes of the hit CW television series, Gossip Girl, including Touch of Eva in the fourth season. McCarthy is also known for an incident at the 2013 Comic Con Philly event, where his security staff assaulted "Skippy," a popular YouTube character, who was attempting to photograph the Mannequin actor at the time. In 2010 and 2011 he also appeared in the hit USA show White Collar; he was praised by several critics for his performance in the episodes. He returned to the series in the next season to direct the episode "Neighborhood Watch". In 2015 he directed 3 episodes (ep. 11, 13 & 16) in season 2 of the NBC hit television show The Blacklist starring James Spader & Megan Boone.

Travel writing

McCarthy has also become a travel writer, and is currently an Editor at Large at National Geographic Traveler magazine. In 2010, McCarthy was escorted out of an underground church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, for entering the site without documentation. He had been in the church on assignment for the travel magazine Afar. A book written by McCarthy, The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down, was published in 2012. In February/March 2015, National Geographic published his account, entitled "A Song for Ireland", of his return to the house in the townland of Lacka West in the parish of Duagh in County Kerry in Ireland from which his greatgrandfather John McCarthy had emigrated in the late 1800s.

Personal life

In 1999 McCarthy married his college sweetheart Carol Schneider 20 years after they first dated. He later stated his reasons for tracking her down after they had drifted apart: "I ran into someone who said they had seen Carol and her boyfriend and they seemed really happy, and for some reason it bothered me for a week. I called her and asked her if she was really with this guy and asked her out for coffee."

In 2002 Schneider gave birth to a son, Sam. In 2005, the couple divorced.

On August 28, 2011, he married Dolores Rice. They have a daughter, Willow. In September 2013 it was announced that the couple were expecting their second, and his third, child.

In 2004 he announced that he once had a serious alcohol problem, which began at age 12. In 1992, he entered a detoxification program and has been sober since.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Class	Jonathan Ogner
1985	Heaven Help Us	Michael Dunn	Also known as Catholic Boys
1985	St. Elmo's Fire	Kevin Dolenz
1985	The Beniker Gang	Arthur Beniker
1986	Pretty in Pink	Blane McDonough
1987	Waiting for the Moon	Henry Hopper
1987	Mannequin	Jonathan Switcher
1987	Less Than Zero	Clay Easton
1988	Kansas	Wade Corey
1988	Fresh Horses	Matt Larkin
1989	Weekend at Bernie's	Larry Wilson
1990	Jours tranquilles à Clichy	Henry Miller
1990	Dr. M	Assassin
1991	Year of the Gun	David Raybourne
1992	Only You	Clifford Godfrey
1993	Weekend at Bernie's II	Larry Wilson
1993	Joy Luck Club, TheThe Joy Luck Club	Ted Jordan
1994	Getting In	Rupert Grimm
1994	Dead Funny	Reggie Barker
1994	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	Edwin 'Eddie' Pond Parker II
1995	Night of the Running Man	Jerry Logan	Direct-to-video release
1995	Dream Man	David Mander	Direct-to-video release
1996	Mulholland Falls	Jimmy Fields
1996	Everything Relative	Howard
1996	Things I never told you a.k.a. Cosas que nunca te dije	Don
1997	Stag	Peter Weber
1998	Bela Donna	Frank
1998	I Woke Up Early The Day I Died	Cemetery Cop
1998	I'm Losing You	Bertie Krohn
1999	Twist of Faith, AA Twist of Faith	Henry Smith
1999	New World Disorder	Kurt Bishop
1999	New Waterford Girl	Cecil Sweeney
2000	Nowhere in Sight	Eric Shelton
2001	Heaven Must Wait	Raymond Cane
2002	Standard Time	Elliot Shepherd
2003	Straight from the Heart	Tyler Ross
2004	2BPerfectlyHonest	Josh
2004	News for the Church		Director, writer; Short film
2005	Orphan King, TheThe Orphan King	Charles King
2005	Crusader	Hank Robinson	TV Movie
2008	Spiderwick Chronicles, TheThe Spiderwick Chronicles	Richard Grace
2009	Good Guy, TheThe Good Guy	Cash
2009	Camp Hell	Michael
2010	Main Street	Howard Mercer
2011	Snatched	Frank Baum	completed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Amazing Stories	Edwin	Episode: "Grandpa's Ghost"
1991	Tales from the Crypt	Edward Foster - Screenwriter	Episode: "Loved to Death"
1992	Common Pursuit	Martin Musgrove	Television film
1995	Courtyard, TheThe Courtyard	Johnathan	Television film
1996	Escape Clause	Richard Ramsay	Television film
1996	Hostile Force	Rabbit (Mike)	Television film
1996	Christmas Tree, TheThe Christmas Tree	Richard Reilly	Television film
1998	Father for Brittany, AA Father for Brittany	Keith Lussier	Television film
1998	Perfect Assassins	Ben Carroway	Television film
2000	A Storm in Summer	Stanley Banner	Television film
2000	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Randolph Morrow	Episode: "Slaves "
2000	The Sight	Michael Lewis	Television film
2000	Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	Robert F. Kennedy	Television film
2002	Georgetown		Television pilot
2002	Secret Life of Zoey, TheThe Secret Life of Zoey	Mike Harper	Television film
2003	Straight from the Heart	Tyler Ross	Television film
2003	Law & Order	Attorney Finnerty	Episode: "Absentia"
2003	Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone	Marshall	Episode: "The Monsters Are on Maple Street"
2003	Monk	Derek Philby	Episode: "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School"
2004	Kingdom Hospital	Dr. Hook	Miniseries
2004	Hollywood Mom's Mystery, TheThe Hollywood Mom's Mystery	Kit Freers	Television film
2004	Crusader	Hank Robinson	Television film
2005	E-Ring	Aaron Gerrity	Five episodes
2006	Way, TheThe Way		Television pilot
2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	A.D.A. Gene Hoyle	Episode: "Offense"
2008-09	Lipstick Jungle	Joe Bennett; Director	20 episodes; 2 episodes
2009;2010-2012	Gossip Girl	Rick Rhodes; Director	Episode: "Valley Girls"; 6 episodes
2009	Royal Pains	Marshall David Bryant IV	2 episodes
2009	The National Tree	Corey Burdoc	Television film
2011	White Collar	Vincent Adler	2 Episodes
2012	A Christmas Dance	Jack	TV Movie (Also known as Come Dance with Me)
2013-2014	Orange Is the New Black	Director	5 Episodes
2013-2014	Alpha House	Director
2015	The Blacklist	Director	4 Episodes: "Ruslan Denisov", "The Deer Hunter", "Tom Keen", "Marvin Gerard"
2016	The Family	Hank	Main

Awards and nominations

Fantafestival

• 1987: Won, "Best Actor" - Mannequin

Sedona International Film Festival

• 2005: Won, "Best Short Film" - News for the Church

[ Source: Wikipedia ]