Early life

Esten was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to Alexandria, Virginia at age nine, after his parents divorced. He and his younger sister were raised by their mother.

His late father, Charles, was a prominent local businessman and business partner of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Ray Mansfield.

Esten is a 1983 graduate of T.C. Williams High School and his parents' and sister's alma mater, the College of William and Mary, where he was a brother of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and graduated with a degree in economics in 1987. At William and Mary, he was the lead vocalist in the local band "N'est Pas" from 1985-88. Following graduation, Esten moved to the United Kingdom to make his theatrical debut, playing the title role in the musical Buddy in the early 1990s.

Career

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

In 1992, the makers of Whose Line Is It Anyway? asked him to audition for an episode, which he did successfully. Consequently, Esten made his debut on the Channel 4 show in the fourth series and "won" the episode. He subsequently appeared in more episodes later the same year when the show did a run in New York. At the time, the show needed a second specialist improvisational singer to fill in for Mike McShane.

Esten made his final appearance in the UK edition in 1994 before moving back to the US and playing the role of Luke in Party of Five. Although appearing on stage and screen thereafter, his 1999 return to Whose Line Is It Anyway? — in the show's new-look American format- with Drew Carey as host — established him as a regular "fourth contestant" on the show. Due to his singing abilities, he was often paired with series regular Wayne Brady on musical games. He has not appeared on the show since its 2013 revival by The CW.

Other comedy work

Following his return to Whose Line Is It Anyway, Esten made a guest appearance as himself with fellow regular cast members from the show Wayne Brady, Greg Proops and Brad Sherwood on The Drew Carey Show. In 2003, he hosted a semi-scripted semi-improvised comedy mini series called On the Spot. Between 2004-06, he was a member of the touring group Improv All-Stars and recurring cast member on Drew Carey's Green Screen Show. In 2011, he was a regular on Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza on GSN.

Esten and fellow former Whose Line Is It Anyway stars Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles and Jeff Davis regularly teamed up and tour around the country doing live improv under the name Whose Live Anyway?. In April 2014, Esten ceased work with Whose Live Anyway?, and was replaced by Joel Murray.

Film appearances

In 2001, Esten appeared in Billy Crystal's TV movie 61* as Kevin Maris, the son of legendary New York Yankees slugger Roger Maris. He had small roles in three Kevin Costner movies, The Postman, Thirteen Days as downed U-2 pilot Major Rudolf Anderson, and Swing Vote.

Esten also starred in a public service video, Riding Straight, produced for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's curriculum, Motorcycle Rider Course: Riding and Street Skills (MRC:RSS), in which he portrayed a surfer dude, a snuff-dipping hick, and a concerned friend in a bar.

Television

Esten has appeared as a guest star in various TV series, including Married... with Children, The New Adventures of Old Christine, "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Star Trek: Voyager, ER, NCIS: Los Angeles, Jessie, The Mentalist, and The Office.

From 2012 to 2016 he was part of the main cast of Nashville, starring as Deacon Claybourne. He has also contributed to the soundtracks as both a singer and songwriter. He co-wrote "I Know to Love You Now" with Deanna Carter, which was featured in the season 3 premiere.

In 2013, Esten appeared as a celebrity contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $500,000 for his charity, tying him with Rosie O'Donnell, Drew Carey, and Norm MacDonald for the most money won by a celebrity in one appearance on the show.

Personal life

Esten is married to Patty (née Hanson), whom he met in college. They have three children. The family moved to Nashville after Esten was cast as a series regular on Nashville.

Filmography

Comedy Shows

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1992, 1994	Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK version)	Performer	5 episodes
1999-2005	Whose Line Is It Anyway (U.S. version)	Performer	39 episodes
2004-05	Drew Carey's Green Screen Show	Recurring performer	8 episodes
2011	Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza	Regular performer	32 episodes

Television

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1988	Sale of the Century	Himself/Contestant	4 episodes
1989	On the Television	various	5 episodes
1990	Scrabble	Himself/Contestant	1 episode
1993	Cheers	Unnamed Marine	1 episode
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Divok	1 episode
1994	Murphy Brown	Secretary #67	1 episode
1995-96	The Crew	Randy Anderson	21 episodes
1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Dathan	1 episode
	Diagnosis: Murder	Joe Carter	1 episode
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Ethan Press	Episode 75 "Stop the Presses"
1997	JAG	Lieutenant Pete 'Pistol' Ayers	1 episode
	Married... with Children	Lonnie	2 episodes
1998	The Brian Benben Show	Chad Rockwell	7 episodes
1999	Jesse	Tad	1 episode
	Jack & Jill	Nick Seraph	1 episode
	Providence	Ted Shannon	1 episode
2000	Party of Five	Luke	7 episodes
2000-01	The Drew Carey Show	Himself (guest appearance)	2 episodes
2002	The Guardian	Mark Hanson	1 episode
2003	On the Spot	Himself (host)	5 episodes
	Dragnet	Carl Savitsky	1 episode
	Just Shoot Me!	Jake	1 episode
2004	NYPD Blue	Tim Keating	1 episode
	Cold Case	John "The Hawk" Hawkins	1 episode
2006	The Office	Josh Porter	7 episodes
2007	Help Me Help You	Willis	1 episode
	The Winner	Gary	1 episode
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Joe Campbell	2 episodes
2007-08	ER	Dr. Barry Grossman	4 episodes
2009-10	Big Love	Ray Henry	11 episodes
2009	The Mentalist	Rick Bregman	1 episode
	The Cleaner	Dr. Jake Slovak	1 episode
	NCIS: Los Angeles	John Cole/Ethan Stanhope	1 episode
2011	Wilfred	Nick	2 episodes
2011	Jessie	Morgan Ross	4 episodes
	Enlightened	Damon Manning
2012-16	Nashville	Deacon Claybourne	Series regular; 84 episodes

Films

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1997	The Sleepwalker Killing	Mark Schall
	The Postman	Michael
1999	The Expendables	Ram
	Late Last Night	Unnamed policeman
2000	Thirteen Days	Maj. Rudolf Anderson
2001	61*	Kevin Maris (1998)
2002	The Johnny Chronicles	Patrick Monroe
	Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet	Bill	"Twelve Miles to Trona" segment
2003	Nobody Knows Anything!	Connor Fulton
2007	American Family	Larry Bogner
2008	1%	John Tipton
	Swing Vote	Lewis

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		US Country	US
2012	"Undermine" A	35	116	The Music of Nashville: Season 1 Volume 1
	"No One Will Ever Love You" A	36	117
2013	"This Town"	41	—	The Music of Nashville: Season 2, Volume 1
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

• ADid not enter the Hot 100 but charted on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]