Early life

Bernsen was born in North Hollywood, California, the son of Harry Bernsen, Jr., a Hollywood producer, and veteran soap actress Jeanne Cooper, who appeared on The Young and the Restless. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1972. Bernsen is also a "double Bruin," having received both a BA in Theatre Arts in 1977 and an MFA in Playwriting in 1979 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Career

Acting

After a two-year appearance on the soap opera, Ryan's Hope, Bernsen was cast as lawyer Arnold Becker on the new Steven Bochco television series, L.A. Law in 1986. The series became a huge hit, and the role earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, appearances on dozens of magazine covers, and guest-starring roles on shows such as Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show. He was one of the few actors to remain on L.A. Law for the entire run of the show, until it ended in 1994.

Bernsen appeared with the British actor Bruce Payne in the films Kounterfeit and Aurora: Operation Intercept. He starred as the title character, Dr. Alan Feinstone, in the horror film The Dentist and its sequel. Bernsen was also cast as primadonna 3rd baseman, Roger Dorn, in the sports comedy Major League and appeared in both of the film's sequels. Bernsen appeared on General Hospital, where he portrayed John Durant from September 2004 until the character was murdered in May 2006.

Bernsen played Jack Sherwood on Cuts, appeared twice on Celebrity Mole, and played a lawyer on Boston Legal. He appeared as Q2 on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also had a recurring role as Captain Owen Sebring on the military drama JAG and played a Republican senator on two episodes of The West Wing. He directed, produced and appeared in the horror film Dead Air. Bernsen also co-starred in USA's Psych, playing the role of Henry Spencer, the father of the main character, Shawn Spencer (James Roday). In the film Rust, Bernsen played a former minister who returns to his hometown.

Corbin Bernsen also appears in the official music video of "Howlin' For You", by The Black Keys.

Bernsen appeared in a film he produced, directed and wrote titled 25 Hill, which is centered around the All-American Soap Box Derby, and is planning a baseball movie about zombies, called "Three Strikes, You’re Dead."

He also appeared as a guest star in Switched at Birth, the ABC Family television series in season 1, episode 22 (2012), "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time".

Producing

Bernsen was president and co-owner of Public Media Works, a new media company that develops entertainment for targeted fan bases. He directed and starred in Carpool Guy, the company's first film; it was targeted at soap opera fans and released on DVD in 2005.

Bernsen then went on to form Team Cherokee Productions led him to follow up with Kyle MacDonald, the blogger behind one red paperclip. According to the book One Red Paperclip, in June 2006, Bernsen traded a role in the Team Cherokee Productions film Donna on Demand to the book's author, blogger Kyle MacDonald, for a snow globe of the band KISS. It was for this role that MacDonald eventually traded for a two-storey farm house.

In recent years, Bernsen has focused on making Christian-themed films. His first such film was RUST, released in 2010 by Sony Pictures. Bernsen, along with producing partner Chris Aronoff, formed Home Theater Films, an independent production company that, develops, produces, and markets films and television shows for the Christian market. 25 Hill, the company's first title, was released in July 2012. This was followed by 3 Day Test (2012), Beyond the Heavens (2013), and Christian Mingle (2014).

Writing

In October 2015 Bernsen's debut novel was released by Pelican Book Group. The book, Rust: the Novel, is an adaptation of Bernsen’s 2010 feature film, Rust, in which Bernsen played the main character as well as served as writer and director.

Personal life

Bernsen has been married to British actress Amanda Pays since 1988. They have four sons.

In 2008, Bernsen and his family appeared on the NBC show Celebrity Family Feud, defeating the Margaret Cho family before losing to the crew from American Chopper.

Bernsen has one of the largest snow globe collections in the world, with 8000 globes.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Clambake	Roy	Uncredited
1974	Three the Hard Way	Boy
1976	Eat My Dust	Roy Puire
1987	Dead Aim	Webster
1987	Hello Again	Jason Chadman
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Arnie Becker	Television movie
1989	Bert Rigby, You're a Fool	Jim Shirley
1989	Major League	Roger Dorn
1989	Disorganized Crime	Frank Salazar
1989	Breaking Point	Pike	Television movie
1991	Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story	Morris Dees	Television movie
1991	Shattered	Jeb Scott
1991	Dead on the Money	Carter Matthews	Television movie
1992	Grass Roots	Will Lee	Television movie
1992	Frozen Assets	Zach Shepard
1992	Ring of the Musketeers	Harry	Television movie
1992	Love Can Be Murder	Nick Peyton	Television movie
1993	Fatal Inheritance	Woodward Dawes
1993	Ghost Brigade	Col. Nehemiah Strayn
1993	Beyond Suspicion	Stan	Television movie
1994	Guns of Honor	Brent Mallick	Television movie
1994	The Soft Kill	Martin Lewis
1994	Bud Bowl V	Coach of Team Bud Light
1994	A Brilliant Disguise	Dr. Martin
1994	Trigger Fast	Brent Mallick
1994	I Know My Son Is Alive	Dr. Mark Elshant	Television movie
1994	Final Mission	General Morgan Breslaw
1994	Major League II	Roger Dorn
1994	Savage Land	Quint
1994	The New Age	Kevin Bulasky
1994	Where Are My Children?	Tom Scott	Television movie
1994	Radioland Murders	Dexter Morris
1995	Someone to Die For	Jack Davis
1995	Cover Me	Andre Solloway
1995	Dangerous Intentions	Tom Williamson
1995	Aurora: Operation Intercept	Flight Engineer Murphy
1995	Tales from the Hood	Duke Metger
1995	Tails You Live, Heads You're Dead	Neil Jones/Roy Francis Netter	Television movie
1995	Murderous Intent	Brice	Television movie
1995	Temptress	Nick
1996	Bloodhounds	Harrison Coyle	Television movie
1996	Murder on the Iditarod Trail	Alex Jensen	Television movie
1996	Baja	John Stone
1996	The Dentist	Dr. Alan Feinstone
1996	The Great White Hype	Peter Prince
1996	Inhumanoid	Foster Carver	Television movie
1996	Bloodhounds II	Harrison Coyle	Television movie
1996	Full Circle	Harrison Winslow	Television movie
1997	An American Affair	Dist. Atty. Sam Brady/Sen. John Crawford
1997	Menno's Mind	Felix Medina
1997	Tidal Wave: No Escape	John Wahl	Television movie
1997	Kounterfeit	Marty Hopkins
1997	Spacejacked	Barnes
1998	The Fairy King of Ar	Rob Preston
1998	Loyal Opposition: Terror in the White House	Secret Service Agent John Gray	Television movie
1998	Major League: Back to the Minors	Roger Dorn
1998	The Dentist 2	Dr. Alan Feinstone
1998	Riddler's Moon	George	Television movie
1998	Recipe for Revenge	Dr. Chester Winnifield	Television movie
1998	The Misadventures of Margaret	Art Turner
1998	Young Hearts Unlimited	Brian	Television movie
1999	Kiss of a Stranger	Mason
1999	Two of Hearts	Bruce Saunders	Television movie
2000	Borderline Normal	Benjiman Walling
2000	Rangers	The Senator
2001	Apocalypse IV: Judgment	Mitch Kendrick
2001	Fangs	Carl Hart
2001	The Tomorrow Man	Larry
2001	Final Payback	Mayor Richardson
2001	Killer Instinct	Jennings Wilhite
2001	Raptor	Dr. Hyde
2002	I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus	David Carver
2002	Gentle Ben	Fog Benson	Television movie
2002	L.A. Law: The Movie	Arnie Becker	Television movie
2002	Atomic Twister	Sheriff C. B. Bishop	Television movie
2002	Dead Above Ground	Mark Mallory
2002	The Santa Trap	Chief Tom Spivak	Television movie
2003	Gentle Ben 2	Fog Benson	Television movie
2003	Love Comes Softly	Ben Graham	Television movie
2003	The Commission	Rep. Gerald R. Ford
2004	Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss	Steve	Television movie
2004	They Are Among Us	Norbert	Television movie
2004	Nightmare Boulevard	Jerry Martin
2005	Raging Sharks	Capt. Riley
2005	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	Harlan Dexter	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2005	Ordinary Miracles	David Woodbury	Television movie
2005	Carpool Guy	Michael
2006	Submission	Max
2006	The Naked Ape	Mr. Feldman
2006	Paid	William Montague
2006	Last Sunset	John Wayne
2008	House of Fallen	Rowland
2008	Depth Charge	Captain Richards	Television movie
2008	Vipers	Burton	Television movie
2008	Confessions of a Go-Go Girl	Nick Harvey	Television movie
2008	For the Love of Grace	Captain Washington	Television movie
2009	Donna on Demand	Ben Corbin	Also director
2009	Dead Air	Dr. F	Also director
2010	Rust	James Moore	Also director, writer, and producer
2010	25 Hill	Roy Gibbs	Also director, writer, and producer
2011	Bad Actress	himself	film
2012	3 Day Test	Tom	Also director and writer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Flying High	Dan Ellison	Episode: "It Was Just One of Those Days"
1980	The Waltons	Casey	Episode: "The Medal"
1984-1985	Ryan's Hope	Ken Graham	5 episodes
1986-1994	L.A. Law	Arnie Becker	171 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
1987	Matlock	Himself	Episode: "The Network"
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Arnie Becker	TV Special
1990	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Episode: "Corbin Bernsen/The Smithereens"
1990	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Q (uncredited)	Episode: "Deja Q"
1990	Dear John	Blake McCarron	Episode: "Hole in One"
1991	Out of This World	Chad	Episode: "Evie Nightinggale"
1992	Seinfeld	Himself	Episode: "The Trip: Part 1"
1993	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself	Episode: "The Stalker"
1993	Roc	Jim Larson	Episode: "The Millionaire Brother"
1994	The Nanny	Glen Mitchell	Episode: "Stock Tip"
1994	The Extraordinary	Himself (Host)
1995	A Whole New Ballgame	Brett Sooner	7 episodes
1995	In the Heat of the Night	Frank Cole	Episode: "By Duty Bound"
1996-1997	The Cape	USAF Col. Henry 'Bull' Eckert	17 episodes
1997	Touched by an Angel	Eric Weiss	Episode: "Angel of Death"
1999	Tracey Takes On...	Jack Dayton	Episode: "Dating"
1999	7th Heaven	Ted Grant	Episode: "Sometime's That's Just the Way It Is"
1999	Twice in a Lifetime	Roger Stovall/Bill Water	Episode: "Death and Taxes"
1999	Nash Bridges	Edward Jansen	Episode: "Trade Off"
1999-2004	JAG	Captain Owen Sebring	8 episodes
2000	Battery Park	Michael	Episode: "Rabbit Punch"
2000	The Outer Limits	Virgil Nygard	Episode: "Abaddon"
2000	Son of the Beach	Big Red Johnson	Episode: "Miso Honei"
2000	Beggars and Choosers	Sandy Peretz	Episode: "Killer Sushi"
2000	Yes, Dear	Gary Walden	Episode: "Jimmy Gets a Job"
2000	Baywatch	Barry Poe	Episode: "Ties That Bind"
2001	The West Wing	Henry Shallick	2 episodes
2001	V.I.P.	Zack Henley	Episode: "Val in Carnation"
2001	Jack & Jill	Paul Barrett	2 episodes
2001	Citizen Baines	Nicholas Tassler	Episode: "Three Days in November"
2002	The Weakest Link	Himself	Episode: "L.A. Law Edition"
2003	Miss Match	Stu 'Dr. Love' Scott	Episode: "Divorce Happens"
2003	L.A. Dragnet	Richard Atkins	Episode: "All That Glitters"
2003	Celebrity Mole: Hawaii	Himself	3 episodes
2004	Third Watch	Carter Savage	Episode: "Rat Bastard"
2004	NYPD Blue	Bob Cavanaugh	Episode: "I Love My Wives, But Oh You Kid"
2004	Celebrity Mole: Yucatan	Himself	2 episodes
2004-2013	The Young and the Restless	Father Todd Williams	12 episodes
2004-2006	General Hospital	John Durant	5 episodes
2005	Palmetto Pointe	Old Ballplayer	Episode: "All That You Can't Leave Behind"
2005	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	William Hendry	Episode: "Prisoner"
2005-2006	Cuts	Jack Sherwood	12 episodes
2006	Wheel of Fortune	Himself	Episode: "Soap Stars 4"
2006	Boston Legal	Eli Granger	Episode: "...There's Fire!"
2006-2014	Psych	Henry Spencer	111 episodes
2007	Masters of Horror	Ira	Episode: "Right to Die"
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Howard	Episode: "For Love or Money"
2011	Castle	Lance Hastings	Episode: "One Life to Lose"
2011	Criminal Minds	Jerry Grandin	Episode: "Today I Do"
2012	Switched at Birth	James Wilkes Jr.	Episode: "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time"
2013	The Glades	Michael Longworth	3 episodes
2014	Motive	Dr. Matthews	Episode: "Deception"
2014	Anger Management	Roger	Episode: "Charlie & The 100th Episode"
2015	Grace and Frankie	Dr. Paul Mason	Episode: "The Fall"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]