Biography

Early life

Cortese was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. He is of Sicilian descent. Prior to becoming an actor, he was a walk-on member of the University of North Carolina football team as a backup quarterback. His freshman year the team went to the Aloha Bowl. He never played a down. He graduated with a B.A. in Broadcasting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Career

Cortese first came to prominence as team coach of The Bricklayers on MTV Rock N' Jock and host of MTV Sports from 1992 to 1997. In 1994, he co-starred on the short-lived CBS police drama Traps with George C. Scott. He gained further recognition in 1995 as Jess Hanson in Melrose Place. He played Jake Hanson's half brother for 8 episodes in the third season but was killed off in that season's finale. He had the main role as Jason in the 1996 movie The Lottery. He had starring roles in the 1993 remake/sequel of Route 66, Traps, The Single Guy, Veronica's Closet (in which he played Perry for three seasons), Rock Me Baby and Ball & Chain. Cortese appeared in the NBC television series Seinfeld, where he played Tony, Elaine's ultra-cool, vapid, good-looking boyfriend. In the episode, entitled "The Stall", he was dubbed a "mimbo" (a male bimbo). He was also featured in The WB television series What I Like About You in a recurring role as Vic, Val's boss, from 2002 to 2003 a role he reprised as a series regular from 2005 to 2006 during the fourth and final season, which he directed one episode and in two episodes of 8 Simple Rules in 2004, playing Bridget's tennis coach. He has also starred in the natural horror film Locusts: The 8th Plague.

During Burger King's "Your Way, Right Away" advertising campaign during the 1990s, Cortese was hired as the fast-food company's official spokesperson.

He was the host of My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad, which aired on NBC for one season before being cancelled. Dan then appeared on the first season of Superstars as the partner of Lisa Leslie.

In 2008, Cortese landed a role in Soccer Mom as a famous Italian soccer player alongside Emily Osment.

He was the co-host of the ABC game show, Crash Course (which was canceled after 4 episodes) and hosts VH-1's Money Hungry.

Cortese was a guest-star on the Hot in Cleveland episode (#3.8) entitled 'God and Football' playing Jimmy Armstrong.

In 2013, Cortese serves as the host of truTV's Guinness World Records Unleashed. The series debuted on February 7, 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Demolition Man	Taco Bell Entertainer
1996	The Lottery	Jason Smith
2000	After Sex	John
2005	Locusts: The 8th Plague	Colt Denton
2007	Everybody Wants to Be Italian	Michael
2008	Soccer Mom	Lorenzo Vincenzo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Something Is Out There	Jack Breslin
1994	Seinfeld	Tony	Episode: "The Stall"
1995	Melrose Place	Jess Hanson
1996	Caroline in the City	Scott
1997	The Single Guy	Dan Montgomery
1997	Volcano: Fire on the Mountain	Peter Slater
2000	Baby Blues	Ray
2000	That's Life	Professor Jeff Cahill
1997-2000	Veronica's Closet	Perry Rollins / Laird Perry Rollins
2001	The Triangle	Tommy Devane
2001	Inside Schwartz	Chuck
2002	House Blend	Dave Reed
2002	Andy Richter Controls the Universe	Ben / Peter
2003-2004	Rock Me Baby (TV series)	Jimmy Cox
2004	8 Simple Rules	Coach Scott
2004	CSI: Miami	Sal Coleman
2005	Joey	Chuck	(TV series, 1 episode: "Joey and the Stuntman")
2003, 2005-2006	What I Like About You	Vic Meladeo (Season 1 guest, Season 4 Main)
2009	Surviving Suburbia	Onno
2010	Castle	Howard Weisberg
2011	Man Up!	Dennis Mayder
2012	Hot in Cleveland	Jimmy Armstrong	(TV series, 1 episode: "God and Football")
2013-present	Guinness World Records Gone Wild	Host

Charities

Dan Cortese supports the following charitable causes: Underprivileged Children, Children.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]