Early life and education

Berenger was born as Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago, to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent. He has a sister, Susan. His father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times and a traveling salesman.

Moore graduated in 1967 from Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois. He studied journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri but decided to seek an acting career following his graduation.

Career

He worked in regional theatre and in 1972, he worked as a flight attendant with Eastern Airlines, based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He transferred to New York in 1973.

Moore selected "Berenger" as his professional name after he was forced to change his surname professionally, as there was already a "Tom Moore" in the Actors' Equity Association.

Berenger worked in soap operas and had a starring role as lawyer Tim Siegel on One Life to Live. His feature film debut was the lead in Rush It (1976), an independent film. In 1977, he had a small role as the killer of the lead character (played by Diane Keaton) in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. In 1978, he had a starring role in In Praise of Older Women for Avco-Embassy Pictures. In 1979, he played Butch Cassidy in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, a role he got in part because of his resemblance to Paul Newman, who played the character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

Berenger starred in several significant films in the 1980s, including The Big Chill (1983), Platoon (1986), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), and Major League (1989). In 1986, he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Staff Sergeant Barnes in Platoon (this performance won him a Golden Globe Award for "Best Supporting Actor"). A role for which he has become well known for is Thomas Beckett, the main character in the mid-1990s film Sniper (which would later be followed by four sequels, featuring Berenger in the starring role for three). Other notable films from that period in which he was featured include Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Shattered (1991), Sliver (1993), and Chasers (1994). When asked in a 1999 interview to name his favorite film out of those in which he had acted, Berenger said it was too difficult to choose but that the one he had watched most frequently was his 1993 film Gettysburg, where he played the role of General James Longstreet.

He established the Tom Berenger Acting Scholarship Fund in 1988 to award theatre students for excellence in performance.

In more recent years, Berenger has continued to have an active acting career in film and television, although often at a supporting level. His most notable television appearance was on Cheers in its last season as Rebecca Howe's blue collar-plumber love interest, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series". He also began a career as a producer in the 1990s. Berenger also co-produced the 1997 miniseries Rough Riders, also starring as Theodore Roosevelt.

Berenger was also seen on the box art and promotional content for Novalogic's Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, as his roles in Sniper 2 and Sniper 3 were very similar to what was chosen for the game's artwork. He starred in the mini-series version of Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes, as a celebrated author who realizes the warped painting he recently purchased is alive with illustrations of impending doom for him in "The Road Virus Heads North". Berenger stars opposite Armand Assante and Busta Rhymes in the dramatic thriller Breaking Point, which had a limited release starting in December 2009.

He has most recently appeared in the science fiction thriller Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cillian Murphy, where he played a business executive who served as a mentor to and was an associate of the father of Murphy's character. Inception was a box office success and was his first appearance in a mainstream theatrical movie since Training Day in 2001. In 2012 he appeared in the TV miniseries Hatfields & McCoys as Jim Vance, uncle of protagonist Devil Anse Hatfield (played by Kevin Costner). On September 23, 2012 Berenger earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the role.

Personal life

Berenger has been married four times and has six children. He has two children by his first wife, Barbara Wilson, to whom he was married from 1976 to 1984: Allison Moore (born 1977) and Patrick Moore (born 1979). He has three daughters by second wife Lisa Williams (to whom he was married from 1986 to 1997): Chelsea Moore (born 1986), Chloe Moore (born 1988) and Shiloh Moore (born in 1993). He has a daughter named Scout Moore (born 1998) with Patricia Alvaran, to whom he was married from 1998-2011. He married Laura Moretti in Sedona, Arizona in early September 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Rush It	Richard Moore
1977	Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye	Billy Sutton	Television movie
1977	The Sentinel	Man at end
1977	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	Gary
1978	In Praise of Older Women	Andras Vayda
1979	Butch and Sundance: The Early Days	Butch Cassidy / Robert Leroy Parker
1980	The Dogs of War	Drew
1982	Beyond the Door	Matthew Jackson
1983	The Big Chill	Sam Weber
1983	Eddie and the Cruisers	Frank Ridgeway
1984	Fear City	Matt Rossi
1985	Rustlers' Rhapsody	Rex O'Herlihan
1986	Platoon	Sergeant Barnes	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1987	Someone to Watch Over Me	Det. Mike Keegan
1988	Shoot to Kill	Jonathan Knox
1988	Betrayed	Gary Simmons
1988	Last Rites	Michael
1989	Major League	Jake Taylor
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	GySgt. Hayes
1990	Love at Large	Harry Dobbs
1990	The Field	The American
1991	Shattered	Dan Merrick
1991	At Play in the Fields of the Lord	Lewis Moon
1993	Sniper	Thomas Beckett
1993	Sliver	Jack Landsford	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1993	Gettysburg	Lt. Gen. James Longstreet
1994	Major League II	Jake Taylor
1994	Chasers	Rock Reilly
1995	Last of the Dogmen	Lewis Gates
1995	Body Language	Gavin St.Claire
1995	The Avenging Angel	Miles Utley
1996	The Substitute	Jonathan Shale
1996	An Occasional Hell	Dr. Ernest Dewalt
1997	Rough Riders	Theodore Roosevelt	Television movie
1998	The Gingerbread Man	Pete Randle
1998	Shadow of Doubt	Jack Campioni
1999	A Murder of Crows	Clifford Dubose
1999	One Man's Hero	John Riley
1999	Diplomatic Siege	Gen. Buck Swain
2000	Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying	Sikes
2000	Takedown	McCoy Rollins
2000	Cutaway	Red Line
2001	Training Day	Stan Gursky
2001	The Hollywood Sign	Tom Greener
2001	Johnson County War	Cain Hammett
2001	True Blue	Rembrandt "Remy" Macy
2001	Watchtower	Art Stoner	a.k.a. Cruel And Unusual
2002	Eye See You	Unknown
2002	The Junction Boys	Paul "Bear" Bryant
2002	D-Tox	Hank
2002	Sniper 2	Thomas Beckett
2004	Sniper 3	Thomas Beckett
2005	Detective	Sgt. Malcolm Ainslie	Television movie
2006	Nightmares and Dreamscapes	Richard Kinnell	Television movie
2007	The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey	Jonathan Toomey
2008	Desperate Hours: An Amber Alert	Larsan	Television movie
2008	Stiletto	Virgil Vadalos
2009	Silent Venom	Admiral Bradley Wallace
2009	Charlie Valentine	Becker
2009	Breaking Point	Steven Luisi
2010	Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball	Walter Weed
2010	Sinners and Saints	Captain Trahan
2010	Last Will (film)	Frank Emery
2010	Firedog	Einstein	Voice only
2010	Inception	Peter Browning	Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2010	Faster	Warden
2011	Right Angle	Jerry
2011	Bucksville	The Patron of Justice
2012	Brake	Agent Ben Reynolds
2012	War Flowers	General McIntire
2012	Fighting to Forgive	General McIntire
2014	Sniper: Legacy	Thomas Beckett
2014	Reach Me	Teddy
2014	Bad Country	Lutin
2014	Lonesome Dove Church	John Shepherd

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975-1976	One Life to Live	Tim Siegel	Unknown episodes
1979	Flesh & Blood	Bobby Fallon	Television movie
1986	If Tomorrow Comes	Jeff Stevens	3 episodes
1993	Cheers	Don Santry	2 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2000	Law & Order	Dean Tyler	Episode "Panic"
2002	Ally McBeal	Harrison Wyatt	Episode "Nine One Nine"
2003	Third Watch	Aaron Noble	4 episodes
2003	Peacemakers	Marshal Jared Stone	9 episodes
2005	Into the West	Colonel J. Chivington	Episode "Hell on Wheels"
2007-2008	October Road	The Commander	19 episodes
2012	XIII: The Series	Rainer Gerhardt	6 episodes
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Jim Vance	3 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2013-2015	Major Crimes	Jackson Raydor	4 episodes
2014	Hawaii Five-0	Eddie Williams (Danno's father)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]