Early life

Bierko was born in Rye Brook, New York, the son of Pat (Distillator) and Rex Bierko, who ran a local community theatre. Bierko's mother was a Jewish-born convert to Roman Catholicism. Bierko has said he is "very connected" to his Jewish heritage. His surname is Polish. He attended Boston University intending to study broadcast journalism at the School of Public Communications but graduated from Northwestern University in 1986 with a BS in theater arts from the School of Speech.

Career

Bierko got his big break in 1990 when he was cast opposite Valerie Bertinelli and Matthew Perry in the CBS sitcom Sydney; however, the production lasted just 13 episodes. He went on to make steady appearances in various television shows including Amen, The Powers That Be, Wings and Ally McBeal. Bierko may be best known for his role as Timothy in the 1996 action film The Long Kiss Goodnight, as Max Baer in the film Cinderella Man, as Tom Ryan in Scary Movie 4 (spoofing Tom Cruise throughout the film) and on the Broadway stage as Harold Hill in The Music Man. He was also the original choice for the character of Chandler Bing on the sitcom Friends but turned it down. He had a short role as a jazz musician love interest for Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in the fourth season of Sex and the City. He had another short role as attorney Jeffrey Coho during the third season of the ABC television series Boston Legal and as a lead in the short-lived Unhitched. He was also cast as Dave Lister in the pilot for the American version of Red Dwarf, which was not picked up as a series. He appeared in 2001's Kate and Leopold in an uncredited role, and in TV's Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit as Andy Eckerson, a United States Deputy Marshal who is working with the SVU (and ex-flame Det. Olivia Benson) to recapture an escaped convict. His role as heavyweight champion Max Baer in the 2005 movie Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ron Howard, was controversial since Baer was depicted as vicious and cruel. Baer's family, especially actor son Max Baer Jr. bitterly resented it and publicly attacked the film.

Bierko was slated to appear on Broadway in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of To Be or Not to Be but withdrew from the production August 29, 2008, for unspecified reasons. He starred as Sky Masterson in the Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls which began performances at the Nederlander Theatre on February 5, 2009, and officially opened on March 1, 2009. The production closed on June 14, 2009 after 113 performances. He performed the role of Peter in the 2011 New York Philharmonic production of Stephen Sondheim's Company with Neil Patrick Harris, Patti Lupone and Stephen Colbert.

Bierko was slated to replace Bertie Carvel as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical at the Shubert Theatre along with Jill Paice as Miss Honey on 3 September, but did not start performances until 17 September due to a "minor injury". On November 19, it was announced that Bierko will not return to the role of Miss Trunchbull due to "medical circumstances", following a shoulder injury sustained during rehearsals.

On July 22, 2014, it was announced that Craig has been cast in a lead role in the Lifetime dramedy series UnREAL, playing Chet, who is the "sexy and arrogant" creator of a reality dating show.

Personal life

Bierko has dated actresses Charlize Theron and Janeane Garofalo.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Love Note	Craig Johnson	Video
1990	Victimless Crime
1993	Danielle Steel's Star	Spencer Hill	Television film
1996	Johns	Christmas Radio Preacher
1996	The Long Kiss Goodnight	Timothy
1997	'Til There Was You	Jon Hass
1998	Sour Grapes	Richie Maxwell
1998	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Lacerda
1999	The Suburbans	Mitch
1999	The Thirteenth Floor	Douglas Hall, John Ferguson, David
2000	The Cherry Picker		Short film
2001	Kate & Leopold	Actor in Advertisement	Uncredited
2002	I'm With Lucy	Peter
2003	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	George Finney
2003	Hench at Home	Terry Hench	Television film
2004	Hair High	Sarge (voice)
2005	Cinderella Man	Max Baer
2005	Untitled David Diamond/David Weissman Project	Dylan	Television film
2006	Scary Movie 4	Tom
2006	Danika	Randy Merrick
2006	For Your Consideration	Talk Show Host
2007	Meet Bill	Sergeant	Uncredited
2008	Superhero Movie	Wolverine	Deleted scenes
2008	A Bad Situation	Richard	Video
2011	Company	Peter	New York Philharmonic production
2011	The Change-Up	Valtan
2011	Bad Seed	Bert
2012	The Three Stooges	Mac
2013	Louder Than Words	Eddie Stolzenberg
2013	If I Had Wings	Geoff Taylor
2016	Fair Market Value	Luca	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Roomies	Dale	Episode: "The Ditch"
1987	Our House	Douglas	Episode: "The Children's Crusade"
1987	ABC Afterschool Specials	Carl Warner	Episode: "The Day My Kid Went Punk"
1988	Amen	Bellman	Episode: "A Sight Case of Murder (2)"
1988	Eisenhower and Lutz	Waiter	Episode: "Don't Change a Hair for Me"
1989	The Young and the Restless	Greg
1989	Newhart	Dirk	2 episodes
1989	Guns of Paradise	Johnny Ryan	2 episodes
1990	Sydney	Matt Keating	13 episodes
1990	Wings	Matt Sargent	Episode: "The Puppet Master"
1990	Murphy Brown	Alex	Episode: "Rootless People"
1991	Empty Nest	Fred	Episode: "The Man That Got Away"
1991	Baby Talk	Bill Noonan	Episode: "A Star Is Born"
1992	The Powers That Be	Joe Bowman	4 episodes
1992	Red Dwarf	Dave Lister	Unaired television pilot
1993	Bodies of Evidence	Thomas Wilkes	Episode: "Trial by Fire"
1994-1995	Madman of the People	B.J. Cooper	16 episodes
1995	Pride & Joy	Greg Sherman	6 episodes
1998	Mad About You	Gardner Mulloy	Episode: "Weekend in L.A."
2000	Ally McBeal	Dennis Martin	Episode: "In Search of Pygmies"
2001	Sex and the City	Ray King	2 episodes
2002	The Court	Harlan Brandt
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Deputy Marshal Andy Eckerson	Episode: "Escape"
2006	The Great Malonies		Episode: "Pilot"
2006-2007	Boston Legal	Jeffrey Coho	14 episodes
2007	Nip/Tuck	Bob Easton	Episode: "Carly Summers"
2008	Unhitched	Jack "Gator" Gately	6 episodes
2009	Head Case		Episode: "The Big Book"
2010	The Good Wife	Duke Roscoe	Episode: "Infamy"
2010	Damages	Terry Brooke	4 episodes
2010	The League	Craig O'Connor	Episode: "Bro-Lo El Cuñado"
2010-2011	The Temp Life	Eddie Chiapetta	3 episodes
2011	Suite 7	Alan	Episode: "Superman"
2011-2012	Leap Year	Andy Corvell	5 episodes
2011	Necessary Roughness	Ray Santino	2 episodes
2011	Easy to Assemble	Jebedehia Bateman	8 episodes
2011	The Mentalist	Doc Dugan	Episode: "The Redshirt"
2012	6 passi nel giallo	Harry Chase	Episode: "Visions of Murder"
2012, 2014	Hot in Cleveland	Donald	2 episodes
2012	Elementary	Jim Fowkes	Episode: "The Rat Race"
2013	Body of Proof	Dr. Derrick Malcolm	Episode: "Committed"
2013-2014	The Michael J. Fox Show	Bill	2 episodes
2013	Unforgettable	Marco Lantini	Episode: "A Moveable Feast"
2015	UnREAL	Chet Wilton	10 episodes

Awards and recognition

• Shorty Award for Humor (Nominee) (2014)
• 100 Most Creative People in Entertainment "It" List, 2003 Entertainment Weekly
• Sexiest Broadway Star - People (2000)
• Theatre World Award (Winner) (2000)
• Broadway.com Audience Awards (Winner) (2000)
• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for The Music Man (Nominee) (2000)
• Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Musical for The Music Man (Nominee) (2000)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in a Musical for The Music Man (Nominee) (2000)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]