Early life

Ashby was born in Atlantic Beach, Florida, the son of Eleanor (Johnson), a civic organizer, and Clarence Linden Garnett Ashby Jr., a pharmaceuticals manufacturer. Ashby graduated from The Bolles School, a private school located in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, but dropped out his junior year to pursue an acting career. Ashby studied acting at Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.

Career

One of his first roles was as Lance Reventlow, the only son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton (played by Farrah Fawcett) in the Golden Globe-winning miniseries Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story.

In 1997, Ashby joined the main cast of Melrose Place as Dr. Brett Cooper, a role he had until the start of the seventh season in late 1998. He first appeared on the show in the first season in 1993 as Jo Reynolds's estranged husband Charles, in the episodes "Peanut Butter and Jealousy" and "Single White Sister". He was in the movie Wyatt Earp where he played Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earp's (Kevin Costner) younger brother. He played Cameron Kirsten on The Young and the Restless from 2003 to 2004. He also began playing the role of Paul Hollingsworth on Days of Our Lives in March 2008.

Ashby currently portrays Beacon Hills’ Sheriff and father to Stiles Stilinski (played by Dylan O'Brien) on MTV’s Teen Wolf series.

Personal life

Ashby is married to actress Susan Walters. The couple met on the set of the ABC television series Loving in 1983, where she was a regular and he was filming a guest appearance. They have two daughters, Frances Grace (born 1991) and Savannah Elizabeth (born 1992). Ashby has been a student of martial arts on and off since he was 21 with a lot of time off and studied Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu.

Linden has admitted to previously suffering panic attacks before auditions which threatened to shorten his career.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Night Angel	Craig
	Mr. and Mrs. Bridge		Uncredited Role
1992	Into the Sun	Dragon
	Inside Out III	Jerry Van Anthony	Segment: Tang Martin Hudson
1994	Wyatt Earp	Morgan Earp
1994	8 Seconds	Martin Hudson
1995	Mortal Kombat	Johnny Cage
1996	Cadillac Ranch	Beau
1997	Blast	Jack Bryant
1998	Shelter	Jimmy Parker
1999	Time of Her Time	Sergius O'Shaughnessy
	Judgment Day	Dr. David Corbett	Direct-to-Video Release
2000	Dangerous Attraction	Neil/Dan Paterson
	Tick Tock	Travis Brewer
2001	Facing the Enemy	Griff McCleary
2002	Fits and Starts
	Whacked!	Bolen
2003	The Company You Keep	Harry
	A Woman Hunted	Det. Webster
	Shrink Rap	Brian
2004	Wild Things 2	Det. Michael Morrison	Direct-to-Video Release
2005	Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough	Det. Michael Morrison	Direct-to-Video Release
	Sub Zero	Soloman Davis
2007	Plot 7	Richard McCarthy
	Resident Evil: Extinction	Chase
2008	Prom Night	Uncle Jack Turner
	Impact Point	Det. Adams
2009	Against the Dark	Cross	Direct-to-Video Release
	National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year	Vance Wilder Sr.	Direct-to-Video Release
	Hunger	Grant	Direct-to-Video Release
2013	Iron Man 3	Commander
	Grape	Grayson	Short film
2015	Beta Test	Kincaid	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Loving	Curtis Alden #4
1987	1st & Ten		Episode: Blood on Blood
	Werewolf	Victim #2 in VW	Episode: Werewolf
	Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story	Lance Reventlow (adult)	NBC TV-Movie
1989	China Beach	Phillip	Episode: The World (2)
1989-1991	Adam-12	Officer Honeycutt	9 episodes
1990	Hardball		Episode: A Killer Date
	MacGyver	Brett Reynolds	Episode: Twenty Questions
1991	Equal Justice	Charles	Episode: Sleeping with the Enemy
	The Perfect Bride	Ted	TV-Movie
1992	Fifteenth Phase of the Moon	Jason	TV-Movie
1993	New Year	Jimi Hartman	TV-Movie
1993-1998	Melrose Place	Charles Reynolds Dr. Brett 'Coop' Cooper	35 episodes
1994	Green Dolphin Beat	Dave Henderson	FOX TV-Movie
1996	Dark Angel	Harry Foley	FOX TV-Movie
1997	The Beneficiary	Jimmy Price	TV-Movie
	Spy Game	Lorne Cash	13 episodes
1998	The Lake	Dr. Jeff Chapman	NBC TV-Movie
	Beauty	Mark Kramer	CBS TV-Movie
	The Love Boat: The Next Wave	Lt. Joe Spenser	Episode: Bermuda Triangle Episode
	Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery	Dr. Blair Bainbridge	ABC TV-Movie
1999	Where the Truth Lies	Carter Tamiran	Lifetime Television TV-Movie
2000	The War Next Door	Kennedy Smith	13 episodes
2001	The Agency		Episode: A Slight Case of Anthrax
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Det. Drew Wolf	Episode: A Little Murder
	Sniper 2	Col. David McKenna	TV-Movie
2003-2004	The Young and the Restless	Cameron Kirsten	55 episodes
2005	A Killer Upstairs	Lyle Banner	Lifetime Television TV-Movie
	CSI: Miami	Steven Hardy	Episode: Three-Way
2005, 2007	Eyes	Michael Tobin	Episode: Shots Episode: Police
2006	Maid of Honor	Richard Wynn	TV-Movie
	Last Exit	Scott Burke	CTV TV-Movie
	The Rival	George Miller	TV-Movie
2007	My Neighbor's Keeper	Mike Harding	TV-Movie
2008	Dead at 17	Curt Masterson	TV-Movie
	Days of Our Lives	Paul Hollingsworth	23 episodes
2009	Anacondas: Trail of Blood	Jackson	Syfy TV-Movie
	Stripped Naked	Howie	TV-Movie
	Drop Dead Diva	Parker Wellner
2010	The Gates	Ben McAllister	Recurring Role
2011	Mean Girls 2	Rod Mitchell	TV-Movie
2011-present	Teen Wolf	Sheriff Stilinski	Recurring role
2011	Franklin & Bash	Evan Porter	1 episode: "Pilot"
2011	Field of Vision	Ron Dixon	TV Movie
2012	Gabe the Cupid Dog	Jerry	TV Movie

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2005	Soap Opera Digest Award	Favorite Villain	The Young and the Restless	Nominated
2013	World Music and Independent Film Festival Award	Best Lead Actor in a Short Film	Grape	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]