Early life

McGinley was born in Newport Beach, California, the son of Emily and Bob McGinley. He was a surfer and worked as a lifeguard in high school. In college at USC he began modeling and was also the captain and two time MVP of the water polo team. Ted was also the team leader of his Little League Baseball team, the Newport bunnies.

Career

McGinley began his career in modeling. After a casting director spotted a picture of him in GQ, he was cast in comedy series Happy Days as Roger Phillips (nephew of the Cunninghams), a role he played from 1980-1984. During the run of Happy Days, he landed a role in the 1982 comedy film Young Doctors in Love. After Happy Days ended in 1984, McGinley appeared in Revenge of the Nerds where he played Stanley Gable, the head of the jock-run Alpha Beta fraternity and the primary antagonist of the Lambda Lambda Lambda nerd fraternity; he reprised the role in the third and fourth movies in the "Nerds" franchise, both produced for television. He went on to appear in regular roles in television series including The Love Boat and Dynasty. He then went into the role of Jefferson D'Arcy on Married... with Children from 1991-1997. He had recurring roles on Aaron Sorkin's TV shows Sports Night, as Dana's boyfriend Gordon, and The West Wing as a TV news anchor. From 2003-2006, he played Charley Shanowski on Hope & Faith.

McGinley was called "the patron saint of shark-jumping" by jumptheshark.com founder Jon Hein. This is a reference to the popular and enduring shows which have featured him in their declining years often to replace a departing regular castmember. Hein writes that this is not a comment "on Ted's fine acting skills" and that "he has a great sense of humor about it, too." In one episode of Married... with Children (a show that stayed on the air for six seasons after McGinley's addition to the cast) McGinley himself spoofed this fact by asking Al, "Another picture, captain? I mean, Fonzie? ....Al?". A 2003 issue of People that focused on McGinley's casting on Hope and Faith was titled "Ted McGinley is Not a Killer", referencing his reputation for causing shows to jump the shark, though his long involvement with Married... with Children may have had the opposite effect: As Jefferson D'Arcy, a charming scam artist, and Marcy D'Arcy's husband, McGinley's contributions may have enabled the series to have a longer and more successful run with some fans preferring him to his predecessor, played by David Garrison.

More recently, in 2011, McGinley again made fun of his "shark-jumping" abilities in "Mitefall", the final episode of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series on Cartoon Network. In the episode, Bat-Mite (voiced by Paul Reubens) wants the show cancelled to usher in a new, darker Batman TV show. To that end, he starts replacing aspects of the show, including switching Aquaman's regular voice actor (John DiMaggio) with McGinley. Ambush Bug (voiced by McGinley's Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler) helps to reverse the situation, in part by getting McGinley to break character (and mention his 6-year stint on Married... with Children) and leave, forcing DiMaggio's voice back into Aquaman.

In 2008, McGinley became a contestant on the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars, and was paired with pro dancer Inna Brayer. Ted was the second contestant to be eliminated in the competition.

In a 2010 Los Angeles Times article, former Happy Days writer Fred Fox, Jr., who wrote the episode that later spawned the phrase, said, "Was the episode of Happy Days deserving of its fate? No, it wasn't. All successful shows eventually start to decline. We feel "Ted the Show Killer" was the reason Happy Days  was canceled."

Personal life

McGinley married actress Gigi Rice in 1991 and has two sons whose names are Terman and Quinn McGinley.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1982	Young Doctors in Love	Dr. Bucky DeVol
1984	Revenge of the Nerds	Stan Gable
1989	Troop Beverly Hills	Himself
1989	Physical Evidence	Kyle DE Roache
1991	Blue Tornado	Phillip
1992	Space Case	Biff	Alternative title: Alien Invasion
1993	Wayne's World 2	Mr. Scream
1994	Wild Justice	Aubrey Billings	Alternative titles: Covert Assassin & Dial
1998	Follow Your Heart	James Allen Bailey
	Major League: Back to the Minors	Leonard Huff	Alternative title: Major League III
1999	Dick	Roderick
	The Big Tease	Johnny Darjerling
2000	Face the Music	Marcus
	Daybreak	Dillon Johansen	Alternative title: Rapid Transit
2001	Cahoots	Brad
	Pearl Harbor	Army major
2007	The Storm Awaits	Vale NewCastle
2008	Eavesdrop	Grant
	Privileged	Mr. Webber
2010	Christmas with a Capital C	Dan Reed
	Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster	Thornton Blake V A.K.A. Daphne's Uncle Thorny
2015	Do You Believe?	Matthew
	The Outskirts	Principal Whitmore	Filming
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980-1984	Happy Days	Roger Phillips	61 episodes
1982	Fantasy Island	Errol Brookfield III	1 episode
1983	Herndon	Shack Shackleford	Unknown episodes
	Making of a Male Model	Gary Angelo	Television movie
1984-1987	The Love Boat	Photographer Ashley "Ace" Covington Evans	60 episodes
1985-1987	Hotel	Kyle Stanton	3 episodes
1986-1987	Dynasty	Clay Fallmont	34 episodes
1988	Perfect Strangers	Billy Appleton	1 episode
1989	B.L. Stryker	Mitch Slade	2 episodes
1989-1997	Married... with Children	Jefferson D'Arcy	164 episodes
1990	Evening Shade	Kyle Hampton	1 episode
1991	Baby Talk	Craig Palmer	1 episode
1992	Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation	Dean Stanley Gable	Television movie
1993	Wild Justice	Aubrey Billings	Television movie
	Linda	Brandon "Jeff" Jeffries	Television movie
1994	Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love	Stan Gable	Television movie
1995	Dream On		1 episode
	Tails You Live, Heads You're Dead	Jeffrey Quint	Television movie
1995-1996	The John Larroquette Show	Karl Reese	4 episodes
1996	Deadly Web	Peter Lawrence	Television movie
1998	Every Mother's Worst Fear	Scanman	Television movie
1998-1999	Sports Night	Gordon	8 episodes
1999	Work with Me	Murray Epstein	1 episode
	Hard Time: Hostage Hotel	FBI Agent Hopkins	Television movie
2000-2001	The West Wing	Mark Gottfried	3 episodes
2001	The Practice	Michael Hale	1 episode
2002	Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central)	Ted Wayne Giblen	1 episode
2002-2003	Justice League	Various (voice)	3 episodes
2003	Family Curse		Television movie
	Frozen Impact	Dan Blanchard	Television movie
	The Proud Family	Lance McDougal (voice)	1 episode
2003-2006	Hope & Faith	Dr. Charley Shanowski	55 episodes
2004	NTSB: The Crash of Flight 323	Reese Faulkner	Television movie
2007	Family Guy	Voice	1 episode
	'Til Death	Webby	1 episode
	The Note	King	Television movie
2008	Dancing with the Stars	Self	2 episodes
2009	Psych	Randy Labayta	Season 3, Episode 10: "Six Feet Under the Sea"
	The Note II: Taking a Chance on Love	King	Television movie
2010	Wizards of Waverly Place	Superintendent Clanton	1 episode
2010	Melissa & Joey	Mayor	Episode 10: "In Lennox We Trust"
2011	Breaking In	Larry	Episode 104: "White on White on White"
2011	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Himself as Aquaman	Mitefall (series finale)
2012	Notes From the Heart Healer	King	Television movie
2012	The Mentalist	Ed Hunt	Season 5, Episode 7: "If It Bleeds, It Leads"
2013	Mad Men	Mel	1 episode
2014	Castle	Brock Harmon	Season 7, Episode 9: "Last Action Hero"
2015	Transformers: Robots in Disguise	Denny Clay	voice only

[ Source: Wikipedia ]