Personal life

Born in Dallas, Texas, McNamara is the son of a professional race car driver for the Ford Motor Company and an interior designer. He attended Columbia University and studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. He appeared in the feature films Texasville, Stella, Copycat, Surviving the Game, and Stealing Home. During the mid-1990s, McNamara was briefly the fiance of his Chasers and Girl in the Cadillac co-star Erika Eleniak.

Career

On television, he portrayed Montgomery Clift in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story and Ricky Nelson in Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, had a regular role on the Showtime series Beggars and Choosers, was featured in the television movies Doing Time on Maple Drive and Wildflower (CableACE Award nomination), and appeared in NYPD Blue and Law & Order: SVU, among others.

Activism

McNamara is an animal rights activist and vegan. He got his start rescuing cats, dogs, and horses, and now travels the world advocating animal rights. McNamara has produced several documentaries, including the Nat Geo Wild Network: Animal Intervention, an exposé on the exotic animal industry in the United States.

Filmography

• Opera (1987) - Stefano
• Stealing Home (1988) - Billy Wyatt (teenager)
• The Beat (1988) - Billy Kane
• Dream a Little Dream (1989) - Joel
• Stella (1990) - Pat Robbins
• Texasville (1990) - Dickie Jackson
• Aspen Extreme (1993) - Todd Pounds
• Extreme Justice (1993) - Mark Franklin (surfer, uncredited in film credits)
• Chasers (1994) - Eddie Devane
• Surviving the Game (1994) - Derek Wolfe Jr.
• Radio Inside (1994) - Matthew Anderson
• Copycat (1995) - Peter Foley
• Storybook (1995) - Prince Arthur
• Girl in the Cadillac (1995) - Rick
• Snitch (1996) - Shakley
• Dead Girl (1996) - Damon
• Stag (1997) - Jon DiCapri
• The Deli (1997) - Kevin
• Glam (1997) - Sonny Daye
• The Brylcreem Boys (1997) - Sam Gunn
• Sweet Jane (1998) - Stan Bleeker
• Something to Believe In (1998) - Mike
• Ringmaster (1998) - Troy Davenport
• Implicated (1999) - Tom Baker
• Paper Bullets (1999) - Laurence McCoy
• Knockout (2000) - Michael DeMarco
• Just Sue Me (2000) - Daniel
• The Calling (a.k.a. Man of Faith) (2002) - Bobby Murky
• The Kings of Brooklyn (2004) - Chris Parmel
• The Iron Man (2006) - Gerard
• The Still Life (2007) - Teacher
• April Moon (2007) - David
• A Dance for Bethany (2007) - James Fisher
• The Grift (2008) - Hugh Babcock
• The Bleeding (2009) - Dan Williams
• The Ascent (2010) - Joel
• The Legend of Hell's Gate: An American Conspiracy (2010) - Jones Moon
• Cut! (2012) - Bryan Wolff
• Dry (2014) - Dr Brown
• Last Man Club (2016) - Joe Scanlin
• The Secrets of Emily Blair (2016) - Mr. Regan

Television work

• Secret of the Sahara (1988 mini-series) - Philip
• Island Son (1989 series) - Sam
• Wildflower (1991) - Sammy Perkins
• Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992) - Matt Carter
• Silk Stalkings ("The Brotherhood" episode, aired 1/9/1992) - Clay Edwards
• Honor thy Mother (1992) - Chris
• Sworn to Vengeance (1993) - Michael Burke
• Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995) - Montgomery Clift
• Perversions of Science ("Given the Heir" episode, aired 6/18/1997) - Nick Boyer
• Natural Enemy (1997) - Jeremy
• Welcome to Paradox ("Blue Champagne" episode, aired 11/2/1998) - Q.M.
• Brimstone ("Encore" episode, aired 11/6/1998) - Gilbert Jax
• Beggars and Choosers (1999-2001 series) - Brad Advail
• The Outer Limits ("Better Luck Next Time" episode, aired 8/20/1999) - Kimble
• The Hunger ("Approaching Desdemona" episode, aired 2/6/2000) - Kent Johanssen
• Time Lapse (2001) - Clayton Pirce
• Trapped (2001) - C. Whitmore Evans
• McBride: Murder Past Midnight (2002) - Chris Parmel
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit ("Pandora" episode) (2003) - Detective Sam Bishop
• NYPD Blue (1 February 2005 episode) - Richard Pancara
• American Black Beauty (2005) - Wilford
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (1 episode) (2006) - Ricky Nelson
• Beyond the Break (2 episodes) (2007) - Richard
• The Wrong Roommate (2016) - Mark

Charities

William McNamara supports the following charitable cause: Animals.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]