Biography
Steven Culp was born in La Jolla, California, on December 3rd. When his parents
divorced he moved to Virginia Beach where he grew up with his mother, step-father
and two sisters and a brother. (Both father and step-father were in the Navy)
Even back then as a teenager, his sister Shelly, a teacher, says he was already talented
and loved performing: "He loved it. We grew up in a family of two boys and two girls and,
as far back as I can remember, Steven performed playing the guitar. He was also at the
Virginia Beach Little Theater. Our Mom was for his stage career 100 percent. Our Dad was
a little wary -- a little more careful. He was a little worried about how Steve would
support himself, but he was supportive too."
Steven graduated from the College of William & Mary, Virginia. (Steven returned in the
summer of 1993 to his alma mater, to play Brutus in the Virginia Shakespeare Festival's
"Julius Caesar.")
He majored in English literature and had professors who wanted him to be a writer,
"But I got in with the theater crowd. I was interested, but I wasn't hooked, yet. As
a part of an exchange program, I went to study English literature at the University
of Exeter in England. When there, I stuck pretty closely to academic study. I'd go into
London to see theater, but it was only when I came back home that I decided, once and
for all, that I was going to go all out and study theater arts and acting. It was at
Brandeis University that I really became committed to it. The first year or so in New
York, I regretted my choice, but, eventually, jobs came."
Steven then pursued graduate studies in Theater Arts & Acting at Brandeis University.
He acted on stage in New York and did some work on local soap operas. When he first
went to Los Angeles, he had a job on stage with Peter Falk in "Light Up the Sky."
But he went back to New York afterward.
"I had four or five years where I worked, but I actually felt like "Well, it's over.
I'm going to be this guy who does theater for free and gets the occasional television
job to pay the bills, and this is going to be my life. There was a time when I was doing
small theater just for exposure. Then, I stopped worrying about it. I love acting,
and that's that. I started doing it for the sake of the work. That's when I started
doing great theater again -- and getting great jobs."
"It came a time when I was flying back and forth to Los Angeles so much that I was
spending more than I was making. I made the big decision to stay in Los Angeles.
It was hard, at first. It was like starting all over”
His siter also remembers the hard times: "Steven has had hard times and good
times in show business. Through them both, he always remembered home -- and returned.
Both our parents died of cancer in recent years and he came home to help me take
care of
them during their illnesses -between his acting jobs. I think the illness of our parents
brought us closer together.''
Steven has guest starred on several television series. He played John Hays in the
Emmy-award winning NBC miniseries "Gore Vidal's Lincoln," which was filmed in Richmond.
He met his future wife Barbara on the set) and starred with Angela Lansbury in the CBS
movie "A Story to Die For."
Steven's popularity grew with his appearances in the recurring role of the pragmatic CIA
operative Clayton Webb on the CBS series "JAG." During the year 2004, Steven became the
first actor to appear as a reacuring character in 4 television series simultaneously:
The West Wing, Enterprise, JAG and ER.
Steven is now best known for his role of Rex Van De Kamp in ABC's hottest show on TV
"Desperate Housewives"
Steven has also appeared in several movies such as "The Emperor's Club" with Kevin
Kline, "How to Make a Monster" and one of his best roles, that of Bobby Kennedy in the
movie "Thirteen Days" with Kevin Costner.
On stage, he received Drama-Logue awards in California for "Angels in America" at the
American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and ``Raised in Captivity'' at the
South Coast Rep. He appeared on Broadway with Annette Bening in "Coastal Disturbances"
at the Circle on the Square.
How does he feel about his career?
"I think it was Walter Matthau who said that, in show business, you need about 50 lucky
breaks to make it. I've had a few. The thing is to be ready for each one."
Hobbies: He likes to play the guitar, travel, bicycling, swimming, hiking, read
and write. One of his favorite TV shows is "Man from U.N.C.L.E". He likes Alfred
Hitchcock movies. Especially: "Shadows of Doubt", "Notorious" and "Psycho". Favorite
movies include old classics such as: "It's a Wonderful Life", “On the Waterfront"
and "It happened one Night" among many others. A recent favorite is Bertrand Tavernier’s
French adaptation of a Jim Thompson novel, “Coup de Torchon”
His acting inspiration?
"James Stewart, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, the classic guys. I found my appreciation
for certain actors deepening over the years—Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, I just saw
Cary Grant again in Notorious and he’s just great in that. Actually there are a lot of
actresses I really like—I can barely pick."
Favorite directors:
"My ambition was to be in a Robert Altman movie because I loved the ambiance that he set
up and it seemed to be an actor’s paradise to work in those movies. I’d love to work with
M. Night Shyamalan. He’s the most Hitchcockian of contemporary directors. In that there’s
and an emotional resonance that goes beyond the material. Shyamalan is the only one who has
such a strong emotional pull and seems to be about things that are unnamable and it’s
not just a tricked up thriller plot. He really hits an emotional place."
His philosophy about acting?
"My philosophy was not to go in there as if it was an audition, but to do a full,
prepared performance. My idea was `Knock 'em dead' and then don't worry about it. I
figured I wouldn't get the role, but it would be good experience doing the audition.
In the last four or five years, I changed my approach in that I stopped worrying
about whether or not I got the part. Just prepare. Present myself. And don't worry."
Steven lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife Barbara, a costume designer, and their
twins.
Steven & his wife Barbara
(Esquire Magazine 4-05)
Steven with his father and with his wife