Biography

Dana Ashbrook

Jump to

Growing up in San Diego, becoming an actor came naturally to Dana Ashbrook. His father is the director of the Palomar College Department of Performing Arts, and his mother is a teacher who performs in local theater. His sisters, Daphne Ashbrook and Taylor Ashbrook, are also working actresses. His own career started while still in his teens, when his sister Daphne's agent saw him performing in a high school play, and he made a good impression. He started out with guest appearances in TV series, and then went on to supporting roles in motion pictures. His big break was in 1990 in winning the role of Bobby Briggs in the offbeat television series Twin Peaks (1990). Ashbrook's intense portrayal of the volatile tempered high school athlete with his shaggy hair, soulful appearance, and intense personality made an impression. After the show went off the air the following year, he continued to make appearances in television and film. In 1997, he won a starring role in the series Crisis Center (1997), but in spite of its promise, the series only lasted one season. Ashbrook made a comeback in 2002 when he was cast in a recurring role playing the slimy and greedy stockbroker Rich Rinaldi, a character the viewers loved to hate, in the popular teen soap opera Dawson's Creek (1998) during the show's final season.

In his spare time, he plays basketball and tennis. He is also an accomplished harmonica player.
- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous

Friend of James Roday Rodriguez, who directed him in his 2004 play 'Sustenance'. Ashbrook starred in Roday's favorite show Twin Peaks (1990) and guest-starred in the Psych (2006) episode Roday wrote as an homage to "Twin Peaks". According to Roday, Ashbrook has been instrumental in helping some of the pieces fall in place for the episode.
Wrote a road movie script called "Driven To It" with friend Robert Bauer that David Lynch offered to executive produce (in name only) in order to help them, but Ashbrook and Bauer couldn't get financing for it.
Got his SAG card when he appeared in the 1986 episode of Cagney & Lacey (1981).
Friend of Robert Bauer, with whom he co-starred in Twin Peaks (1990), and Kimmy Robertson.
Created with Robert Bauer a film company called Bauerbrook Films.

I never had high expectations going into Hollywood. I went there just to work.
David Lynch helped me be cool.
'Twin Peaks' fans, it's a hardcore group of people.
'Twin Peaks' is the one thing in my career that I can really look back on, that I really respect and love and honor as something that's different. The one thing that I can hang onto.
I hope everyone goes through life seeking knowledge.

Suggest an edit or add missing content