Biography

Jeff Fahey

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Overview

Born
November 29, 1952 · Olean, New York, USA
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

Mini bio

Jeff Fahey is an American actor, humanitarian, producer, and songwriter whose career spans nearly five decades across film, television, theatre, and music. His body of work includes more than 260 film and television productions across a wide range of genres. His screen credits include The Lawnmower Man, Silverado, Wyatt Earp, Lost, Justified, Fire Country, Horizon: An American Saga, D.O.P.E. Unit, and Stephen King's The Institute, in which he portrays the mysterious "Man on the Phone." Fahey's theatre career includes performances on Broadway and London's West End. Beyond his work in the entertainment industry, Fahey has spent decades involved in humanitarian initiatives, collaborating with organizations working in conflict and post conflict regions around the world. His efforts have supported communities affected by war, displacement, and humanitarian crises. In recent years, Fahey has expanded his creative work into songwriting, collaborating with Grammy winning producer Jim "Moose" Brown and acclaimed Nashville songwriter Erin Enderlin. His songs have been recorded by artists including Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Drake Milligan, The War and Treaty, and Larkin Poe. He also serves as Executive Producer of music for The Grey House soundtrack and other film projects. Throughout his career, Fahey has worked across film, television, theatre, humanitarian service, and music, continuing to explore a wide range of creative and humanitarian endeavors.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jeffrey Goldberg

Family

Parents

Trademarks

Piercing blue eyes
B-movies and independent films

Trivia

Was invited to take ballet and instantly caught the bug. Despite being at the advanced age of 25, he won a full scholarship to study with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. He stayed there for three years. He also taught ballroom dancing.
Fahey left home at age 17, having heard "the call of the open road". Spent time trekking through the Himalayas and Afghanistan in his younger years while traveling around the world. He also hitchhiked to Alaska, backpacked through Europe and worked in an Israeli kibbutz, taking any odd job there was. He often returns to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he supports an orphanage.
Of English and Irish ancestry, he is one of thirteen children born to Jane and Frank Fahey, and raised in Western New York.
He joined the cast of Lost (2004) in 2008 and is working with two former co-stars, Josh Holloway, with whom he worked in Cold Heart (2001), and Naveen Andrews, with whom he worked in Grindhouse (2007).
He received the Humanitarian Award at the 2022 Monaco Streaming Film Festival.

Quotes

(Making so many movies at once on a regular basis): "I got used to it quickly, because it's an easier job than what I was doing. I was making four or five films a year, mostly independent films, around the world. Out of the 41 films I've done, maybe seven of them have been studio films, I had an easy gig. So I would go from film to film. And there would be a new crew, new actors, new directors, new producers, new locations, some much worse than others. I'm not complaining about the work; I'm just saying that having a nice trailer on the set, a nice hotel, and a studio and a network behind your show is a lot easier than wondering why your tent is leaking."
Eventually, I'll build a ranch and raise horses.
(On appearing on the new TV show "The Marshall"): "All my buddies over the years, like Kevin Costner and the guys -- I see 'em go here, I see 'em go there -- but I just do my work. And now this. People say it's going to change your life. I tell them that it's always changing anyway."
I have an affinity for good roles in good films. I like a variety of parts, and if some of the good stuff happens to be in fantasy and horror, I do them.
(On being directed by Anthony Perkins in Psycho 3) That was pretty wild to be shooting at Universal Studios. It was my second film and to be on the backlot at night with the fake rain and lightning and you look up and there's the Bates Motel house and all of a sudden Anthony is talking to you, man. There I am with a crew of one hundred and fifty people around, but you're in between this little space called action and cut talking to Norman Bates - I mean my God! You know what I mean? It's been a wild ride.