Biography

Brian McNamara is a character actor, director and producer who has made over 100 TV and film appearances. His first major role was in the Garry Marshall comedy drama The Flamingo Kid (1984) with Matt Dillon. He then went on to star opposite Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg in the John Badham science fiction project Short Circuit (1986), which performed well at the box office. The following year he put in a solid lead performance as Dean Karny in the thriller Billionaire Boys Club (1987): the film was based on an actual event and co-starred Judd Nelson and John Stockwell.

Brian switched easily into slapstick comedy next with a supporting role in Caddyshack II (1988), where he shared the screen with veteran comedians Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, and Jackie Mason. He helped Jeff Daniels and John Goodman battle grossly mutated spiders in the Frank Marshall horror comedy Arachnophobia (1990), and shined in the romantic comedy Mystery Date (1991) opposite Ethan Hawke and Teri Polo.

Since then he has maintained a steady career in film - most notably a great performance in the independent film The Legend of Tillamook's Gold (2006)

• and has notched up countless appearances in quality TV shows like

The O.C. (2003), Monk (2002), Ghost Whisperer (2005), a lead role in Manhattan, AZ (2000) and, more recently, starred in Army Wives (2007).

Brian made his directorial debut with the thriller Lost Signal (2006), which he also starred in. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance in Billionaire Boys Club (1987).
- IMDb mini biography by: Matt Lee-Williams