Dennis Christopher

Christopher was born Dennis Carrelli in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is of half-Italian[1] and half-Irish descent.[2]

A 1972 chance encounter in which he stumbled upon Frederico Fellini filming in Rome led  to the director casting Christopher in the uncredited role of *Hippie" in his 1972 movie Roma.[3] After that, Christopher worked as an assistant to the fashion designer Halston.[4]

Christopher's breakthrough role was as Dave Stohler in the coming-of-age classic Breaking Away (1979). His performance won him the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Youth in Film Award for Best Juvenile Actor in a Motion Picture,[5] as well as garnering a Golden Globe nomination.

Christopher's other roles include American track star Charlie Paddock in Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as tragic film-buff psychopath Eric Binford in Fade to Black (1980), Damon in The Falling (1985), Nathan Flowers in A Sinful Life (1989) and Leech in Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994). Television roles include "Jack of All Trades" in the Profiler TV series, Eddie Kaspbrak in Stephen King's It (1990), Desmond Floyd in Jake Speed (1986) and in the HBO series Deadwood.

Christopher has guest starred in two Star Trek episodes: the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Search (Part II)" and the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Detained". He guest-starred as the demon-sorcerer Cyvus Vail in three episodes of Angel.

He reunited with his Breaking Away "father" Paul Dooley, playing Dooley's son for a third time, in a 2003 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The two had first played father and son in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).

In December 2006, he played Dr. Martin Ruber in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room.

Christopher's career, and life in general, changed dramatically when he was cast as Leonide Moguy in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012). He learned through his agent that the screenplay had been re-written to accommodate him. Furthermore, Tarantino later claimed to Christopher that he had seen every one of his films the week that they were released, even Dead Women in Lingerie (which Christopher considers his worst). Production of the film made a very positive impact on Christopher, who has said "...a lot of my idea of happiness came from working on this film...".[6]

• Dennis Christopher at IMDb
• Dennis Christopher at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dennis Christopher at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Dennis Christopher Twitter