Xander Berkeley
- Actor
- Producer
- Make-Up Department
Xander's father was a painter and his mother a school teacher who
sewed, providing him with costumes (his preference over toys). School
plays and Community Theater were next. An experimental theater troupe
in the area (which was an offshoot from
Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater in New
York) took Xander under their wing when he was 16. He credits this
group for shaping him as both a person and an actor, committed to
taking risks and remaining open to the unknown. Xander went to
Hampshire College, the progressive brainchild of Smith, Mt. Holyoke,
Amherst, and the University of Massachusetts. He would continue in the
theater at Hampshire, studying and doing plays at each of the other
schools, all of which were there in the area.
A move to New York after college brought him access to private teachers
from the Royal Academy of the Arts, the Moscow Arts Theater and HB
Studios. Later in Los Angeles, Xander would spend time with
Lee Strasberg at The Actor's Studio during
the last years of his life.
Xander worked in Regional and Repertory Theaters in addition to
off-Broadway while living in New York but, despite a classically
trained theater background, he was increasingly drawn to the subtleties
of film acting. A play, written by the great southern novelist
Reynolds Price, called "Early Dark" had
such a cinematic feel to it, that an agent saw the film acting
potential in Xander and encouraged him to make the move out west.
Soon Mommie Dearest (1981)
provided Xander with his film debut in the role of "Christopher
Crawford", and simultaneously gave his career a slightly cultish twist.
Alex Cox with
Sid and Nancy (1986),
James Cameron with
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991),
Bernard Rose with
Candyman (1992),
Todd Haynes with
Safe (1995),
Mike Figgis with
Leaving Las Vegas (1995),
Andrew Niccol with
Gattaca (1997) all helped to further
associate Xander as an actor in his own rather unusual category.
Xander's choices were often determined by the opportunity to learn from
directors he admired, certainly all those listed above fell into that
category. Clint Eastwood with
The Rookie (1990),
Ron Howard with
Apollo 13 (1995),
Rob Reiner with
A Few Good Men (1992),
Michael Mann with
Heat (1995),
Wolfgang Petersen with
Air Force One (1997),
Steven Spielberg with
Amistad (1997) are obvious examples of
others Xander actively sought to work with and learn from.
From obscure independent movies where Xander could play lead roles to
the big budget studio movies where he might often play smaller
character-driven parts, an education was taking place. Just as working
with older directors like
Michael Cacoyannis on
The Cherry Orchard (1999) and
Robert M. Young on
Human Error (2004) (aka "Human
Error") brought insights to ways of working that are being lost in pop
cultures tendency to slide toward slickness. Not to mention bringing
him to places like Bulgaria and China along the way.
Perhaps because a life in the foreign services, or espionage was seen
as a road not taken, living on location in foreign countries, working
as an actor, has somewhat fulfilled the impulse. As early as 1987, a
film took Xander to Nicaragua while the Contra War was taking place. It
was during this three month shoot on the film
Walker (1987) (starring
Ed Harris) that Xander got an offer to
do a film with his friend, director
Jon Hess, in Chile for the following
three months. Taking him straight from the revolutionary left-wing
Sandanistas to Pinochet's fascist, right-wing regime.
In 2001, an offer came in to play a part on a TV pilot called
24 (2001). It was another shady
agent-type, and reluctant to repeat his performance from
Air Force One (1997) as the
turncoat secret serviceman, Xander almost passed on the job.
Fortunately for him, he said yes. He met his future wife,
Sarah Clarke during the first day
of filming. His character, "George Mason", was just a guest star in the
pilot, but the producers liked what Xander brought to it and continued
to write more episodes for him. By the second season, it had become
perhaps the most interesting, leveled character Xander had ever gotten
to play. Sarah and Xander were married in 2002 and had their daughters,
Olwyn in 2006 and Rowan in 2010.
Other favorite roles of late have been "Arlen Pavich", the middle
management dweeb, in Niki Caro's
North Country (2005), and the Irish
hooligan/railway foreman in
David Von Ancken's
Seraphim Falls (2006) and, more
recently, "The King of Sodom" in
Harold Ramis'
Year One (2009), "Sonny" in
David Pomes'
Cook County (2008), the recovering
meth head coming out of prison to discover the life he had left (and
destroyed), and crazy "Uncle Doug" in
David Wike's
Out There (2006) (aka "Out There").
sewed, providing him with costumes (his preference over toys). School
plays and Community Theater were next. An experimental theater troupe
in the area (which was an offshoot from
Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater in New
York) took Xander under their wing when he was 16. He credits this
group for shaping him as both a person and an actor, committed to
taking risks and remaining open to the unknown. Xander went to
Hampshire College, the progressive brainchild of Smith, Mt. Holyoke,
Amherst, and the University of Massachusetts. He would continue in the
theater at Hampshire, studying and doing plays at each of the other
schools, all of which were there in the area.
A move to New York after college brought him access to private teachers
from the Royal Academy of the Arts, the Moscow Arts Theater and HB
Studios. Later in Los Angeles, Xander would spend time with
Lee Strasberg at The Actor's Studio during
the last years of his life.
Xander worked in Regional and Repertory Theaters in addition to
off-Broadway while living in New York but, despite a classically
trained theater background, he was increasingly drawn to the subtleties
of film acting. A play, written by the great southern novelist
Reynolds Price, called "Early Dark" had
such a cinematic feel to it, that an agent saw the film acting
potential in Xander and encouraged him to make the move out west.
Soon Mommie Dearest (1981)
provided Xander with his film debut in the role of "Christopher
Crawford", and simultaneously gave his career a slightly cultish twist.
Alex Cox with
Sid and Nancy (1986),
James Cameron with
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991),
Bernard Rose with
Candyman (1992),
Todd Haynes with
Safe (1995),
Mike Figgis with
Leaving Las Vegas (1995),
Andrew Niccol with
Gattaca (1997) all helped to further
associate Xander as an actor in his own rather unusual category.
Xander's choices were often determined by the opportunity to learn from
directors he admired, certainly all those listed above fell into that
category. Clint Eastwood with
The Rookie (1990),
Ron Howard with
Apollo 13 (1995),
Rob Reiner with
A Few Good Men (1992),
Michael Mann with
Heat (1995),
Wolfgang Petersen with
Air Force One (1997),
Steven Spielberg with
Amistad (1997) are obvious examples of
others Xander actively sought to work with and learn from.
From obscure independent movies where Xander could play lead roles to
the big budget studio movies where he might often play smaller
character-driven parts, an education was taking place. Just as working
with older directors like
Michael Cacoyannis on
The Cherry Orchard (1999) and
Robert M. Young on
Human Error (2004) (aka "Human
Error") brought insights to ways of working that are being lost in pop
cultures tendency to slide toward slickness. Not to mention bringing
him to places like Bulgaria and China along the way.
Perhaps because a life in the foreign services, or espionage was seen
as a road not taken, living on location in foreign countries, working
as an actor, has somewhat fulfilled the impulse. As early as 1987, a
film took Xander to Nicaragua while the Contra War was taking place. It
was during this three month shoot on the film
Walker (1987) (starring
Ed Harris) that Xander got an offer to
do a film with his friend, director
Jon Hess, in Chile for the following
three months. Taking him straight from the revolutionary left-wing
Sandanistas to Pinochet's fascist, right-wing regime.
In 2001, an offer came in to play a part on a TV pilot called
24 (2001). It was another shady
agent-type, and reluctant to repeat his performance from
Air Force One (1997) as the
turncoat secret serviceman, Xander almost passed on the job.
Fortunately for him, he said yes. He met his future wife,
Sarah Clarke during the first day
of filming. His character, "George Mason", was just a guest star in the
pilot, but the producers liked what Xander brought to it and continued
to write more episodes for him. By the second season, it had become
perhaps the most interesting, leveled character Xander had ever gotten
to play. Sarah and Xander were married in 2002 and had their daughters,
Olwyn in 2006 and Rowan in 2010.
Other favorite roles of late have been "Arlen Pavich", the middle
management dweeb, in Niki Caro's
North Country (2005), and the Irish
hooligan/railway foreman in
David Von Ancken's
Seraphim Falls (2006) and, more
recently, "The King of Sodom" in
Harold Ramis'
Year One (2009), "Sonny" in
David Pomes'
Cook County (2008), the recovering
meth head coming out of prison to discover the life he had left (and
destroyed), and crazy "Uncle Doug" in
David Wike's
Out There (2006) (aka "Out There").