Jeff Fahey

Early life and education

Fahey was born in Olean, New York, the sixth of 13 siblings in an Irish-American family. His mother, Jane, was a homemaker, and his father, Frank Fahey, worked at a clothing store. Fahey was raised in Buffalo, New York, from the age of ten and attended Father Baker's high school there. Fahey left home at the age of 17, subsequently hitchhiking to Alaska. He later backpacked through Europe, and worked on an Israeli kibbutz.

Career

Fahey started performing when he won a full scholarship to dance at the Joffrey Ballet School at the age of 25. He performed in theaters across the United States and on Broadway. He landed his first major role on television playing Gary Corelli on the soap opera, One Life to Live.

In 1985, he received his first major film role as Tyree in Silverado. In 1986, he co-starred with Anthony Perkins in Psycho III as Duane Duke, a money-desperate guitarist who is hired by Norman Bates to work at the Bates Motel. That same year, Fahey guest starred on the Season 3 premiere of Miami Vice as gun dealer Eddie Kaye, famously destroying Detective Sonny Crockett's Ferrari Daytona.

In 1990, Fahey starred in Impulse and White Hunter Black Heart, respectively directed by feuding ex-couple Sondra Locke and Clint Eastwood. Also that year, he played the title role in the TV movie Parker Kane alongside Marisa Tomei. In 1992, he starred alongside Pierce Brosnan in The Lawnmower Man. In 1995, Fahey was the lead in the Trimark Pictures adventure film Eye of the Wolf, directed by Arnaud Sélignac, based on the book "KAZAN" by James Oliver Curwood.

In 1995, he starred as "Winston McBride" on ABC's The Marshal. In 1999, he played the main character in Apocalypse II: Revelation. In 2007, he appeared in the Robert Rodriguez film Planet Terror and starred in Messages with Bruce Payne.

Fahey appeared as daredevil Dutch the Clutch in an episode of Psych at the beginning of the third season of the show.

Fahey played Frank Lapidus, the airplane and helicopter pilot of the research team sent to the island in Lost, as a recurring character in the fourth and fifth seasons, and as a regular character in the sixth season.

In 2010, he had a major role in Robert Rodriguez's action film Machete.

In 2013, a new production of the classic play Twelve Angry Men took place at the Garrick Theatre in London, running until March 2014. Fahey played the part of the last juror in the story to change his vote to not guilty. Other notable actors appearing in this production were Martin Shaw who played the part of juror number 8 (a role made famous in the 1957 film by Henry Fonda), Robert Vaughn and Nick Moran.

Humanitarian efforts

In 2006 and 2007, Fahey spent time in Afghanistan assisting the newly established American University of Afghanistan and launching a project to assist orphans in Kabul.

Fahey's recent humanitarian work has revolved around the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, focusing on the subject of warehousing, a practice in which the rights and mobility of refugees are restricted by a host country. Fahey's work specifically has addressed the subject of warehoused Sahrawi refugees in Algeria.

He received the Humanitarian Award in 2022 at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival.

Filmography

Film

1985 Silverado as Deputy Tyree

1986 Psycho III as Duane Duke

1987 Riot on 42nd St. as Frank Tackler

1988 Backfire as Donnie McAndrew

1988 Split Decisions as Ray McGuinn

1989 True Blood as Raymond Trueblood

1989 Minnamurra (a.k.a. Outback) as Ben Creed

1989 The Serpent of Death as Jake Bonner

1990 The Last of the Finest (a.k.a. Blue Heat) as Detective Ricky Rodriguez

1990 Impulse as Stan Harris

1990 White Hunter Black Heart as Pete Verrill

1991 Body Parts as Dr. Bill Chrushank

1991 Iron Maze as Barry Mikowski

1992 The Lawnmower Man as Jobe Smith

1993 The Hit List as Charlie Pike

1993 Quick as Muncie

1994 Woman of Desire as Jack Lynch

1994 Freefall as Dex Dellum

1994 Wyatt Earp as Ike Clanton

1994 Temptation as Eddie Lanarsky

1995 Serpent's Lair as Tom Bennett

Television

1984 One Life to Live (TV Series) as Gary Corelli

1985 The Execution of Raymond Graham (TV Movie) as Raymond Graham

1986 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) as Ray Lee

1986 Miami Vice (TV Series) as Eddie Kaye

1990 Curiosity Kills (TV Movie) as Matthew Manus

1990 Parker Kane (TV Movie) as Parker Kane

1992 Sketch Artist (TV Movie) as Detective Jack Whitfield

1993 In the Company of Darkness (TV Movie) as Will McCaid

1993 Blindsided (TV Movie) as Frank McKenna

1995 Eye of the Wolf (TV Series) as Paul Weyman

1995 Sketch Artist II: Hands That See (TV Movie) as Detective Jack Whitfield

1995 Virtual Seduction (TV Movie) as Liam Bass

1995 The Marshal (TV Series) as Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride

1996 Every Woman's Dream (TV Movie) as Mitch Parker

1997 Operation Delta Force (a.k.a. Great Soldiers) (TV Movie) as Captain Lang

1997 Perversions of Science (TV Series) as The Bearded Man

1997 On the Line (TV Movie) as Detective Dan Collins

Video game

2025 Marvel's Deadpool VR as Flag-Smasher