Rob Lowe grew up in Ohio. When he was a teenager, he moved to California with his mother and younger brother. In high school, he met Charlie Sheen and became friends with him. As he recalled, they were both nerds who wanted to be baseball stars. However, it wasn’t long before they both started acting in films. They joined a group of young actors that the press dubbed the “brat pack”. It also included Sean Penn, Judd Nelson, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez.
Lowe made his debut in the series “A New Kind of Family” in 1979. 1983 was a breakthrough for him. He then appeared in several productions, including the TV movie “Thursday’s Child”. In it, he played a teenage athlete who has to give up his career due to a serious heart disease. This role earned him a nomination for a Golden Globe. In 1983, he also appeared in the famous “Outcasts” by Francis Ford Coppola, where he appeared alongside Patrick Swayze ego, Tom Cruise’a, Matt Dillon and Emil Estevez.
Together with Estevez and other Brat Pack actors, he appeared in “St. Elmo’s Fire” – Joel Schumacher’s cult film about a group of friends trying to sort out their lives after graduating from college. The production did well in cinemas, but the critics were merciless. They called Schumacher painfully untalented and the film itself a “no joke sitcom” that was based on stereotypes and rumors. Lowe received the Golden Raspberry Award for worst supporting actor for him. At that time, however, he didn’t care much – he was the biggest star of the young generation.
“I was in high school in Santa Monica and I had to think hard about who to invite to the school prom because I didn’t want to be rejected, but a year later people were breaking into my house to steal my… underwear,” the actor said in an interview. from “People” about how much his status has changed after Schumacher’s film.
At that time, the young star had affairs with many beautiful women, including: Melissa Gilbert and Princess Stefania of Monaco and led a lavish lifestyle. His idols were similarly driven Keith Richards, Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. “Now I tell my children, be careful who your hero is,” he confessed some time ago.
A short moment of sobriety for the actor was a screening of the film “Shampoo”. “I remember seeing Warren Beatty’s character at the end of the movie’ego alone and abandoned, I thought: ‘So this is what my life will be like if I don’t get my act together?’. It took me a long time to do it, but that was the first moment,” he told People.
In 1988, Lowe received a second Golden Globe nomination for “American Quadrille.” The role of a mentally retarded man who befriends a 13-year-old girl allowed him to be nominated for an Oscar. He was on top. However, over the next year he fell, and the descent to the bottom was extremely painful.
It started with an unfortunate performance at the opening of the Oscar ceremony in 1989. Lowe then sang the song with actress Eileen Bowman, who was dressed as Snow White from the Disney movie. The execution itself was terrible and unbearably kitschy. “(Bowman) had a pained look on her face,” recalled then-nominated actor Martin Landau. – “Poor Snow White. There were no dwarves around to help her.”
After the songs, which lasted over 10 minutes, ended, the stars gathered in the hall did not hide their outrage. “I was a good soldier, I did what I was asked to do,” explained 25-year-old Lowe. But no one listened to him. Disney sued the Academy for using Snow White’s image. However, a group of renowned actors and directors – including Paul Newman, Gregory Peck and Billy Wilder – wrote a letter in which they called the opening number “an embarrassing situation for the Oscars and the entire film community.”
Six weeks later, things happened for Lowe’and even worse. The media received a video tape showing him having intercourse with a 16-year-old girl he met at the club. No proceedings were initiated against the actor because at that time in the state of Atlanta, sex with people over the age of fourteen was allowed. Nevertheless, the whole case outraged public opinion. Soon after, another recording was released in which the actor and his friend were caught with a model in one of the Paris hotels.
He hit rock bottom in 1990 at the age of 26. After a night of partying, he came home to hear his mother recording his answering machine, telling him that his grandfather had had a heart attack and asking him to answer the phone. He did not do it.
“I remember going to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror and thinking: ‘You have to drink to go to sleep, then get up and deal with it’. I then realized that I had crossed the line. 48 hours later I signed up for rehab,” the artist recalled.
Since then, he has been 100% abstinent, as he announced on Twitter a few years ago. In 2015, he received the Spirit of Sobriety award. In one of the interviews, he confessed that he owes his victory in the fight against addiction to his wife, Sheryl.
They met on the set of the erotic thriller “Bad Influence”. The actor saw something special in the then novice make-up artist (now jewelry designer). He felt that if he was ever going to settle down, it would be with this woman. “Alcohol and drugs would have prevented me from doing that,” he told People, so he broke up with them forever. In 1991, the couple got married. Two years later, their first son, Matthew, was born, and in 1995, their second son, John.
It took Lowe to repair its damaged image’much longer than his personal life, almost a decade. During this time, he appeared in comedies and TV movies, but never approached the status he had before the scandals broke. Aaron Sorkin helped him get out of the hole. The screenwriter was looking for the main role in his political series “Presidential Poker”. Lowe’The figure was Sam Seaborn, the White House communications director.
Initially, his character was the main character. However, in subsequent episodes, the series began to focus on the remaining characters. When Lowe was passed over for regular cast salary increases, he announced his departure from the series. His character disappeared after the fourth season. He later guest-starred in two of the series’ final four episodes. The role of Seaborn earned him two Golden Globe nominations and gave his career a second life.
After finishing his adventure with “Presidential Poker”, Lowe was offered to play the main role in the medical series “Grey’s Anatomy”. He didn’t accept it, and it went to Patrick Dempsey’those. Lowe decided to guest star in “Brothers and Sisters”. He soon joined the main cast and appeared in it until the end of the fourth season. He later wowed critics with a small role as a demonic plastic surgeon in the TV movie “The Great Liberace.” It earned him another Golden Globe nomination.
In 2010, Lowe guest-starred on the comedy series “Parks and Recreation,” in which he played a disturbingly optimistic city official who dreams of living to 150 and is addicted to exercise and healthy eating. People liked his character so much that the actor joined the regular cast of the sitcom for the next four seasons. Reviewers called his character a good addition to the cast and one of the funnier characters on the series.
The artist’s latest creation comes from the series “9-1-1: Texas, a spin-off of “9-1-1”. He plays Owen, a progressive firefighter from New York who moves with his son to Austin in conservative Texas to escape the demons of the past. On site, he helps the firefighters rebuild the firehouse after the tragic events and assembles a new team. Owen struggles with personal problems, while trying to protect those who need it most. So far, four seasons of the production have been released, with a new one coming soon. next premiere.