Luke Perry

Coy Luther "Luke" Perry III (October 11, 1966 – March 4, 2019) was an American actor.

He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000.

Luke Perry was born on October 11, 1966, in Mansfield, Ohio, the second of three children to Ann Perry, a homemaker, and Coy Luther Perry Jr., a steelworker.

He had an older brother, Thomas Perry and a younger sister, Amy Coder (née Perry).

His parents divorced in 1972.

His father died of a heart attack in 1980.

Perry was raised in Fredericktown, Ohio, and played Freddie Bird, the school mascot for Fredericktown High School.

In 1984, Perry moved to Los Angeles shortly after high school to pursue acting.

He worked odd jobs, including for an asphalt paving company and in a doorknob factory.

He appeared in the 1985 music video of "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" for the band Twisted Sister, and by 1988, Perry auditioned for 256 acting jobs before receiving his first acceptance.

After moving to New York, Perry's earliest roles were on daytime soap operas: one episode of Loving (1987–1988) and ten episodes of Another World (1988–1989).

In 1990, Perry got the role of the brooding millionaire's son Dylan McKay on Fox's teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210.

He originally auditioned for the role of Steve Sanders but lost to Ian Ziering.

With this role, Perry became a popular teen idol; a riot broke out when 10,000 teen girls attended an August 1991 autograph session at The Fashion Mall at Plantation, causing him to leave after 90 seconds.

While starring in 90210, Perry had a supporting role in the original film version of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992).

He also starred in Terminal Bliss in 1992, and as Lane Frost in 8 Seconds in 1994.

In an attempt to find more mature roles, he decided to leave Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1995.

That year, he took a part in the Italian film Vacanze di Natale '95, playing himself.

Although he announced that 90210 was behind him, his absence lasted for only three years, and he returned to the show in 1998.

He played himself (as Krusty the Clown's half brother) in "Krusty Gets Kancelled", an episode of The Simpsons (1993).

He voiced himself in an episode of Johnny Bravo, giving Johnny dating advice after Johnny saved him from a stampede of fan girls.

Perry parodied himself in "The Story on Page One", an episode of Family Guy, in which he sues Peter Griffin for calling him gay in a newspaper article.

Perry also starred as Fred Andrews on the CW series Riverdale. He had guest roles on shows such as Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Simpsons, and Will & Grace, as well as a recurring role voicing Rick Jones in The Incredible Hulk (1996–1997) from Marvel Comics, and also appeared in various films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), 8 Seconds (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), The Final Storm, The Beat Beneath My Feet (2016), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), which was his final feature performance.

During this time, Perry starred in the independent film Normal Life opposite Ashley Judd, starred in the science fiction television film Invasion (1997), and Riot (1997), a drama about the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

He had a small role in Luc Besson's science fiction adventure film The Fifth Element (1997).

In 1998, he returned to 90210, where he remained as a permanent special guest star through the show's final season in 2000.

In 1999, he starred in the film Storm.

He said of his role on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Dylan McKay: "I'm going to be linked with him until I die, but that's actually just fine. I created Dylan McKay. He's mine," but did not reprise his role in the spin-off.

He stated: "When you're in the professional acting business, you have to look into all these offers, and I don't mean anything bad about it but creatively it's something I have done before and I don't know how it will benefit me if I do it again."

Perry said the fact that the show's longtime producer Aaron Spelling was not involved in the revival was critical: "The difference between CW bringing something back and Aaron Spelling doing something is significant. And I cannot do it without Aaron."

From 2001 to 2002, he starred in the HBO prison drama Oz, as Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier.

From 2002 to 2004, he starred in the post-apocalyptic television series Jeremiah.

Perry went on to star in a 2002 television film called The Triangle.

In 2006, Perry co-starred in the ensemble drama series Windfall, about a group of friends who win the lottery.

The series ran for 13 episodes during the summer of 2006 on NBC.

In 2007, he landed the role of Tommy "Santa" Santorelli on the film The Sandlot: Heading Home, and he appeared in the 2008 western A Gunfighter's Pledge.

Perry also appeared in the 2007 HBO series John from Cincinnati.

However, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, and Tori Spelling reprised their roles in the 2008 revival of the series.

He also starred in the Swedish film Äntligen Midsommar (Finally Midsummer), which was released in the summer of 2009.

Perry did considerable voice-over work for various animated series, usually playing himself.