John Slattery

Slattery is an athletics enthusiast and likes to ski and surf.

John Slattery was born on August 13, 1962, in Boston, Massachusetts, US, to the Irish family of John "Jack" Slattery and Joan (née Mulhern) among six children. His father, a leather merchant and his mother, a retired CPA raised him, his four older sisters and one younger brother in Boston as Roman Catholics.

He studied in ‘St. Sebastian's School’ in Needham, Massachusetts. As a child he aspired to be a baseball player and had great interest in watching television and movies.

In 1984, he graduated with a ‘Bachelor of Fine Arts’ degree majoring in theatre from ‘The Catholic University of America’. Thereafter he relocated to New York City in pursuit of a career in acting.

While striving with auditions he sustained himself by doing odd jobs like serving as waiter and as limousine driver.

He made his debut in television with the 1988 series ‘Dirty Dozen: The Series’ featuring as Pvt. Dylan Leeds in 8 of its 14 episodes. Thereafter he worked steadily in television for more than two decades performing in different series essaying guest, recurring and regular roles as also in TV movies.

In 1989 he debuted in theatre with the play ‘The Lisbon Traviata’ that also had Nathan Lane. He collaborated successfully with playwright Richard Greenberg that saw him starring in the latter’s plays including ‘Three Days of Rain’, ‘Night and Her Stars’ and ‘The Extra Man’ garnering much critical acclaim.

In 1991 he worked in single episodes of two TV series namely ‘Under Cover’ and ‘China Beach’ and TV movies ‘Before the Storm’ and ‘Under Cover’ before landing up with the extended role of Al Kahn, a union organizer in the TV drama series ‘Homefront’ where he featured in 38 out of 42 episodes.

His Broadway debut happened in 1993 with playwright Neil Simon’s ‘Laughter on the 23rd Floor’ where he starred along with Nathan Lane.

While gradually making his mark in television and theatre, Slattery embarked into big screen in the mid-1990s. Some of his films of the 1990s include ‘Eraser’ (1996), ‘Sleepers’ (1996), ‘The Naked Man’ (1998) and ‘Where's Marlowe?’ (1998).