Tom Selleck
Thomas William Selleck[1] (/ˈsɛlɪk/; born January 29, 1945)[2][3] is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1985. Since 2010, Selleck has co-starred as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan in the series Blue Bloods. From 2005–2015, he portrayed troubled small-town police chief Jesse Stone in nine television films based on the Robert B. Parker novels.
Tom Selleck
Actor
1965–present
2
United States
1967–1973
In films, Selleck has played bachelor architect Peter Mitchell in Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its sequel Three Men and a Little Lady (1990). He has also appeared in more than 50 other film and television roles since Magnum, P.I., including the films Quigley Down Under, Mr. Baseball, and Lassiter. He appeared in recurring television roles as Monica Geller's love interest Dr. Richard Burke in Friends, as Lance White, the likeable and naive partner on The Rockford Files, and as casino owner A.J. Cooper on Las Vegas. He also had a lead role in the television western film The Sacketts, based on two of Louis L'Amour's books.
Selleck is a California Army National Guard veteran, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), an endorser in advertisements for National Review magazine, and co-founder of the Character Counts! organization.
Early life[edit]
Family[edit]
Thomas William Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 29, 1945, to housewife Martha Selleck (née Jagger)[4] and Robert Dean Selleck, who was an executive and real estate investor.[5][6][7] He has an elder brother Robert (born 1944), a younger sister Martha (born 14 Nov 1953), and a younger brother Daniel (born 1956).[8]
Selleck is of mostly English descent, although he also has some German ancestry. Through an entirely paternal line, Selleck is a direct descendant of English colonist David Selleck who moved to Massachusetts from Somerset, England in 1633. Through this line, Selleck is of the 11th generation of his family born in North America[9][10]
Selleck's family moved to Sherman Oaks, California in 1948.[11]
Education[edit]
Selleck graduated from Grant High School in 1962[12] and enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College, living at home and saving money.[13] Selleck, who stands 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall, transferred to the University of Southern California during his junior year to play for the USC Trojans men's basketball team.[14] He also was a pitcher and designated hitter for the USC baseball team.[15] He is a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and a member of the Trojan Knights. While Selleck was majoring in Business Administration, a drama coach suggested he try acting and, in his senior year, he dropped out of the university.[16] Selleck then studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, under Milton Katselas.
California National Guard[edit]
Upon receiving a draft notice during the Vietnam War, Selleck joined the California National Guard.[17] He served in the 160th Infantry Regiment of the California Army National Guard[18] from 1967 to 1973.