Tom Berenger

Tom Berenger (born Thomas Michael Moore; May 31, 1949) is an Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated American television and motion picture actor. --- Berenger was born to an Irish Catholic family in Chicago as Thomas Michael Moore. Berenger's father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times and traveling salesman, and he has a sister, Susan. He picked "Berenger" as his professional name, after a school friend, because there was already a "Tom Moore" in the Actors' Equity Association. He graduated from Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois, in 1967. Berenger studied journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, but decided to seek an acting career following his graduation. The Tom Berenger Acting Scholarship Fund was established in 1988 by Berenger to award theatre students for excellence in performance. He worked first in regional theatre and moved to New York City in the 1970s. Berenger worked in soap operas and had a starring role as lawyer Tim Siegel on One Life to Live. His feature film debut was the lead in Rush It (1976), an independent film now mostly forgotten except for those of its cast members who went on to greater renown. In 1978, he had a starring role in In Praise of Older Women for Avco-Embassy Pictures. In 1979, he played Butch Cassidy in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, a role he got in part because of his resemblance to Paul Newman,[4] who played the character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). These early roles highlighted Berenger's ability to play both villains and heroes.