Dennis Christopher is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Breaking Away, Fade to Black, It, Chariots of Fire, and Django Unchained. He has appeared in nearly 40 movies and made-for-TV movies since 1975.
Life
Christopher was born Dennis Carrelli in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is of half-Italian and half-Irish descent.
Career
Christopher's breakthrough role was as Dave Stoller in the coming-of-age classic Breaking Away. His performance won him the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Youth in Film Award for Best Juvenile Actor in a Motion Picture, as well as garnering a Golden Globe nomination. Christopher's other roles include American track star Charlie Paddock in Chariots of Fire, as well as tragic film-buff psychopath Eric Binford in Fade to Black, Damon in The Falling, Nathan Flowers in A Sinful Life and Leech in '. Television roles include "Jack of All Trades" in the ProfilerTV series, Eddie Kaspbrak in Stephen King's It, Desmond Floyd in Jake Speed and in the HBO seriesDeadwood. Christopher has guest starred in two Star Trek episodes: the ' episode "The Search |The Search " and the ' episode "Detained |Detained". He guest-starred as the demon-sorcerer Cyvus Vail in three episodes of Angel. He reunited with his Breaking Away "father" Paul Dooley, playing Dooley's son for a third time, in a of '. The two had first played father and son in Robert Altman's A Wedding. In December 2006, he played Dr. Martin Ruber in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room. Christopher's career, and life in general, changed dramatically when he was cast as Leonide Moguy in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. He learned through his agent that the screenplay had been re-written to accommodate him. Furthermore, Tarantino later claimed to Christopher that he had seen every one of his films the week that they were released, even Dead Women in Lingerie. Production of the film made a very positive impact on Christopher, who has said "...a lot of my idea of happiness came from working on this film...".
