Background and career
Gary Alan Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American retired actor, director, musician, and activist. He has won a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Actor Awards, and has been nominated for an Academy Award. He has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sinise has also received awards and honors for his extensive humanitarian work and involvement with charitable organizations, notably the Gary Sinise Foundation, of which he is the founder and chairman of the board of directors. He also founded the Lt. Dan Band (named after his character in Forrest Gump), which plays at U.S. military bases around the world. Sinise's career began in 1974 at the age of nineteen with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company (which he co-founded). In 1983, he directed and starred in a production of Sam Shepard's True West for which he earned an Obie Award. Sinise directed Orphans by Lyle Kessler on Broadway in 1985. Also in 1985, he earned the Regional Theatre Tony Award alongside the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Sinise also received Tony Award nominations for his performances in The Grapes of Wrath (1988) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (2001). Sinise and John Malkovich starred in the 1992 film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men; Sinise also produced and directed the film. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump (1994). He also appeared in Ron Howard's Apollo 13 (1995), Ransom (1996), Frank Darabont's The Green Mile (1999) and Impostor (2002). On television, Sinise portrayed Harry S. Truman in Truman (1995), a portrayal that won him a Golden Globe Award and played the title role in George Wallace, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award. Sinise is widely known for his leading role as Detective Mac Taylor in the long-running CBS series CSI: NY (2004–13). He also played Special Agent Jack Garrett in Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2016–17).
Sinise was born in Blue Island, Illinois, the son of Robert L. Sinise (born 1931), a film editor, and Mylles (Alsip) Sinise. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent. Sinise's great-grandfather, Vito Sinisi, emigrated to the United States from Ripacandida in the Italian region of Basilicata. Sinise briefly attended Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and later graduated from Highland Park High School in Highland Park, Illinois. He attended Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and has been a supportive alumnus of the university.
In 1974, Sinise and two friends, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry, founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois. Since then, Steppenwolf has showcased the talents of notable actors such as Joan Allen, Kevin Anderson, Gary Cole, Ethan Hawke, Glenne Headly, John Malkovich, John Mahoney, Laurie Metcalf, Martha Plimpton, Jim True-Frost, and William Petersen. Sinise honed his acting and directing skills at Steppenwolf. In 1982, Sinise's career began to take off when he directed and starred in Steppenwolf's production of True West. In 1983, he earned an Obie Award for his direction, and a year later appeared with John Malkovich in the PBS' American Playhouse production of the play. Sinise received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his direction of Lyle Kessler's play Orphans in 1985. In 1988, Sinise directed Miles from Home, a film starring Richard Gere, about two brothers' fight against the foreclosure of the family farm. Sinise earned the Regional Theatre Tony Award alongside the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. He has received a total of four Tony Award nominations, including nominations for his performances in The Grapes of Wrath (1988) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (2001).
In 1992, Sinise starred in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel Of Mice and Men, which he also directed and produced. Sinise played George Milton alongside John Malkovich, who played Lennie.
Sinise's definitive breakthrough film role was Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump (1994). His performance earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, and Chicago Film Critics Association: Best Supporting Actor. Sinise portrayed Harry S. Truman in Truman (1995), a portrayal that won him a Golden Globe Award; and he played George Wallace in George Wallace (1997), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award. He has also appeared in the Stephen King miniseries The Stand (1994), Ron Howard's Apollo 13 (1995), Ransom (1996), Snake Eyes (1998), Frank Darabont's The Green Mile (1999), Reindeer Games (2000), Mission to Mars (2000), and Impostor (2002). He narrated the audiobooks for John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley. Sinise collaborated with fellow actor Tom Hanks three times, in Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and The Green Mile.
Sinise reprised his role as Wallace in the television film Path to War (2002), about the Johnson administration's entry into the Vietnam War. In late 2002, Sinise began appearing in Cadillac commercials, starting with the 2002–2003 Season's Best commercial. He was with the Break Through campaign from 2002 to 2006. In 2004, Sinise began his first regular television series, in the crime drama CSI: NY, in which he plays Detective Mac Taylor. He was credited as a producer from season two onwards and wrote the storyline of an episode. Several episodes have allowed Sinise to demonstrate his musical prowess, including a season-two episode where Mac Taylor plays the bass guitar in a jazz club with musicians Kimo and Carol Williams and Danny Gottlieb, members of the Lt. Dan Band, which Sinise and Kimo Williams co-founded in 2003. The band is named for Sinise's character in Forrest Gump. The series ended in 2013.
