Paul Adelstein

Paul Adelstein (born April 29, 1969) is an American television and film actor, best known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox television series Prison Break and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the ABC medical drama Private Practice. In addition to supporting roles in films such as Intolerable Cruelty and Memoirs of a Geisha, he is also known for his current recurring role as Leo Bergen on ABC's Scandal, and as Jake Novak in the current Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce.

Early life

Adelstein was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1969, to a Reform Jewish family.^[1] Prior to his professional acting career, Adelstein attended the progressive Francis W. Parker School, then Bowdoin College where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a degree in English.^[2] He began his career in theatre, working with New Crime Productions, a company founded by John Cusack, and later with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Career

Making his film debut in 1990 in The Grifters, Adelstein went on to appear in several television series which include Cupid, ER, Without a Trace and Scrubs and to have a number of significant supporting roles in films such as Bedazzled (2000), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), and Be Cool (2005).

In 2005, he received his most significant role to date as a member of the regular cast of the suspenseful television series Prison Break. Interestingly, though he played the role of mysterious government operative Paul Kellerman, he had originally auditioned for the role of protagonist Lincoln Burrows. When he left the show in 2007, he joined the regular cast of medical drama Private Practice where he stayed for the show's entire six season run. After the series finale in 2013, he has more recently had a recurring role on Scandal, which he has continued into 2014.

Currently his main role is as Jake Novak, the husband of Abby McCarthy (Lisa Edelstein) in Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, which premiered in late 2014 as the first scripted original series for Bravo.^[3] In April 2016, he was cast as Raymond Blackstone in the upcoming Hulu series Chance starring Hugh Laurie.^[4]

Personal life

Paul moved to Los Angeles in 2003 at the age of 34. "I've fallen in love with the city. I found it difficult at first, but like I said I was doing it in pretty small doses. By the time I had my own place I was pretty comfortable here, and now I love it. There's really no place in the world like Los Angeles, love it or hate it."^[5] Despite hailing from Chicago, Adelstein has been a fan and supporter since childhood of the NFL's Cleveland Browns.^[6][7][8] In March 2016, Weil filed for divorce from Adelstein, requesting joint custody of their daughter, and using mediation to hash out spousal support.^[9]

Adelstein is lead singer and guitarist of a band called Doris. The band was started in the late 1990s and Adelstein has recorded several albums with them, singing and songwriting for the group. Adelstein is also a pianist and guitarist. His musical background was the cover story in the May/June 2012 issue of Making Music Magazine.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Adelstein.

• Paul Adelstein at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Adelstein at AllMovie