Navy SEALs - Presskit - About The Cast

About the Cast

Lt. (jg) Dale Hawkins revels in taking risk--in combat, covert operations and even off-duty. But he seldom thinks through the consequences of his actions, until his bravado costs a comrade's life. Played by CHARLIE SHEEN, the hawkish, hot dog Hawkins is light years from the sensitive, observant young grunt of Platoon, Oliver Stone's 1987 Oscar winner which brought the actor international renown.

New York-born and California-raised, Sheen grew up in a theatrical family. The son of Martin Sheen and the younger brother of Emilio and Ramon Estevez, he made his own acting debut at nine--(in his father's TV triumph, The Execution of Private Slovik)--but spent most of his childhood involved in sports. At Santa Monica High School he played basketball, football and golf, then spent his summers at the Mickey Owen Baseball School in Springfield, Missouri.

An eight-month stay in the Philippines with his father during the filming of Apocalypse Now awakened his interest in acting, and the youngster began making his own 8mm movies, often starring such friends as Chris and Sean Penn, Rob and Chad Lowe, and his own brothers. Ultimately there would be more than 200 of these short films.

After playing his first feature film role in Grizzly II: The Predator (1982), Sheen progressed to larger parts in Three for the Road, Red Dawn, Lucas, The Wraith and No Man's Land, and made cameo appearances in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Wisdom. More recently, he starred in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (as the ambitious, young protege of stock manipulator Michael Douglas), Eight Men Out, Major League, and Young Guns. He has teamed with his family members for two current films: Men at Work, co-starring brother Emilio (who also wrote and directed) and Cadence, co-starring brother Ramon and directed by father Martin.

Despite a reprimand from the Pentagon brass, Lt. James Curran knows he's made the right decision when, in the midst of a rescue operation, he chooses to insure the safety of his people rather than destroy an arsenal of stolen Stinger missiles. That it leads to a new mission fraught with faulty intelligence, a reluctant informant, and a foray into a Middle-Eastern inferno, is an obligation readily assumed by the conscientious SEAL commander played by MICHAEL BIEHN.

This marks the second time Biehn has portrayed a SEAL officer. The first, however--in James Cameron's The Abyss--was Curran's complete opposite, a man who loved violence and justified it as allegiance to duty.

Born in Anniston, Alabama, Biehn moved to Arizona as a teenager. He unexpectedly won a scholarship to the University of Arizona when the Dean of its drama department caught his performance in a speech tournament. Within two years, the athletic, energetic young man left school to move to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in acting classes.

Ironically, it was in New York that Biehn launched his film career--as Lauren Bacall's crazed pursuer in 1981's The Fan. That led to The Lord of Discipline, in which he played a member of a secret cadet society.

Then came a series of starring roles for writer/director James Cameron, starting with the 1984 science-fiction hit, The Terminator, in which he tracked a murderous android played by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the distant future to the 20th century. Next came the cool, quiet warrior of Cameron's Aliens, who escorted Sigourney Weaver to her nightmare past; the troubled husband of pregnant Demi Moore in the mystic thriller The Seventh Sign; and the district attorney of William Friedkin's Rampage.

Biehn's television credits include the miniseries Deadly Intentions, the PBS special In a Shallow Grave, and three episodes as a racist cop in the acclaimed Hill Street Blues.

Reporter Claire Verens attempts to balance her professional ethics against the urgency of Lt. Curran's Middle East mission--until the aftershock of a terrorist attack tips the scales.

The role of the cool-headed reporter is a turnabout for JOANNE WHALLEY-KILMER, a British actress best known for her portrayal of notorious party girl Christine Keeler in Scandal.

A product of the London stage, Whalley-Kilmer left her home in England's north country while still a teenager to appear at the Royal Court Theatre in a season of Edward Bond productions, for which she won an Olivier Award nomination. After starring in Chekhov's Three Sisters, she segued into British television, playing Nurse Mills in Dennis Potter's award-winning miniseries, The Singing Detective. She also starred in the BBC thriller Edge of Darkness.

Since making her motion picture bow in Alan Blastula's satiric No Surrender, Whalley-Kilmer has appeared in such films as The Good Father with Anthony Hopkins, To Kill a Priest with Christopher Lambert, and Ron Howard's Willow, which not only marked her American debut but also introduced her to future husband Val Kilmer.

She most recently starred with Liam Neeson in The Big Man, a film about Britain's troubled mining industry, and returned to the theatre for a New York staging of Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw.

As Leary, the SEAL Team's corpsman, RICK ROSSOVICH is the one traditionally charged with putting the guys back together. It was for this reason, says the actor, that he requested the role. ("A corpsman is into healing as well as fighting.") A native of Palo Alto, California, Rossovich majored in art at Sacramento State College, then moved to Hollywood, hoping to break in as an art director. During his first week there, however, he took the advice of a friend and auditioned for a role in a non-union Korean karate film.

The money was minuscule--$90 for a week's work--but it encouraged Rossovich to train with noted Los Angeles drama coach vincent Chase, whose other students included future NAVY SEALS comrades Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton.

Beginning with The Lords of Discipline in 1983, he soon landed roles in major films including Streets of Fire, The Terminator, Warning Sign, The Morning After, Top Gun, Roxanne, Secret Ingredient, Let's Get Harry, Spellbinder and Paint It Black.

Rossovich recently made his television debut starring in HBO's anthology series Tales From the Crypt. His segment, directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, also stars william Hickey as a man who wants to look younger and buys parts of Rossovich to do so.

Providing cover for his comrades, the sharpshooter, Dane, scores high in both marksmanship and down-to-earth humor.

The role is played by BILL PAXTON, a filmmaker, singer and rock musician whose career began when he left Fort Worth, Texas, to attend London's Richmond College as a foreign exchange student. There he bought camera equipment and made succession of Super-B films, then worked in Hollywood for three years before heading east to enroll at New York University and study privately with Stella Adler.

After making his acting bow in Night warning, Paxton played small roles in The Lords of Discipline, Impulse, The Terminator and Streets of Fire. Then came John Hughes' comedy, Weird science, in which Paxton scored as the detestable, bullying older brother. It led to co-starring roles in Aliens, Near Dark, Pass the Ammo, Slipstream, Back to Back, Next of Kin and The Last of the Finest.

Paxton has also directed and starred in the short film Fish Heads (which became a cult classic after it was seen on Saturday Night Live) and has written, produced and starred in Scoop, which won a Cine Eagle Award.

The precarious life of a Navy SEAL is brought home to Graham, played by DENNIS HAYSBERT, when his wedding is halted halfway down the aisle by an insistent beeper. Most recently seen on screen as the Cuban ballplayer with a voodoo shrine in his locker in Major League, Haysbert is currently filming Love Field, in which he stars opposite Michelle Pfeiffer.

The son a San Mateo, California, deputy sheriff, Haysbert studied at the Pasadena branch of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and made his acting debut in a guest-starring role in television's Lou Grant series. He followed with a recurring role on Buck Rogers in the 21st Century, and guest roles on such top-rated series as Quincy, The A-Team, Dallas, Magnum P.I., The Fall Guy, The Facts of Life, Riptide, Knots Landing, Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Growing Pains.

Haysbert's television film credits include A Summer to Remember and The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. (in which he played a pediatrician) .He also had a recurring role as a coach and athletic director of a parochial school in the comedy series Just the Ten of Us.

CYRIL O'REILLY brings a decade of performing in motion pictures, theatre and television to his role of SEAL Team member Rexer. In addition to the films Porky's, Porky's II: The Next Day, Airplane!, Half Life, Means and End, Leo and Loree and Purple Hearts, he has also appeared on stage in A Lie of the Mind at L.A. 's Mark Taper Forum and Henry IV at the San Diego Globe Theatre. O'Reilly's television credits include the film dramas Splendor in the Grass and An Uncommon Love.

PAUL SANCHEZ, who plays SEAL Team member Ramos, was seen in Oliver Stone's Platoon as well as the director's Born on the Fourth of July. A product of the New York theatre, he appeared in such Off-Broadway productions as The Indian Wants the Bronx, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie, Hatful of Rain and Fortune and Men's Eyes.

His television credits include the hit series L.A. Law and the TV films Friendly, Quiet Little Town and Six Against the Rock.

As the Arab zealot Ben Shaheed, NICHOLAS KADI outwits the SEALs during their first encounter, but sets in motion their implacable retribution.

The son of a Middle Eastern career diplomat, Kadi settled with his family in the U.S. as a youngster, then studied acting at New York's famed Juilliard School, and mime at the Decroux Studio in Paris. He has appeared in the films Quest for Fire, Beginners and Protocol, and in stage productions of The Soldier's Tale, Caligula, The Tempest and As You Like It.

As Capt. Dunne, RONALD JOSEPH finds himself caught between Lt. Curran and his SEAL team, and the demanding Pentagon. A veteran character actor, Joseph has appeared in such films as Swashbuckler, El Norte, Numbers, Scarface, Born in East L.A., Barfly, and The Milagro Beanfield War.

On television, he has appeared in the series Simon and Simon, Quincy, and Hunter.