Biography for
Kyle Chandler More at IMDbPro »

Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American film and television actor best known for his roles in the television shows Early Edition as Gary Hobson, Deputy Jackson Lamb in the film Super 8, and as Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2011.

Personal life

Chandler was born in Buffalo, New York, the fourth child of Edward Chandler, a farm owner and cigarette sales representative, and his wife, Sally. He was raised in Loganville, Georgia, and attended George Walton Academy in nearby Monroe. He went on to the University of Georgia, in Athens, where he was a drama major and member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He is married to Kathryn Chandler, a television writer; the couple has two daughters. They live in central Texas.

Career

Chandler was signed by an ABC scout in 1988 on a talent search. His first major role on television was as Army Sergeant William Griner as a member of special operations squad fighting in Vietnam in the series Tour of Duty. After that, he went on to play Cleveland Indians rightfielder Jeff Metcalf in the ABC show Homefront, a drama set in the mid 1940s after World War II in the fictional town of River Run, Ohio. In his next television role, Kyle moved from the past to play a man who had the ability to change future disasters as the central character in the CBS television series Early Edition. He portrayed bar owner Gary Hobson, a stockbroker turned hero who received "tomorrow's newspaper today", delivered to his door by a mysterious cat. In 1996 he received the Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television for his portrayal of Gary.

Subsequently, Chandler appeared opposite Joan Cusack as investment banker Jake Evans in the short-lived ABC comedy series What About Joan. He also played scheming lawyer Grant Rashton in the short-lived series The Lyon's Den. Other roles on Chandler's resume include: the 1930s film star Bruce Baxter (who was based on film star Bruce Cabot, the actor who played Jack Driscoll in the original King Kong) in the 2005 film King Kong. Coincidentally he would later go on to play John Driscoll in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

In February 2006, Chandler appeared as the ill-fated bomb squad leader Dylan Young in "It's The End of The World" & "As We Know It", a two-part episode on the ABC series Grey's Anatomy that followed the 2006 Super Bowl. He received substantial notice and press for the appearance as a result and subsequently received a nomination in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Award. He appeared again in the February 15, 2007 episode of Grey's Anatomy: "Drowning On Dry Land", and the February 22, 2007 episode: "Some Kind of Miracle". In July 2009, Chandler appeared in a television commercial for teachers.

Following his Emmy-nominated guest role in Grey's Anatomy, Kyle Chandler starred as Coach Eric Taylor in the NBC/DirecTV drama series Friday Night Lights, which followed the lives of a high-school football coach, his family and players in a small Texas town. The series was inspired by the book and movie of the same name. The show's pilot aired on October 3, 2006. The last show of the final season aired in July 2011.

In 2007, he appeared in the big screen movie The Kingdom. In December 2008, he appeared in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.

In 2011, he appeared in a lead role in the science fiction movie Super 8. On September 18, Chandler won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Coach Eric Taylor in the television series Friday Night Lights.