Biography for
Leif Garrett More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

8 November 1961, Hollywood, California, USA

Birth Name

Leif Per Nervik

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Born on November 8, 1961 in Hollywood, California, Leif grew up in a world of showbiz and got his first taste of acting in the blockbuster film, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) playing the son of Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon, though he was uncredited. Then he was a frequent guest in TV shows such as "Nanny and the Professor" (1970), "Family Affair" (1966), "Cannon" (1971), "Gunsmoke" (1955) and "The Odd Couple" (1970) as well as receiving brief exposure in Walking Tall (1973) and Peopletoys (1974), both films also starring his sister, Dawn Lyn. He then played Endy Karras in the TV series "Three for the Road" (1975), also starring Alex Rocco and Vincent Van Patten, and by then he started getting exposure on teen magazines and fan mail, despite the show's short run. He still pursued his acting career by starring in some westerns like Diamante Lobo (1975), Vengeance (1977) and Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion (1977) (TV).

However, by then he wanted to be a singer and Michael Lloyd, who was producing records for Shaun Cassidy at the time, signed him up as well. He released two oldie cover singles "Surfin USA" and "Runaround Sue" as well as his self titled debut album, but wasn't really happy with this style of music. He recorded another album called "Feel the Need" which had a top 10 disco flavoured hit his producer wrote called, "I Was Made for Dancin'". He released 3 more albums and walked away from music.

He continued in films and was well remembered for his small supporting role in the Blockbuster film The Outsiders (1983), which starred Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise, but his films after that were not very successful. However, he did return to music by playing in a band called "Godspeed", as this time he's playing his own music.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Greg Russell Tiderington

Trivia

Son of Rick Nervick, and Carolyn Stellar.

Younger sister is actress Dawn Lyn.

Was sued by former friend for an 1979 accident in which Leif was driving and car left the road and plunged 80 ft. down a hillside. Friend was paralyzed, judgment of $7.1 million. (The two were reunited 20 years later, as part of a TV program about Garrett's life and career, and Garrett learned that his friend, whom he hadn't seen since that day, had long forgiven him - and that Garrett's actions following the accident had actually saved his life.)

Mother was an actress using the name Carolyn Stellar.

Ranked #13 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 25 Greatest Teen Idols" (23 January 2005 issue).

In an interview for the 2008 A&E "Biography" show about him, he said he did not originally aspire to a singing career. He had never been a singer and considered himself an actor, but when he achieved teen idol status, his handlers saw a chance to make big money and told him that he was now a singer. He was told what to sing without regard for his musical preferences, so he wasn't happy with his music career. Dragged around the world on concert tours at 15 by his managers without his family and spending most of his time in hotel rooms, he felt isolated and extremely lonely. To relieve his loneliness, he began tagging along to the clubs at night with his managers, and thus began his descent into alcohol and drug abuse. His return to music later in life reflected his real musical preferences and truly fueled his creative passions.

In the mid-1990s, fellow singer-actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras remade Garrett's hit-single "I Was Made For Dancing" for her album "Gimme a Kiss"; subsequently, both the song and the record became huge hits in Japan.

Ex-brother-in-law of Michael Whitby.

Personal Quotes

If there is anything I would tell anybody in this profession, it is never believe your own press.