Denis Leary
- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Denis Leary was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of
Nora (Sullivan) and John Leary, Irish immigrants who had grown up
together. His mother was a maid and his father was an auto mechanic.
After a childhood in the 1960s, Leary went to Emerson College in
Boston, where he tried his hand at acting and writing. He was a charter
member of Emerson's Comedy Workshop, and taught at the college for five
years after graduating. By that point, he had written several pieces
for magazines and had worked at stand-up comedy for a time. In 1990, he
and his wife, Ann Leary, flew to London to
perform in the BBC's Paramount City. That weekend, Ann's water broke.
Their planned weekend trip became a stay of months, and Denis, with not
a whole lot to do in London, wrote a one-man comedy act. He brought
friends in from the States, and they wrote songs to perform on stage.
Leary, with Chris Phillips and
Adam Roth on guitar, performed "No
Cure For Cancer" at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival in
Scotland. Despite some protests about the title, the show won the
Critic's Award and the BBC Festival Recommendation. The next year, the
show was moved to America, and it was eventually taped and broadcast on
Showtime
(Denis Leary: No Cure for Cancer (1993)).
The show spawned a book, CD, cassette, and a videotape. It also started
Leary's movie career. Since then, he has starred in several films and
has had two of his own TV series.
