Dan Cortese

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Daniel James Cortese (/kɔːrˈtɛz/; born September 14, 1967) is an American actor and director. He played Perry Rollins on Veronica's Closet and Vic Meladeo on What I Like About You.

Early life and education

Of Italian (Calabrese) descent, Cortese was born on September 14, 1967, in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Quaker Valley High School in Leetsdale, where he played football and basketball.^[1][2] Prior to becoming an actor, Cortese played college football at the University of North Carolina as a backup quarterback.^[3] In his freshman year in 1986, the Tar Heels went to the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii. Cortese graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcasting in 1990.

Career

Cortese first came to prominence as the host of the Emmy Award-winning show MTV Sports from 1992 to 1997. Cortese was also the player/coach of The Bricklayers and The Homeboys for the MTV Rock N' Jock games. During Burger King's "Your Way, Right Away" advertising campaign in the 1990s, Cortese was hired as the company's official spokesperson. He appeared in over 90 national and regional commercials for the fast food giant.

In 1993, per producer Joel Silver, Cortese made two separate cameos (Taco Bell Lounge singer and a Cryo Prison guard) in the hit Sylvester Stallone film Demolition Man. Also, in 1993, Cortese landed the lead role in NBC's remake of "Route 66". In 1994, he co-starred in the CBS police drama Traps with Academy Award winner George C. Scott. He gained further recognition in 1995 as Jess Hanson in Melrose Place.^[4] He played Jake Hanson's half brother for 8 episodes in the third season but he was killed off in that season's cliffhanger finale. In 1996, Cortese starred as Jason in the NBC TV movie The Lottery. The film turned out to be the highest rated of the year for the network. Also in 1996, he starred in the feature film Weekend In The Country with Jack Lemmon, as well as the HBO film Public Enemies.

Cortese appeared on the

From 1997 to 2000, Cortese starred with Kirstie Alley in Veronica's Closet, part of NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday night lineup. Then in 2000, he starred with Brooke Shields in the feature film After Sex. Cortese followed that up in 2001 with the TBS film The Triangle with Luke Perry. In 2003, Cortese came back to comedy and starred in the sitcom Rock Me Baby.

From 2002 to 2003, Cortese also had a recurring role in the first season of

In 2008, producer Mark Burnett then hired Cortese to host My Dad Is Better than Your Dad for NBC. Cortese got back to his athletic roots for ABC and appeared in the eight-episode special The Superstars.

In 2008, Cortese co-starred with Emily Osment in the feature film Soccer Mom as Lorenzo Vincenzo, a world-famous Italian soccer player.

He co-hosted the