Gordon Clapp

Gordon Clapp is an American actor who appears regularly in roles on hit TV shows, Broadway shows and even in some blockbuster films. He is now well recognized and well respected for his work, and currently has 2 awards under his belt and many more nominations.

Gordon Clapp was born on September 24th, 1948 in North Conway, New Hampshire. Following a conventional education and upbringing in Connecticut, he graduated from the prestigious William’s College with a theatre degree that has obviously served him well in his career. In the early years of his career he did a lot of work in Canada and his first real experiences as an actor took place in regional Canadian productions of Shakespeare plays among other works. He also became a company member of Ottawa’s premiere National Arts Centre and gained many new skills and abilities throughout this period. This was not his very first taste of acting, however, as he starred in an Equity theater production at the age of 12. Clapp has been working on various projects in television since 1979 and is still very much active today. He is probably best known for role as Detective Greg Medavoy on the hit crime show NYPD Blue. He reprised this role for all 12 seasons of the series and won an Emmy Award for his performance in 1998. He continues to mainly choose similar roles in later years as he found a niche he could flourish in, but has also appeared in other genres to test his talent and stretch himself.

Many are also aware of Clapp’s work on the stage. He appeared in David Mamet’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross in 2005 on Broadway, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. This showed that he still has incredible acting abilities and a great stage presence, and his return to Broadway showed his dedication to the craft as he wanted to diversify his career rather than stay in the comfortable position he was in, performing in a number of TV shows.
He has also crossed over into film, playing small roles in projects like Eight Men Out, Moonlight Mile and Drive-Thru. In these films he starred opposite some very famous actors, such as Dustin Hoffman and Jake Gyllehaal, showing the increasing credibility of his choices. He has appeared in many more television films, such as Her Hidden Truth, The Morrison Murders and Badge of Betrayal.

He is married to Deborah Taylor, who also played his on screen wife in his most famous endeavour, NYPD Blue. The couple has a son together, William Clapp, who was born in 1988. They currently live in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.

Like many celebrities, it seems that Clapp wanted to give back some of his good fortune and share it with others, so he made a contribution to the very worthwhile charity, the Fisher House Foundation. The link below provides more information on what he did http://www.looktothestars.org/charity/fisher-house-foundation.

Photo Source: IMDB