Julian McMahon

Versatile Australian-born actor Julian McMahon made a career playing handsome bad boys on a variety of daytime soaps, hit primetime dramas and successful feature films.

Following a successful career as a model, McMahon entered the acting arena in his native Australia on soap operas like "The Power, the Passion" (Seven Network, 1989) and "Home and Away" (Seven Network, 1988- ). He came to the attention of American audiences playing Ian Rain on NBC's daytime soap "Another World" from 1992-94, and later, as the intense task force detective John Grant on the primetime police procedural, "Profiler" (NBC, 1996-2000). But it was his role as the greed-driven, sex-addicted plastic surgeon Dr. Christian Troy on the edgy, adult cable hit "Nip/ Tuck" (FX, 2003-2010) that finally rocketed McMahon to stardom. With a knack for playing charismatic men of power and questionable ethics, the actor parlayed his television success into a pair of performances as the evil genius Dr. Doom in the superhero hits "Fantastic Four" (2005) and "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007). Armed with striking good looks and an ability to imbue his characters with an alluring sense of danger, McMahon continued to take on roles as the hero or the villain, each with equal relish.

Born in Sydney, New South Wales on July 27, 1968, Julian Dana William McMahon was the second of three children born to former Australian Prime Minister, Sir William McMahon, his wife, Lady Sonia Hopkins McMahon. A graduate of the esteemed Sydney Grammar School, McMahon attended the University of Sydney, where he briefly studied law. Getting more attention for his striking good looks more than anything else, however, McMahon eventually decided to turn to professional modeling. The decision proved to be a wise one indeed; McMahon's modeling career flourished. Within three years, he became one of Europe's most sought-after male models.

In the early 1990s, McMahon returned to his native Australia already a well-known commodity, thanks to a Levi Strauss commercial which had won awards worldwide. Turning to acting as his next logical career move, McMahon made his major television debut in "Home and Away" (Seven Network, 1988- ) a long-running primetime serial in Australia. His feature film debut was in the Aussie-made "Exchange Lifeguards/Wet and Wild Summer!" (1992), starring Christopher Atkins and Elliot Gould. By the time the film was released, however, McMahon had already moved to New York to star in the American soap, "Another World" (NBC, 1964-1999). Moving to L.A. in 1994, McMahon found work on stage and in a few low-budget feature films like "Magenta" (1996) before landing his role on "Profiler." He also gained notoriety in the United Kingdom for his two-year marriage to Danni Minogue, sister of pop singer Kylie Minogue, followed by a brief marriage to "Baywatch" blonde Brooke Burns.

After "Profiler" concluded, McMahon was immediately snapped up by legendary producer Aaron Spelling, who installed him on his hit witchcraft dramedy "Charmed" (The WB, 1998-2006) in 2000, playing the half-demon Cole Turner. Growing bored with the role after a couple of seasons, however, McMahon sought out new challenges. As luck would have it, the perfect script landed in his lap - a drama about plastic surgeons called "Nip/Tuck." Aggressively pursuing the role, McMahon won the producers over with a videotaped reading which the actor shot of himself. The show became an instant hit, bolstered by McMahon's vanity-less performance as the ethically and morally challenged Dr. Christian Troy, a role which the actor constantly nuanced with equal doses of charm, sex appeal, pathos and empathy.

Off the success of the series, McMahon's profile was raised significantly when he was cast as the comic book super villain Dr. Victor Von Doom, the arch-enemy of the "Fantastic Four" (2005). Forced to effectively dispense with his trademark smarmy charm, the direction of the Doom character was generally ill conceived from the get-go, leaving McMahon with a thankless role. He returned to the big screen after season four of "Nip/Tuck" with "Premonition" (2007), playing the husband of a woman (Sandra Bullock) whose foreknowledge of impending events destroys her otherwise perfect domestic life, especially when he supposedly dies in a tragic car accident. Meanwhile, McMahon revived Dr. Doom for the inevitable sequel, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007) for the big summer box office season. The scandal-plagued McNamara/Troy Cosmetic Surgery Center closed its doors for good with the 100th episode of "Nip/Tuck" in 2010. McMahon remained busy, however, with a supporting role as Robert Stanton, a U.S. Vice President engaged in a deadly cover up in the comedic action-adventure "Red" (2010). Boasting an all-star cast that included Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren, the film, about a group of CIA covert operatives forced out of retirement, proved to be one of the more successful genre movies of the year. Less memorable was McMahon's turn as a detective tracking a serial killer opposite Milla Jovovich in the direct-to-DVD psychological thriller "Faces in the Crowd" (2011).