Background

Michael Moriarty was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 5, 1941. He is the son of Elinor (Paul) and George Moriarty, General Medical Surgeon who also worked as a policeman. His grandfather was a famous baseball player.

Education

Moriarty attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills before transferring to the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. He then graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of 1963 with a bachelor's degree. After that, he left for London, England, where he attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Before gaining fame in films, Moriarty worked for several years as an actor at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He also had early employment selling encyclopedias and tyres.

He began his film career playing Trubee Pell in the movie, My Old Man’s Place in 1971. The very next year he appeared as Ballard in the neo-noir detective movie, Hickey & Boggs. In 1973, Moriarty was cast as the egocentric Henry Wiggen in Bang the Drum Slowly, a film about the unlikely friendship between two baseball teammates – the second being Robert De Niro, a slow-thinking catcher who becomes terminally ill. In the same year, Moriarty starred in a TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie with Katharine Hepburn.

In 1975, Moriarty played Detective Bo Lockley in the crime drama Report to the Commissioner in which his character unknowingly kills an undercover policewoman. The film though criticized at the time of its release became a cult classic. His role as Eric Dorf in the television miniseries Holocaust which was broadcast in four parts in 1978 was much appreciated. The series told the story of the Holocaust from the viewpoint of a Jewish family. He starred along with Candy Clark, David Carradine and Richard Roundtree in the fantasy horror film Q in 1982. He then again played a detective in the horror film, The Stuff in 1985 in which a strange, yoghurt-like substance, marketed as ‘the stuff’ actually starts eating up the people who eat it.

From 1990 to 1994, Moriarty starred as Ben Stone on Law & Order. His height and steely eyes gave his character the credibility it needed and this role became one of his most memorable ones. He stayed with the show till 1994. He appeared in ten episodes of the science fiction drama Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal as Michael Kelly, a member of the recurring cast during the seasons 2-3 from 1997 to 1999.

In 2001, Moriarty played the estranged father of the actor James Dean in the biographical television film, James Dean which was based on the life of the American actor of the same name who tragically died at a young age.

In 2006 he played General Dutton in the science fiction television film, Deadly Skies which is the story of two astronomers who try to stop a giant asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The next year he debuted his first feature-length film as screenwriter and performed the role of a man who thinks he is Adolf Hitler in Hitler Meets Christ.

Most recent works of Moriarty include his roles in such movies as The Yellow Wallpaper (2012) and The Sons of Summer (2018).

In addition to his acting career, Moriarty is a semi-professional jazz pianist and singer, as well as a classical composer. He has recorded three jazz albums (though the first, Reaching Out, went unreleased). He has performed live regularly in both New York and Vancouver with a jazz trio and quintet.

Moriarty has also served on the editorial board of the New York Quarterly, in which several of his poems were published, and 1997 saw the publication of The Voyeur, Moriarty’s debut novel.

Achievements

• Michael Moriarty is a well-known and highly regarded actor in theatrical, film, and television productions. In addition to such award-winning performances as Jim O’Connor in the ABC television production of The Glass Menagerie, 1973; Julian Weston in the play Find Your Way Home, 1974; Erik Dorf in the NBC mini-series Holocaust, 1978; and Assistant D.A. Ben Stone in the critically acclaimed NBC series Law and Order, from 1990 to 1994, Moriarty is also a playwright, composer, musician, poet, and novelist.
  
  Moriarty is also known for his roles in films such as Bang the Drum Slowly, Who'll Stop the Rain, Q: The Winged Serpent, The Stuff, Pale Rider, Troll, Courage Under Fire, and Shiloh. Moriarty's other major works include roles in such movies as Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranorma (1999), James Dean (2001), Along Came a Spider (2001), Neverwas (2005), Deadly Skies (2006), Hitler Meets Christ (2007), The Yellow Wallpaper (2012) and The Sons of Summer (2018).

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Awakening of Humanity: What You Need to Know

    (The book will seek to orient the newly-awakened to the si...)

    2017
  • Earthrise: Conscious Creation of UBUNTU

    (This book picks up where my last book, The Awakening of H...)

    2017
  • The Art and Science of Creation: A How-To Guide to Manifestation

    (The book will seek to explain how each of us creates his/...)

    2017

• movie

  • Watch Rudy Ruettiger: The Walk On

    (Most people know the story of Rudy, the small kid from Il...)

    2018
  • Watch A Return to Salem's Lot

    (A sleepy new england town harbors a community of the unde...)

    1982
  • Watch Too Far to Go

    (Behind the seemingly comfortable well-trimmed hedges of s...)

    1979
  • Watch Q-The Winged Serpent

    (Its name is Quetzalcoatl, a dragon-like Aztec god that is...)

    1982
  • Watch The Yellow Wallpaper

    (Golden Globe winner Michael Moriarty, Emmy nominated Vero...)

    2012
  • Watch A Cry From Within

    (Based on True Events, A Cry From Within brings psychologi...)

    2015

• music

  • Sweet 'n Gritty 1992
  • Live at Fat Tuesdays 1992

Politics

Moriarty is politically active, describing himself as a "centrist", and sometimes as a "realist".

Moriarty announced his intention to run for the presidency in 2008 in an interview in the November 2005 issue of Northwest Jazz Profile, but he never formally declared his candidacy. He has been a frequent contributor of numerous political columns to the ESR (Enter Stage Right) online Journal of Conservatism.

Membership

Moriarty is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Standing tall at 6’ 4”, Moriarty is definitely one of Hollywood’s tallest actors. Moreover, his height combined with his lanky frame and piercing grey-blue eyes make him an ideal selection to play characters with underlying psychological issues.

Interests

• Music & Bands

  Jerome Kern

Connections

During his life, Moriarty was married several times. His first wife's name was Francoise Martinet. They married in 1966 and had one son Matthew Christopher, but the marriage ended in a divorce in 1978. The same year he married Anne Hamilton Martin but got divorced in 1997. Moriarty then tied the knot for the third time with Suzana Cabrita in 1998. However, this union failed too and the couple divorced in 1999. Currently, he is married to his fourth wife, Margaret Brychka.

Shortly after leaving Law & Order, Moriarty moved to Canada, declaring himself a political exile. He lived for a time in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was granted Canadian citizenship, and Toronto, Ontario before settling in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Father:

George Moriarty

Mother:

Eleanor (Paul) Moriarty

First wife:

Francoise Martinet Moriarty

Son:

Matthew Christopher Moriarty

Second wife:

Anne Hamilton Martin Moriarty

Third wife:

Suzana Cabrita Moriarty

Wife:

Margaret Brychka Moriarty

Grandfather:

George Moriarty Sr.

His grandfather, George Moriarty, was a major league baseball player and then a MLB umpire.