Background
Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan, a homemaker, and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. Paré"s father was of French-Canadian ancestry and his mother of Irish ancestry. His father died from leukemia when Paré was five, leaving his mother to raise the large family of children.
Career
Paré was working as a chef in New York City when he met a talent agent, Yvette Bikoff, who convinced him to try acting. His first starring role was as Tony Villicana on the television series The Greatest American Hero. His best-known film roles were as Eddie Wilson in Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) and its sequel Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! (1989), as well as Streets of Fire (1984) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984).
Other films included Moon 44 (1990), Village of the Damned (1995), Bad Moon (1996), Hope Floats (1998), and The Virgin Suicides (1999).
On television, Paré starred with Michael Beck in the Columbia Broadcasting System police drama Houston Knights in 1987-1988, as well as the short-lived 2001 science fiction television series Starhunter. 2014 starred in the feature directorial debut film The Shelter of Actor John Fallon.
Paré frequently appear in Uwe Boll"s works.