fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Charles Esten Puskar III (born September 9, 1965), also known professionally as Charles Esten, and Chip Esten, is an American actor, musician, improviser and comedian.

Charles Esten
Esten in 2016
Born	Charles Esten Puskar III (1965-09-09) September 9, 1965 (age 57) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other names	Chip Esten
Alma mater	College of William and Mary
Occupation	Actor musician comedian
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Patty Hanson ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	3
Website	charlesesten.com

Esten played the role of country singer Deacon Claybourne on the ABC/CMT drama Nashville from 2012 to 2018, which subsequently kickstarted his own musical career. He also played Ward Cameron on the Netflix teen drama series Outer Banks. He appeared in the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a series regular between 1999–2005 and returned in 2019 as a regular.[1]

Early life

Esten was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to Alexandria, Virginia at age nine, after his parents divorced.[2] He and his younger sister were raised by their mother.[3]

His late father, Charles, was a prominent local businessman and business partner of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Ray Mansfield.[4]

Esten is a 1983 graduate of Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School, where he played football for the Titans a decade after the events of the film Remember the Titans. He has noted in several interviews that his Nashville costar Hayden Panettiere appeared in the film as the daughter of his real-life coach.[5] He then attended his parents' and sister's alma mater, the College of William and Mary, where he was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and graduated with a degree in economics in 1987.[3] At William and Mary, he was the lead vocalist in the local band "N'est Pas" from 1985–88. Following graduation, Esten moved to the United Kingdom to make his theatrical debut, playing the title role in the musical Buddy in the early 1990s.[6]

Esten's first appearance on television was in 1988 as a contestant on the NBC game show Sale of the Century under the name of Chip Puskar. He won more than $34,000 in cash and prizes over a span of five days; he later sold his prizes.[6]

Career

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (March 2016)

In 1992, Esten made his debut on Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the fourth series and "won" the episode. He subsequently appeared in more episodes later the same year when the show did a run in New York City. At the time, the show needed a second specialist improvisational singer to fill in for Mike McShane.

Esten made his final appearance in the UK edition in 1994 before moving back to the US. Although appearing on stage and screen thereafter, his 1999 return to Whose Line Is It Anyway? — in the show's American format with Drew Carey as host — established him as a regular "fourth contestant" on the show. Due to his singing abilities, he was often paired with series regular Wayne Brady on musical games. Although he did not return as a regular when the show was revived in 2013 and only appeared as a special guest during the 13th and 14th seasons (as he was one of the main cast members of Nashville), he eventually returned as a fourth seater in season 15.

Other comedy work

Following his return to Whose Line Is It Anyway, Esten made a guest appearance as himself with fellow regular cast members from the show Wayne Brady, Greg Proops and Brad Sherwood on The Drew Carey Show. In 2003, he hosted a semi-scripted semi-improvised comedy mini series called On the Spot. Between 2004–06, he was a member of the touring group Improv All-Stars[7][8] and recurring cast member on Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.

In 2011, he was a regular on Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza on GSN. Esten and fellow former Whose Line Is It Anyway stars Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles and Jeff Davis regularly teamed up and tour around the country doing live improv under the name Whose Live Anyway?. In April 2014, Esten ceased work with Whose Live Anyway? due to his role in Nashville, and was replaced by Joel Murray.^{[citation needed]}

Film appearances

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (March 2016)

In 2001, Esten appeared in Billy Crystal's TV movie 61* as Kevin Maris, the son of legendary New York Yankees slugger Roger Maris. He had small roles in three Kevin Costner movies, The Postman, Thirteen Days as downed U-2 pilot Major Rudolf Anderson, and Swing Vote.

Esten also starred in a public service video, Riding Straight, produced for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's curriculum, Motorcycle Rider Course: Riding and Street Skills (MRC:RSS), in which he portrayed a surfer dude, a snuff-dipping hick, and a concerned friend in a bar.

Television

Esten has appeared as a guest star in various TV series, including Married... with Children, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, ER, NCIS: Los Angeles, Jessie, The Mentalist, and The Office.[9]

From 2012 to 2018 he was part of the main cast of Nashville, starring as Deacon Claybourne. He has also contributed to the soundtracks as both a singer and songwriter.[10] He co-wrote "I Know How to Love You Now" with Deana Carter, which was featured in the season 3 premiere.

In 2013, Esten appeared as a celebrity contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $500,000 for his charity.[11]

In 2017, Esten was cast in a series of television and radio advertisements as Carl Hardee, Sr., the fictional founder of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast food chains.[12]

On July 9, 2018, it was announced that Esten was cast in a recurring role in the TNT thriller Tell Me Your Secrets. According to TVLine, "The drama follows three characters with equally disturbing backstories: Emma (played by American Horror Story‘s Lily Rabe) once faced down a dangerous killer, John (Legion‘s Hamish Linklater) is a former serial predator in search of redemption, and Mary (Private Practice‘s Amy Brenneman) is a grieving mother determined to find her missing daughter. Per the synopsis, 'As each of them is pushed to the edge, the truth about their pasts and motives grows ever murkier, blurring the lines between victim and perpetrator.'" [13]

Music

July 25, 2018, Esten was awarded the Guinness World Records title of "The most consecutive weeks to release an original digital single by a music act".[14] He was presented with the certificate following a performance of his single, Halfway Home, on NBC's TODAY show. His #EverySingleFriday project was announced via his Twitter page July 1, 2016 and ran from July 15th of that year through July 21, 2017. Over the course of 54 weeks Esten delivered a new single each Friday, which he himself wrote or co-wrote. Artists featured throughout the project include Ashley Campbell, Colin Linden, Steve Mandile of Sixwire, Sarah Siskind, Karla Davis, and Miss Jackie Wilson.

Esten is a frequent performer on the Grand Ole Opry. His 100th performance was celebrated with his appearance on the program on July 20, 2018.

On May 15, 2019 it was announced that Esten had signed with APA's concert division for music representation. [15] He continues to tour across the U.S. and Europe, performing his original music.

Personal life

Esten is married to Patty Puskar (née Hanson),[16] whom he met in college.[3][17] They have three children. The family moved to Nashville after Esten was cast as a series regular on Nashville.[18]

Esten is national chairman for the annual Light the Night Walks, a fundraiser benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). His daughter is a leukemia survivor.[19]

Filmography

Films

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1996	Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom	Generic Cap #1 (voice)	Video game
1997	The Sleepwalker Killing	Mark Schall	TV film
	The Postman	Michael, Abby's Husband
1999	The Expendables	Ram	TV film
	Late Last Night	Beverly Hills Cop	TV film
2000	Thirteen Days	Maj. Rudolf Anderson
2001	61*	Kevin Maris ('98)	TV film
	Roots of the Cuban Missile Crisis	Major Anderson	Video documentary
2002	The Johnny Chronicles	Patrick Monroe	TV film
	Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet	Bill	"Twelve Miles to Trona" segment
2003	All Grown Up!		TV film
	Water Under the Bridge	Don
	Nobody Knows Anything!	Conner Fulton
2007	American Family	Larry Bogner
2008	1%	John Tipton
	Swing Vote	Lewis

Television

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1988	Sale of the Century	Himself/Contestant	4 episodes
1989	On the Television	various	5 episodes
1990	Scrabble	Himself/Contestant	1 episode
1992, 1994	Whose Line Is It Anyway (UK)	Performer	5 episodes
1993	Cheers	Unnamed Marine	1 episode
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Divok	Episode: "Rightful Heir"
1994	Murphy Brown	Secretary #67	1 episode
1995–1996	The Crew	Randy Anderson	Series regular
1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Dathan	Episode: "Remember"
	Diagnosis: Murder	Joe Carter	1 episode
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Ethan Press	Episode: "Stop the Presses"
1997	JAG	Lieutenant Pete 'Pistol' Ayers	1 episode
	Married... with Children	Lonnie	2 episodes
1998–2000	The Brian Benben Show	Chad Rockwell	7 episodes
1998	Instant Comedy with the Groundlings	Self	TV series
1999–2005, 2017–present	Whose Line Is It Anyway (US)	Performer	45 episodes
1999	Jesse	Tad	1 episode
	Jack & Jill	Nick Seraph	1 episode
	Providence	Ted Shannon	1 episode
2000	Party of Five	Luke	7 episodes
	My VH1 Music Awards	Self	TV special documentary
2000–2001	The Drew Carey Show	Chip / Stall for Time Player #1	2 episodes
2001	Hollywood Squares	Self	2 episodes
	The Trouble with Normal	Carson	Episode: "Unconventional Behavior"
	Improv All Stars	Self	TV special
2002	The Guardian	Mark Hanson	1 episode
	Rendez-View	Self	Episode: "Freak-a-thon"
2003	On the Spot	Himself (host)	5 episodes
	Dragnet	Carl Savitsky	1 episode
	Just Shoot Me!	Jake	1 episode
	Rocket Power	Story writer	Episode: "A Rocket X-mas"
2004–2005	Drew Carey's Green Screen Show	Recurring performer	8 episodes
2004	NYPD Blue	Tim Keating	1 episode
	Green Screen Show	Self	2 episodes
	Cold Case	John "The Hawk" Hawkins	1 episode
	The Magical Gathering	Self	TV film
2006	The Office	Josh Porter	7 episodes
2007	Help Me Help You	Willis	Episode: "Moving On"
	The Winner	Gary	Episode: "Broken Home"
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Joe Campbell	2 episodes
2007–2008	ER	Dr. Barry Grossman	4 episodes
2009–2010	Big Love	Ray Henry	11 episodes
2009	The Mentalist	Rick Bregman	1 episode
	The Cleaner	Dr. Jake Slovak	Episode: "An Ordinary Man"
	NCIS: Los Angeles	John Cole/Ethan Stanhope	1 episode
2011	Wilfred	Nick	2 episodes
	Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza	Regular performer	32 episodes
	Jessie	Morgan Ross	4 episodes
	Enlightened	Damon Manning	6 episodes
2012–2018	Nashville	Deacon Claybourne	Main role; 124 episodes
2012	Nashville: The Whole Story	Himself – Narrator	TV special
2013	Nashville: On the Record	Self	TV special
	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire		2 episodes
2014	Nashville: On the Record 2		TV special
2015	Nashville: On the Record 3		TV special
2017	CMT Music Awards	Self/Host
2020–present	Outer Banks	Ward Cameron[20]	Main role
2020	Country Music Association Awards	Self/Presenter
2021	Tell Me Your Secrets	Saul Barlow	Recurring role; 4 episodes

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Sales	Album
		US Country [21]	US [22]
2012	"Undermine" (with Hayden Panettiere)A	35	116		The Music of Nashville: Season 1 Volume 1
	"No One Will Ever Love You" (with Connie Britton)A	36	117
2013	"This Town" (with Clare Bowen)	41	—		The Music of Nashville: Season 2, Volume 1
2017	"Sanctuary" (with Lennon & Maisy)	31 [23]	—	US: 9,000[24]	The Music of Nashville: Season 5, Volume 1
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

• ^ADid not enter the Hot 100 but charted on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.

References

External links

• Charles Esten at IMDb
• Whose Live Anyway? live improv comedy show starring Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Jeff Davis touring North America

На других языках

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- [en] Charles Esten

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[ru] Истен, Чарльз

Чарльз Истен Паскар — третий (англ. Charles Esten Puskar III, род. 9 сентября 1965 (1965-09-09)), профессионально известен также как Чип Истен (англ. Chip Esten) и Чарльз Истен — американский актёр, певец и комик, наиболее известный по роли Дикона Клэйборна в телесериале «Нэшвилл».

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