Michael Gross is best known for his portrayal of father Steven Keaton on the award-winning television show Family Ties. He has had recurring roles on The Drew Carey Show and ER. Gross also made appearances on the original Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Outer Limits, Ally McBeal, CSI: New York, How I Met Your Mother, Boston Legal and Medium.
Gross has appeared in numerous made-for-television movies including The FBI Murders, Right to Die with Raquel Welch, F.D.R., The Last Year with Eileen Heckert and Jason Robards, Manhunt in the Dakotas with Rod Steiger, and Little Gloria...Happy at Last with Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis. Most recently he appeared in the HBO special Mrs. Harris alongside Annette Benning and Ben Kingsley.
Some of Gross' big screen debuts include the feature film Tremors and it's many sequels. He received the Video Premiere Award for Best Actor in Tremors III. Gross appeared in Just Tell Me What You Want, played opposite Lily Tomlin in Big Business, and worked with Lucas Haas in the award-winning Alan and Naomi. Some of his direct-to-video releases, include Sometimes They Come Back Again with Hillary Swank, Ground Control with Keifer Sutherland, and True Heart with Kirsten Dunst. Gross also had roles in the independent features, An American in China and Broken Windows.
Born and raised in the Midwest, Gross spent most of his time in Chicago and rural Iowa. He graduated with a B.A. in Speech and Theatre from the University of Illinois and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from the School of Drama at Yale University.
In 1973 Gross began his regional theatre work at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He also worked with The Guthrie Theater, The Yale Repertory Theater, Baltimore's Center Stage, the Indiana Repertory Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum where he won a Drama Logue Award for the west-coast premiere of The Real Thing.
Gross received a Drama Desk nomination for the Broadway premiere of Bent and an Obie Award for his work in the off-Broadway production of No End to Blame.
Recently Gross appeared at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the world premiere of Buffalo Gal, and in Ancestral Voices. He worked with Royal Shakespeare Company founder Sir Peter Hall in a production of Romeo and Juliet and appeared in the Broadway production of Macbeth. Gross took part in the Midwest premier of Art at Chicago's Royal George Theatre, the U.S. premiere of Money and Friends at Los Angeles' Doolittle Theatre, and Love Letters in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In 1984, Gross married casting director Elza Bergeron. They have two children, Theodore and Katharine as well as two grandchildren, Nicholas and Allison. Gross and his wife divide their time between homes in Southern California, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Manhattan's Greenwich Village.
In his spare time Gross enjoys reading, writing, yoga and collecting Santa Fe dining car china, silver and other memorabilia. He and his wife are also part owners of the Santa Fe Southern Railway and enjoy riding trains together. Gross also is extremely active in such charitable organizations as World Vision, animal welfare, anti-drug programs, responsible gun ownership and AIDS research. He received the American Hero Award for his charitable activities and is largely active in Futures For Children, a sponsorship and self-help program working with Southwestern Native American Tribes. Gross and his wife are also Foundation Board members of the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Chicago, Illinois
DATE OF BIRTH: June 21, 1947
