Denis Leary

Biography

Denis Leary was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to two Catholic immigrants from Ireland. At Emerson College Leary founded the Emerson Comedy Workshop. He remained at Emerson in an instructional capacity, teaching comedy writing for five years after graduating.

At that time he was working in the Boston comedy scene, which he credits with helping him develop his tough-guy stage persona. In the 1990s he was featured in a number of series on MTV including "Remote Control" (MTV, 1987-1990), as well as MTV ads for the channel.

In 1993 he released his first comedy album "No Cure for Cancer," and four years later his follow-up "Lock 'n' Load." Leary appeared in numerous films including "The Sandlot" (1993), "Judgment Night" (1993), "Natural Born Killers" (1994), "The Ref" (1994), "Operation Dumbo Drop" (1995), "Small Soldiers" (1998), and "True Crime" (1999).

In 2004 Leary co-created and starred in the series "Rescue Me, (FX, 2004-2011) which focused on the life and times of New York City firefighters. Leary also produced, wrote, and co-created the series "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" (FX, 2015-16).

Leary also did a significant amount of voice-over work, in animated films like "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Ice Age" (2002), "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (2009), " Ice Age: Continental Drift" (2012).