Peter Dobson

While "Sing" didn't enjoy the success of its similarly-themed predecessor "Fame," Dobson's co-starring role in the film served as a good career springboard. He was next featured in the gritty drama "Last Exit to Brooklyn" (1989), and began to rack up the television credits that would make him such a familiar face to audiences, guesting in an episode of "Miami Vice" (NBC, 1989), taking a supporting role in the CBS TV-movie "So Proudly We Hail" (1990) and playing the ill-fated police detective who is a catalyst to the primary storyline with a two-episode recurring role on the Fox crime drama "DEA." Next up for the actor was a stint on the CBS sitcom Lenny (1990-91), playing the brother of the titular blue collar dad. Dobson returned to the big screen in 1991 with supporting roles in the features "The Marrying Man" and "Undertow," and the following year appeared as one of a group of young runaways in the harrowing feature "Where the Day Takes You."Starring in the critically acclaimed but short-lived 1993 sitcom "Johnny Bago," Dobson played a small-town hood on the lam. More clumsy than cunning, the titular fugitive ran into so many mishaps that the show was referred to by some as "Parker Lewis Can't Win." The actor was showcased to good effect in the role, and made his character sympathetic as well as a clown. In 1994, Dobson was featured with a recurring role on the Fox drama "Party of Five" and played a young Elvis Presley in the Academy Award favorite "Forrest Gump." Two years later he again took on a legend, playing Joe DiMaggio in the HBO biopic "Norma Jean & Marilyn" (1996). A co-starring turn opposite Michael J Fox in the 1996 thriller "The Frighteners" was a highly visible part for the actor, who was featured that same year as a local slickster who seeks to con a miserly retired baseball player out of his amassed savings in the independent comedy "The Big Squeeze." 1997 saw the actor take on the role of a successful gay actor in the poignant episodic drama "Quiet Days in Hollywood," while he joined a group of men whose good fortune leads to the untimely death of one in "The Good Life."Dobson returned to regular series work, playing a libidinous owner of a dating service who is competitive with his partner/brother in UPN's "Head Over Heels" (1997). While the show had a rocky run, the actor rebounded with a cameo in the HBO biopic "Lansky" and a memorable featured turn as a slow-witted lawman in the 2000 black comedy "Drowning Mona." Starring on the USA Network series "Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family" (2000), Dobson found the perfect vehicle for his dashing looks and unaffected comedic presence. Playing the ridiculously dedicated and oddly admirable FBI caseworker and father of two who involves his family in his operatives, Dobson played the wacky agent with real affection, and his performance made it seem that the part of Danny Arno was tailor made. By the end of 2000, it was reported that Dobson and collaborator Luca Palanca's cheeky 1999 Sundance-screened short "Choose Life," a fantastical music video-set celebration of the 1980s, was in development as a feature with Jason Priestly at the helm.