Sebastian Siegel (born March 6, 1974) is a British-American film and television actor. He played "Nick", the investor who looses his wife and kids, in Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, and "Erik", the vigilante "other" on Lost.^[1]

[edit] Early life

Siegel was born in Oxford, England, and grew up visiting his father part-time on Oahu, Hawaii. His parents divorced when he was two and his mother later moved to San Antonio, Texas and remarried. His father Lee Siegel, is professor of comparative and Indian religions, who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Love in a Dead Language.

His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Siegel's maternal grandfather, Leonard Thompson, was a lifelong opponent of apartheid, whose works on South Africa received praise from activists, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu.^[2]

[edit] Acting career

Siegel began studying theatre at seven years, won the drama prize at Kent School, where Ted Danson, Treat Williams and Seth MacFarlane also studied, and was accepted to the University of Hawaii at fifteen to study drama after auditing classes with high marks the prior summer. He has worked with Alfre Woodard, Taraji Henson, Kathy Bates, Doug Liman, Tyler Perry, Bill Condon^[1] and was mentored by James Whitmore. He studies with Sandra Caruso.

In 2008 and 2009 he played primarily bearded character roles: a man who lost his family and hope in The Family That Preys, Judas Iscariot in Color of the Cross: Resurrection, and a vigilant, philosophical forest dweller, one of the "Others", in Lost.^[1]

[edit] Career and ideas

Siegel is an autodidact. He often cites the writings of Ken Wilber, mythologist Joseph Campbell^[3] and other authors, and mentor, actor James Whitmore,^[4] whose fourth wife and widow, Noreen, is Siegel's grandmother. He was influenced early on by the writings of Alan Watts, and as a boy by the Indian comics on Ganesha and Rama. In 1983, he met Joseph Campbell on Oahu, Hawaii.

Although he was in theatre throughout school and never played an organized sport, Siegel is widely recognized for having appeared on over one hundred magazine covers, including Men's Fitness and Iron Man.^[1] He is a high-intensity athlete having cited his physicality as "strictly a byproduct of the love for pushing physical limits, igniting emotional highs and disciplining mental will".^[5] He lived briefly in a Pontiac Bonneville ^[6] before he was photographed for his first magazine cover, Men's Fitness, which appeared on newsstands in April 2000.^[1]

[edit] Other media

Siegel has appeared on billboards in Los Angeles and Times Square, and in ads by photographers David La Chapelle and Steven Meisel.^[7] He played the front man and rapped the lyrics for the Green Tea Partay parody hit music video, directed by Marc Klasfeld, which was the most viewed video in a single day in the history of You Tube.^[8] He has been a guest several times on ABC's Soap Talk, served as a consultant for the US DHHS, published in the medical journal Consultant, has spoken at the American Diabetes Association,^[9] and blogs for The Huffington Post.^[10]

He produced and directed two commercials and the documentary feature film, Love, Sex & Religion, which includes interviews with: John Daly, James Whitmore, Robert Evans, Karl Kani, Lorenzo Lamas, Lee Siegel, Billy Davis, Shaana Diya, Mano Hanes, ambassador Jose Luis Dicenta, movie critic Anderson Jones, a pastor, an inmate in Belmarsh high security prison, and an Olympic Gold medalist among others.^[11]

[edit] Philanthropy

Siegel is an active supporter of The Smile Train, founded by Charles Wang, and Best Buddies International,^[12] founded by Anthony Shriver.

Sebastian Siegel at Best Buddies in Hyannis Port

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• IMDb
• Official website
• Movie clips
• WireImage
• Flickr