Dennis Christopher Carrelli (born December 2, 1950) is an American former actor whose film credits include Breaking Away (1979), Fade to Black (1980), Chariots of Fire (1981), It (1990), and Django Unchained (2012).

Early life

Dennis Christopher Carrelli, the youngest of four children, was born in Philadelphia on December 2, 1950, to Vincent Albert Carrelli, an insurance salesman, and the former Anna Marie Doogan. His parents married in 1936. He had two brothers, Vincent Carrelli Jr. (a talent manager who later went by the name Vince Cannon) and Edward Carrelli, and one sister, Patricia Kratzinger Laros. Christopher graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in 1968. He attended Temple University and dropped out in 1969.

Career

In 1967, Christopher made a guest appearance on The Time Tunnel in the episode "Merlin the Magician" (S1E27). A chance encounter with Federico Fellini, who was filming in Rome at the time, led to the director casting him as a hippie in the film Roma (1972). After that, Christopher worked as an assistant to the fashion designer Halston. Christopher's breakthrough role was as Dave Stohler in the coming-of-age classic Breaking Away (1979). His performance won him the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Youth in Film Award for Best Juvenile Actor in a Motion Picture, as well as garnering a Golden Globe nomination. Christopher's other roles include American track star Charlie Paddock in Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as tragic film-buff psychopath Eric Binford in Fade to Black (1980), Damon in The Falling (1985), Nathan Flowers in A Sinful Life (1989) and Leech in Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994). Television roles include "Jack of All Trades" in the Profiler TV series, Eddie Kaspbrak in Stephen King's It (1990), Desmond Floyd in Jake Speed (1986) and in the HBO series Deadwood. Christopher guest starred in two Star Trek episodes: the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Search (Part II)" and the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Detained". He guest-starred as the demon-sorcerer Cyvus Vail in three episodes of Angel. He reunited with his Breaking Away "father" Paul Dooley, playing Dooley's son for a third time, in a 2003 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The two had first played father and son in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978). In December 2006, he played Dr. Martin Ruber in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room. Christopher was cast as Leonide Moguy in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012). He learned through his agent that the screenplay had been re-written to accommodate him. Furthermore, Tarantino later told Christopher that he had seen every one of his films the week that they were released, even Dead Women in Lingerie (which Christopher considers his worst). Production of the film made a very positive impact on Christopher, who stated, "...a lot of my idea of happiness came from working on this film...".

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre