David Paul Boreanaz (; born May 16, 1969) is an American actor, television producer, and director known for playing the roles of vampire-turned-private investigator Angel on The WB/UPN Buffy the Vampire Slayer supernatural drama (1997–2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999–2004); FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, a homicide investigator, on the Fox television crime procedural comedy-drama series Bones (2005–2017); and United States Navy SEAL Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes in the CBS/Paramount+ military drama series SEAL Team (2017–present).
Early life
David Paul Boreanaz was born in Buffalo, New York, where his father, Dave Roberts (born David Thomas Boreanaz), was working as a weather forecaster and children's show (Rocketship 7) host as Dave Thomas, for ABC affiliate WKBW-TV. His mother, Patti Boreanaz, was a travel agent. He has two older siblings, Bo and Beth. He is of Italian and Slovene descent on his father's side (the surname Boreanaz is of Slovene origin). His mother is of half Slovak and part Irish, German, French, and Swiss descent.
When Boreanaz was seven years old, the family moved to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area after his father took a job at WPVI-TV, the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia. Boreanaz was raised Catholic and attended Rosemont School of the Holy Child at Rosemont, Pennsylvania and then high school at Malvern Preparatory School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he was a keen athlete and played on the school football team. He graduated from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, in 1991 with a degree in cinema and photography.
Career
Boreanaz moved to Los Angeles with a degree in filmmaking, but found, like many other struggling actors, gaining work initially difficult. Boreanaz slept on a couch at his sister's place, visiting film sets and doing production assistant work to learn more about the industry in which he hoped to be more involved. He was a background extra in the 1993 film Aspen Extreme as a fan waving at skiers. He also prepared props for Best of the Best II (also released in 1993), which stars Eric Roberts, where he also had a small uncredited role; Boreanaz is seen briefly standing to the left, as the characters Tommy Lee and Alex enter a nightclub (which is a front for an illegal fighting ring).
Boreanaz's first paid acting appearance was a 1993 guest spot on the American sitcom Married... with Children, as Kelly's unfaithful biker boyfriend, who gets pummeled by her father, Al. He was cast in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after being suggested for the role to Marti Noxon by one of Boreanaz's neighbors, after he was seen walking his dog past their house on a regular basis. In the cult series, he played the mysterious Angel, a vampire cursed by Romani people with a soul as punishment for his murdering a Romani girl, initially resulting in debilitating remorse and then a life of contrition. The show became enormously successful and Boreanaz starred in a spin-off series, Angel, which gave the character a chance to evolve and concentrated on Angel's battle for redemption for the numerous murders he committed before he regained his soul. He appeared on Buffy from 1997 to 1999, when he began starring in Angel, which ran until 2004, with a recurring role on Buffy after his departure. He also appeared in the film Macabre Pair of Shorts, wherein he plays a vampire's victim (in the segment "MPS").
Boreanaz's only starring role in a major theatrical film was in 2001's slasher horror film Valentine, alongside Denise Richards and Katherine Heigl. In 2002, he had a supporting role in the film I'm with Lucy. In 2003, he appeared in the music video for singer Dido's hit single "White Flag", and was the voice of Leon (Squall Leonhart) in the video game Kingdom Hearts, but did not reprise his role in the sequel.
In 2005, Boreanaz began starring opposite Emily Deschanel on the primetime television series Bones. He also appeared in These Girls, a Canadian film in which he played a biker; the film received a limited theatrical release in Canada in March 2006, after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival. He has also starred in the independent films Mr. Fix It and Suffering Man's Charity (released on DVD as Ghost Writer), as well as the direct-to-DVD sequel The Crow: Wicked Prayer in which he starred alongside Tara Reid. In 2006, he starred in another DVD release, The Hard Easy, which also starred Steve Buscemi, Vera Farmiga, and Nick Lachey.