Robert Sean Leonard Movies and Career Information

Robert Sean Leonard (born February 28, 1969) is an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. James Wilson on the TV series House and for his role as Neil Perry in the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society. Leonard was born Robert Lawrence Leonard in Westwood, New Jersey, the son of Joyce P. (née Peterson), a nurse, and Robert Howard Leonard, a Spanish teacher. He grew up in Ridgewood, where he attended Ridgewood High School before moving on to Fordham University and later Columbia University School of General Studies and Continuing Education (GS). Because he shares his birth name with another actor, he uses the name of his brother Sean for his Screen Actors Guild membership. Leonard received rave reviews for his role in the 1997, Christopher Reeve-directed film, In the Gloaming. Entertainment Weekly said that, in the film, Leonard "does a first-rate job of juggling Danny's mixture of despair, neediness, and mordant jokiness." He is a three-time Tony Award nominee (1993, 2001 and 2003), winning in 2001 (Best Actor - Featured Play) for his role as A. E. Housman in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love. He also played Romeo Off Broadway in Romeo and Juliet at the Riverside Shakespeare