Ted Danson

Ted Danson (born Edward Bridge Danson III) is an Emmy-winning actor best known for playing Sam Malone on Cheers and starring on The Good Place, Becker and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Danson was born in San Diego, and raised in Arizona. He attended Stanford University before transferring to Carnegie Mellon University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in drama in 1972.

Danson began his career with guest roles on shows like Benson and Magnum, P.I. before landing the lead role on Cheers in 1982. The series became one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, earning him two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. After Cheers ended in 1993, he led the CBS sitcom Becker from 1998 to 2004 and later joined CSI and its spinoffs. He earned critical acclaim for his role as Michael on NBC’s The Good Place, which aired from 2016 to 2020.

His film credits include Three Men and a Baby (1987), Body Heat (1981) and Made in America (1993). He also appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm as a fictionalized version of himself. Danson is known for his environmental activism and co-authored the book Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them (2011).

Danson was married to Randall “Randy” Gosch from 1970 to 1975 and to producer Casey Coates from 1977 to 1993. He shares two daughters with Coates, including actress Kate Danson (born in 1979). He went on to wed actress Mary Steenburgen in 1995.