Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
drama series ''
L.A. Law'',
[Biography](_blank)
from a USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Mad ...
website for ''Psych
''Psych'' is an American Detective fiction, detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday Rodriguez, James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara P ...
'' as Dr. Alan Feinstone in ''
The Dentist
''The Dentist'' is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and Charles Finch. It stars Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman and Ken Foree. It is the first installment in ''The Dentist'' film se ...
'', as retired police detective
Henry Spencer
Henry Spencer (born 1955) is a Canadian computer programmer and space enthusiast. He wrote "regex", a widely used software library for regular expressions, and co-wrote C News, a Usenet server program. He also wrote ''The Ten Commandments for C P ...
on the
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Mad ...
comedy-drama series ''
Psych
''Psych'' is an American Detective fiction, detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday Rodriguez, James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara P ...
'', and as Roger Dorn in the films ''
Major League'', ''
Major League II'', and ''
Major League: Back to the Minors''. He also appeared regularly on ''
The Resident'', ''
General Hospital'', and ''
Cuts'', and has had intermittent appearances on ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City ...
''.
Early life
Bernsen was born in
North Hollywood
North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, the eldest son of Harry Bernsen Jr., a Hollywood producer, and veteran soap actress
Jeanne Cooper, who appeared on ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City ...
''.
He graduated from
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as Beverly or as BHHS) is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school located on ...
in 1972. Bernsen is also a "double
Bruin," having received both a
BA in Theatre Arts in 1977 and an MFA in Playwriting in 1979 from the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
(UCLA).
Career
Acting
After a two-year appearance on the soap opera ''
Ryan's Hope
''Ryan's Hope'' is an American soap opera created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, airing for 13 years on ABC from July 7, 1975, to January 13, 1989. It revolves around the trials and tribulations within a large Irish-American family in ...
'',
Bernsen was cast as lawyer Arnold Becker on the
Steven Bochco
Steven Ronald Bochco Masterson (December 16, 1943 – April 1, 2018) was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, including ''Hill Street Blues'', '' L.A. Law'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Cop Rock ...
television series ''
L.A. Law'' in 1986. The series became a hit, and the role earned him
Emmy and
Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
nominations, appearances on magazine covers, and guest-starring roles on ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...
'' and ''
The Larry Sanders Show
''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. The series was created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein and aired from August 15, 1992, to May 31, 1998, on the HBO ...
''.
He remained on ''L.A. Law'' for the entire run of the show, until it ended in 1994.
Bernsen appeared with the British actor
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne (born 22 November 1958) is an English actor, producer, screenwriter, film director and theatre director. Payne is best known for portraying villains, such as Charles Rane in '' Passenger 57'', Jacob Kell in '' Highlander: End ...
in the films ''
Kounterfeit
''Kounterfeit'' is a 1996 American direct-to-video crime/thriller film starring Bruce Payne and Hilary Swank. ''Kounterfeit'' was directed by John Mallory Asher and written by David Chase, Katherine Fugate and Jay Irwin.
Plot summary
A counterfei ...
'' and ''
Aurora: Operation Intercept''. He starred as the title character, Dr. Alan Feinstone, in the horror film ''
The Dentist
''The Dentist'' is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and Charles Finch. It stars Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman and Ken Foree. It is the first installment in ''The Dentist'' film se ...
'' and its sequel. Bernsen was also cast as a ''prima donna'' third baseman, Roger Dorn, in the sports comedy ''
Major League'' and appeared in both of the film's sequels. Bernsen portrayed
John Durant on ''
General Hospital'' from September 2004 until the character was murdered in May 2006.
Bernsen played Jack Sherwood on ''
Cuts'', appeared twice on ''
Celebrity Mole'', and played a lawyer on ''
Boston Legal
''Boston Legal'' is an American legal drama and comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004 ...
''. He appeared as
Q2 on ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation''. He also had a recurring role as Captain Owen Sebring on the military drama
''
JAG'' and played a
Republican senator on two episodes of ''
The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...
''. He directed, produced, and appeared in the horror film ''
Dead Air
Dead air is an unintended period of silence that interrupts a broadcast during which no audio or video program material is transmitted.
Radio and television
Dead air occurs in radio broadcasting when no audio program is transmitted for an exten ...
''. Bernsen also co-starred in
USA's ''
Psych
''Psych'' is an American Detective fiction, detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday Rodriguez, James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara P ...
'', playing the role of
Henry Spencer
Henry Spencer (born 1955) is a Canadian computer programmer and space enthusiast. He wrote "regex", a widely used software library for regular expressions, and co-wrote C News, a Usenet server program. He also wrote ''The Ten Commandments for C P ...
, the father of the main character,
Shawn Spencer
Shawn Spencer is a fictional character and main protagonist on the American television comedy-drama ''Psych'' played by American actor James Roday Rodriguez. Taking advantage of his eidetic memory and keen observational skills, he poses as a p ...
(
James Roday). In the film ''
Rust
Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH), ...
'', Bernsen plays a former minister who returns to his hometown.

Bernsen appeared in ''
25 Hill
''25 Hill'' is a 2011 drama film about the All-American Soap Box Derby, the championships of which are held each July in Akron, Ohio, written and directed by Corbin Bernsen. It stars Nathan Gamble, Corbin Bernsen, Maureen Flannigan, and Ralph Wait ...
'', a film he produced, directed and wrote, which is centered on the
All-American Soap Box Derby
The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1933. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, ...
, and is planning a baseball movie about
zombies
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in which ...
, called ''Three Strikes, You're Dead''.
He also appeared as a guest star in ''
Switched at Birth'', the
ABC Family
The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...
television series, in season 1, episode 22 (2012), "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time." Bernsen currently appears as Kyle Nevin on the television series ''
The Resident''.
Producing
Bernsen was president and co-owner of
Public Media Works, a
new media
New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...
company that develops entertainment for targeted
fan bases. He directed and starred in ''Carpool Guy'', the company's first film; it was targeted at
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
fans and released on DVD in 2005.
Bernsen then went on to form
Team Cherokee Productions
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...
. According to the book ''
One Red Paperclip'', in June 2006, Bernsen traded a role in the film ''
Donna on Demand'' to Kyle MacDonald for a snow globe of the band
KISS
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
. It was this role that MacDonald eventually traded for a two-story farmhouse.
In recent years, Bernsen focused on stories that explore aspects of faith in today's world and how that can contribute to, but also tends to divide our common humanity. His first such film was ''Rust'', released in 2010 by
Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...
. Bernsen, along with producing partner
Chris Aronoff, formed
Home Theater Films
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it ...
, an independent
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, a ...
that develops, produces, and markets films and television shows. ''25 Hill,'' the company's first title, was released in July 2012. This was followed by ''3 Day Test'' (2012), ''Beyond the Heavens'' (2013), and ''Life with Dog'' (2017). Their upcoming film ''Mary 4 Mayor'' is due out in the fall of 2020.
Writing
In October 2015, the Pelican Book Group released Bernsen's
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to ...
. The book, ''Rust: the Novel'', is an adaptation of Bernsen's 2010 feature film, ''Rust'', in which he played the main character and served as writer and director. Bernsen and his wife, Amanda Pays, have co-authored two books, ''Change Houses, Not Spouses'' and ''Open House: Reinventing Space for Simple Living'', a coffee table book featuring remodeling and design ideas they have learned from remodeling their own homes.
Personal life
Bernsen was married to Brenda Cooper from 1983 to 1987. Bernsen has been married to British actress
Amanda Pays
Amanda Pays (born 6 June 1959) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Theora Jones in the film and television series '' Max Headroom'' and as Christina "Tina" McGee in ''The Flash'' and reprised her role in the 2014 series of t ...
since 1988. They have five sons: Oliver, Angus, Bunsen, Henry and Finley. Pays and Bernsen moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York in 2019 where he now focuses on film and television projects that can be shot locally.
Bernsen has one of the largest
snow globe
A snow globe (also called a waterglobe, snowstorm, or snowdome) is a transparent sphere, traditionally made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a town, neighborhood, landscape or figure. The sph ...
collections in the world, with 9,000 globes.
[Bernsen cited this number in an interview on '' Marie'' by ]Marie Osmond
Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television host, and a member of the show business family the Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a country and pop ...
on January 21, 2013.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernsen, Corbin
1954 births
Male actors from Los Angeles
American male film actors
American game show hosts
American male soap opera actors
American male television actors
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
UCLA Film School alumni
People from North Hollywood, Los Angeles