John Stamos

John Phillip Stamos ( STAY-mohss; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera General Hospital, for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 10th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1983. He is known for his work in television, especially in his starring role as Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. Since the show's finale in 1995, Stamos has appeared in numerous TV films and series.

From 2005 to 2009, Stamos had a starring role on the NBC medical drama ER as Dr. Tony Gates. After Broadway stints in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Cabaret, Stamos began playing the role of Albert Peterson in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie, which he starred in from October 2009 to January 2010. He then played Senator Joseph Cantwell in a Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's play The Best Man from July to September 2012, replacing Eric McCormack.

From September 2015 to 2016, Stamos starred as the lead character in the Fox sitcom Grandfathered. He executive produced the Netflix series Fuller House, in which he reprised the role of Jesse Katsopolis. He also starred in Never Too Young to Die (1986), Born to Ride (1991), and as Dr. Nicky in the Lifetime/Netflix psychological thriller You.

Early life

John Stamos was born on August 19, 1963, in Cypress, California, to William "Bill" Stamos, a second-generation Greek-American restaurateur originating from the village of Kakouri in Arcadia and Loretta (née Phillips). His original family surname is Stamatopoulos (Greek: Σταματόπουλος).

In his youth, Stamos worked for his father's restaurants, and as a teenager, had a job flipping burgers in the Orange County area. He attended John F. Kennedy High School and played in the marching band there. At 15, he attended his first Beach Boys concert; a huge fan, he would later tour with the band. His parents were supportive of his aspiration to be an actor, and although he planned to enroll at Cypress College for the 1981 term, he skipped his first semester to focus on launching a career as an actor—with his father's blessing. After just three weeks, he landed his first role on General Hospital.

Acting career

1982–1986: Early career

Stamos began his acting career with the role of Blackie Parrish on the soap opera General Hospital in late January 1982, for which he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 10th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1983. That April, he went on to the lead role in the short-lived CBS sitcom Dreams, in which he played Gino Minnelli, an aspiring musician in a band of the same name. Later, he was a series regular on the sitcom You Again? (1986) with Jack Klugman. In 1986, Stamos starred in his first film Never Too Young to Die, an action spy film also starring Kiss bassist Gene Simmons. Though intended to be a "young James Bond" film (and even starred former Bond actor George Lazenby as Drew Stargrove, the father of Stamos' character Lance Stargrove), the movie was a critical and commercial flop.

1987–1995: Full House

In the late 1980s, ABC's Full House gradually became a hit, and the show solidified Stamos's career. He asked that his character's last name be changed from Cochran to Katsopolis to highlight his Greek heritage, according to show creator and executive producer Jeff Franklin. He played one of the show's protagonists, Jesse, who lives with his brother-in-law, Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), whose deceased wife Pam Tanner (Christine Houser) was Jesse's older sister. Danny's best friend, Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier), also lives in the house with them. The three help each other raise Danny's three young daughters D.J. (Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and Michelle Tanner (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). Jesse is known to be the "bad boy" at first until he falls in love with and marries Rebecca Donaldson (Lori Loughlin) and has twin boys, Nicky and Alex Katsopolis (Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit). In 1995, after eight seasons, the series came to an end. Stamos has since maintained close relationships with co-stars Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, Lori Loughlin, Jodie Sweetin, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Andrea Barber, and Candace Cameron Bure.

1996–2009: Later career

Stamos has appeared in numerous made-for-television films, stage productions, television series, and commercials. He had starring roles in the television series Thieves (2001) and Jake in Progress (2005). Both shows ran for several episodes before cancellation. In 2003, Stamos guest-starred on Friends, appearing in the season nine episode, "The One with the Donor", playing Zack, a man who went to Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Monica Gellar (Courteney Cox)'s apartment for dinner, not knowing he was actually being interviewed to be a sperm donor. Stamos was a guest star in a first-season episode of MTV's The Andy Milonakis Show (2005), playing himself. He took part in only one skit, which featured him in a tree, having rabies, and being put down by another character. In the A&E television movie Wedding Wars (2006), he starred as Shel Grandy, a gay wedding planner. He stated that his performance reflected his support for same-sex marriages.

He has made several voice acting appearances such as in the MTV animated series Clone High in the 2003 episode, "Changes: The Big Prom: The Sex Romp: The Season Finale", where he played himself, and as the What's Global Warming Penguin in Bob Saget's 2007 parody film Farce of the Penguins. In 2005, Stamos guest-starred in two episodes in season 12 of ER as paramedic-turned-intern Tony Gates. In 2006, at the start of ER's thirteenth season, he joined the cast as a series regular. In February 2008, Stamos appeared in the television adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun. In August 2008, he was the roastmaster for the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget.

2010–present: Grandfathered, Fuller House, and other ventures

On June 8, 2010, it was announced that Stamos would portray Carl Howell, a new love interest for Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), in season two of the television show Glee. In 2011, Stamos guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and was featured in a CollegeHumor video with Bob Saget. Stamos also guest-starred as himself on Two and a Half Men as Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen)'s old friend, who was interested in buying the house until he found out that the place was Charlie's.

Since 2011, Stamos has appeared in a series of commercials for Dannon's Greek yogurt brand Oikos; including his first Super Bowl commercial, which was aired during Super Bowl 2012. In February 2012, it was reported that Stamos would take on one of the lead roles on the new Fox drama Little Brother. The series was created by Everybody Loves Raymond writer Mike Royce, and centers around a man who finds out that he has a long-lost half-brother.

In March 2013, Stamos signed on in a recurring role on the USA Network drama Necessary Roughness, during season three. He played Connor McClane, the head of a sports and entertainment management company that is interested in hiring Dani Santino (Callie Thorne). Stamos was to play the lead role in ABC's soap opera Members Only, but the network decided not to air the show.

In April 2015, Stamos announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that the streaming service Netflix would be picking up Full House for a 13-episode sequel, titled Fuller House, to start airing on February 26, 2016. In September, he began leading the cast of the Fox sitcom Grandfathered, also starring Josh Peck, Christina Milian, and Paget Brewster. In 2016, Stamos appeared in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, and joined the Fox black comedy series Scream Queens in its second season, as series regular Dr. Brock Holt.

In 2018, Stamos starred in Lifetime's television adaptation of You as Dr. Nicky, which premiered on September 9, 2018. On June 24, 2019, it was confirmed that Stamos would reprise his role as Dr. Nicky in the second season, by which point the series had been announced to move to Netflix. The second season was released on December 26, 2019.

In 2021, Stamos hosted a series of episodes on the podcast The Grand Scheme entitled Snatching Sinatra, in which he interviewed personal friend Barry Keenan about his 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. The following year, Keenan notified Stamos shortly before committing suicide due to health issues at age 82. Stamos then announced Keenan's death to the world on Instagram.

In 2022, Stamos recurred in Spidey and His Amazing Friends where he voiced Iron Man.