Shaun Cassidy

Biography

Shaun was born on September 27, 1958 and travelled with his parents when he was only six months old while they were doing shows. His parents were stage and screen actors Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy whom were both heavily involved in the business. When he was a pre-teen, he started a band called "Every Mothers Dream" and when his mother and half-brother, David Cassidy, were both starring in a musical TV sitcom called "The Partridge Family" (1970), he asked his mom to put him in some episodes. However, she refused as she wanted to encourage him to concentrate on his schooling. He did appear as part of the chorus in many muscial theatre productions. In 1972, he then sang in a punk rock band called "The Longfellow" which was short-lived, as his parents transferred him to a private school in Beverly Hills.

He had a chance to star with his mother as James Preston in a summer stock stage musical production of "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" to get a taste of acting. During his grad year, he decided to make some records in Germany and had a hit there called "Morning Girl" and appeared in TV shows with his hit there as well as in Australia. Then, in late 1976, he signed up with agent Ruth Aarons and played Christopher Wentworth Hewlitt in a short independent film called Born of Water (1976) and successfully auditioned for the role of Joe Hardy in "The Hardy Boys Mysteries" (1977). On an episode of the show, he sang some numbers as his character in a local disco, which led to a number of hit 45s and albums.

In the 80s, he made acting a primarily focus and after a couple of small films decided to learn the true craft of acting and pursued it on stage by starring in such productions like "Mass Appeal", "The Subject Was Roses", "Diary of a Hunger Strike", "Dangerous Music", "Pass/Fail" and "Blood Brothers" with Petula Clark and his half-brother David Cassidy - in their first show together. After a few more TV roles, he left acting to produce and write TV shows and films, including the short-lived but well-acclaimed "American Gothic" (1995).