Jon Cryer
Jon Cryer

Jonathan Niven Cryer lahir pada 16 April 1965 di New York City, New York. Ibunya, Gretchen Kiger (lahir 1935), adalah seorang penulis naskah, penulis lagu, aktris, dan penyanyi. Ayahnya, Donald David Cryer (lahir 1936), adalah seorang aktor dan penyanyi yang awalnya belajar untuk menjadi seorang pendeta. Kakek paternal Cryer, Rev. Donald W. Cryer (1909-1988), adalah seorang pendeta Metodis terkenal. Dia memiliki dua saudara perempuan, Robin dan Shelly.

Ketika Cryer berusia dua belas tahun, dia memutuskan bahwa dia ingin menjadi seorang aktor. Ketika ibunya mendengar hal ini, dia berpikir dia seharusnya memiliki rencana cadangan, dan bercanda: "Pekerjaan pipa adalah karier yang cukup bagus." Cryer menghadiri Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center selama beberapa musim panas sebagai remaja, dan lulus dari Bronx High School of Science pada tahun 1983. Dia sekelas dengan penulis naskah dan sutradara film Boaz Yakin. Untuk "kekecewaan besar" ibunya, Cryer melewatkan perguruan tinggi dan pergi ke Royal Academy of Dramatic Art di London, Inggris untuk kursus singkat musim panas dalam Shakespeare.

Upaya akting profesional pertama Cryer adalah sebagai David dalam drama Broadway Torch Song Trilogy, menggantikan Matthew Broderick, yang "sangat mirip dengannya." Cryer kemudian menjadi pengganti dan pengganti Broderick dalam Brighton Beach Memoirs karya Neil Simon pada tahun 1989.

Pada usia 19 tahun, Cryer tampil dalam film komedi romantis tahun 1984 No Small Affair, dalam peran utama sebagai Charles Cummings, setelah produksi asli dengan Matthew Broderick dihentikan karena serangan jantung oleh sutradara Martin Ritt. Dia kemudian memiliki peran kecil dalam film dan film televisi, dan dia mencapai kesuksesan sebagai Phil "Duckie" Dempster dalam film yang ditulis oleh John Hughes, Pretty in Pink. Dalam wawancara dengan Daily News, ibu Cryer mengatakan bahwa setelah Pretty in Pink, dia mulai menerima telepon dari gadis remaja dari seluruh dunia, yang akan meninggalkan pesan histeris dan cekikikan di mesin penjawabnya. Pada tahun 1989, dia mendapatkan peran utama dalam serial komedi TV The Famous Teddy Z. Penampilannya mendapat ulasan buruk dan acara itu dibatalkan setelah musim pertama.

Setahun kemudian, dia bermain bersama Charlie Sheen dalam komedi Jim Abrahams Hot Shots!, yang diterima dengan sangat positif. Cryer sering dikaitkan dengan Brat Pack. Dalam wawancara Maret 2009 di Anytime with Bob Kushell, Cryer menyatakan bahwa dia telah mengikuti audisi untuk St. Elmo's Fire tetapi tidak dipilih untuk peran. Pada tahun 1993, dia diminta untuk mengikuti audisi untuk peran Chandler Bing di Friends, saat sedang melakukan sebuah pertunjukan di London. Pembacaannya direkam oleh agen casting Inggris tetapi pita tersebut gagal tiba di AS sebelum jaringan membuat keputusan akhirnya.

Pada tahun 1995, dia di-cast sebagai Bob dalam sitkom Partners, yang, seperti acara sebelumnya The Famous Teddy Z, dibatalkan setelah musim pertamanya. Dalam wawancara dengan Time Out New York, dia menyatakan, "Hei, setiap acara yang saya ikuti gagal. Pikirkan ini: George Clooney pernah dalam 28 pilot, atau sesuatu. Itu tidak berarti apa-apa." Setelah menjadi bintang tamu di acara seperti Dharma & Greg dan The Outer Limits, dia berhasil menulis dan memproduksi film, Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five. Film ini tayang perdana pada tahun 1998 di Festival Film Los Angeles dan mendapat ulasan positif dari para kritikus. Leonard Maltin dari Playboy Magazine menyebutnya "angin segar." Pada tahun yang sama, Cryer mendapat peran dalam serial TV lainnya, sitkom Fox Getting Personal, bersama Vivica A. Fox dan Duane Martin. Meskipun acara itu diambil untuk musim kedua setelah penayangan singkat musim semi, acara itu dibatalkan pada musim gugur itu, setelah menayangkan total 17 episode. Pada tahun 2000, dia di-cast sebagai pemeran utama dalam serial komedi bernama The Trouble With Normal. Untuk ketiga kalinya, Cryer berperan dalam sebuah acara yang dibatalkan setelah musim pertamanya.

Cryer's long run of unsuccessful TV projects finally ended three years later. Against the wishes of CBS executives (who were aware of his past failures) and due to a friendship with Charlie Sheen, he was cast in 2003 to portray Alan Harper on the hit comedy series Two and a Half Men. He has earned seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations and two wins for his acting work on the show. In a comment on the show's high ratings, he said: "When you̢۪re on a show that's fighting for survival every week, you stop trusting your instincts, because you think, 'My instincts haven't worked so far.' But when people clearly like the show and are watching it in great numbers, it takes a huge amount of pressure off you. It allows you to trust your instincts and go with what has worked for you before." After former co-star Charlie Sheen's departure from the series, Cryer's character became the show's main protagonist (with Ashton Kutcher being cast as the co-lead) throughout the final four seasons, mainly due to the show's retooled plot. At the end of the series of Two and a Half Men, Cryer is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of the series; Sheen was fired in March 2011 and Cryer's on-screen son Angus T. Jones left the series at the end of season 10, after describing the show as "filth" and calling himself a "paid hypocrite." All appeared to be forgiven later, as Jones, unlike Charlie Sheen, appeared to great applause in the finale. Before being cast for Two and a Half Men, Cryer auditioned for the role of Gaius Baltar on the Sci-Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica, but the role went to James Callis. In 2008, Cryer appeared with Laurence Fishburne and James Cromwell in the film Tortured, and in 2009 co-starred with James Spader in the film Shorts.

Cryer made a guest appearance on the sitcom series Husbands in its second season. He was initially cast to voice the lead character in DisneyToon Studios' animated film Planes, a spin-off of Pixar's Cars franchise, but later dropped out and was replaced by Dane Cook. Cryer did however receive a credit on the film for "additional story material."

In 2015, Cryer released a book titled So That Happened, a breezy, often comic tale chronicling Cryer's 30-year career on stage, film and television.

Cryer currently appears in the highly popular CBS drama series NCIS, where he currently plays Navy Dr. Cyril Taft who treats NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Cryer had expressed a desire to appear in NCIS since it premiered on September 23, 2003.

Pursuing a passion for criminal justice, Cryer joined the team of the popular podcast Undisclosed where he will be voicing the weekly addendum episode for the second season.

On May 21, 2018, Cryer was featured in the premier of Episode 1, Season 9 of genealogy program Who Do You Think You Are? Cryer's journey took him from America to Scotland as he uncovered the dramatic tale of his ancestor James Adams, a Scottish Covenanter soldier who was captured during the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, and endured horrific conditions as a prisoner. He was then transported to America an indentured servant to work at the Saugus Iron Works at Lynn, Massachusetts. As part of his research for the episode, Cryer visited the site of the Battle of Dunbar, Durham Cathedral in Durham, North East England - where surviving Scottish prisoners were held until they were indentured – and the Saugus Iron Works national historic site. Cryer said: "Seeing the resilience of my family over centuries, you can see the legacy he left. I can't help but feel lucky...clearly, the resilience of my family, that spine of steel, was not something that came from nowhere. Moving forward, I'm going to take James Adams' strength as my inspiration and know that when you go through very, very difficult times, if you can turn around and help the people around you who had it even worse, that's real strength. And I aspire to be one of those people."

On November 16, 2018, it was announced that Cryer had been cast as Lex Luthor on The CW's Supergirl in a recurring role, starting in the fifteenth episode of Season 4, titled "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". He is set reprise the role in the Batwoman and The Flash episodes of the Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.