Eric Close : Role - Martin Fitzgerald

Birthday : 24 May 1967

Birth Place : Staten Island , New York, USA

Birth Name : Eric Randolph Close

Height : 5′11″

Recent Role : Martin Fitzgerald on Without a Trace

Eric Close was born on 24 May 1967 in Staten Island, New York. He is the son of an orthopedic surgeon . He has two younger brothers- Randy and Christopher. He spent his childhood in Indiana and Michigan but finally his family settled down in San Diego when he was seven. He studied at the University of Southern California and graduated with a B.A in Communications in 1989. There he became a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He is married to Keri and has two daughters Katie and Ella.

He acted on stage in the school but it was only after completing college that he decided to pursue a career in acting. His first role was for a Theatre Production ‘Rat Songs’. After this he acted in the two movies under the direction of Elena Mannus in . The films were ‘American Me’ and ‘Safe House’. He again appeared on stage in the ‘Thanksgiving Cries’. After that he worked as a lead actor in TV shows like ‘McKenna‘ (1994-1995), ‘Dark Skies’ (1996-1997), ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (1998-1999), ‘Now and Again’ (1999-2000) and ‘Taken‘ (2002). He is now playing the role of “Martin Fitzgerald” in ‘Without a Trace’.

He was appreciated for his acting and has been nominated four times in various awards. He was nominated for Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror films, USA, for his role in Dark Skies and Now and Again in the years 1997 and 2000, respectively. He was also nominated in Screen Actors Guild Award in 2004′ for ‘Without a Trace’ and in the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1993 for ‘Santa Barbara‘.

Role in Without a Trace

Eric Close plays the role of “Martin Fitzgerald” in ‘Without a Trace‘ tv show. Martin is a special Agent in FBI’s missing persons case squad. Most of the people think that he is getting undue favors from his father who is the Deputy Director of the FBI , but in reality he is not having a great relationship with his father. He comes under the scrutiny of the OPR after shooting a suspect , he was watched on by “Vivian Johnson” while shooting but she kept her mouth shut. He then reflects upon what he has done all these years and remembers all the earlier episodes of shooting involving him. He started loving “Samantha Spade” but when he realized that “Samantha” is too secretive about their relationship and does not want to be seen with him in public, he pulls off. He and his partner were ambushed while transferring a prisoner and Martin’s body was riddled with bullets. He was operated for several hours and later got hooked on to the painkillers after the nearly fatal incident. “Samantha” comes to the hospital to take care of him. He was helped by “Danny” and “Samantha” to overcome this addiction and regain his earlier position, which he has been able to maintain successfully.