Eric Dane’s Early Days

Eric William Dane was born in San Francisco on Nov. 9, 1972. The actor cut his teeth on iconic shows such as Saved by the Bell (above), Roseanne, The Wonder Years, Married with Children and more.

Eric Dane Gets on ‘Charmed’

The actor first got our attention with his role as Dr. Wyatt Cooper on Gideon’s Crossing. However, it wasn’t until he took on the role of romantic and oh-so-charming media mogul Jason Dean — the love interest of Alyssa Milano’s character on Charmed — that things began to take off for Dane.

Eric Dane and Alyssa Milano

If you thought the chemistry you saw onscreen between Phoebe and Jason was strong, it’s because the pair were actually dating in real life. “I had a massive crush on Alyssa when I was 14,” Dane told Dax Shepard on Armchair Expert, revealing he was a fan of hers from Who’s the Boss?

“By the time I was 28 and we were dating, I wasn’t a child anymore and she was a person. And a lovely, wonderful person if I can add,” he revealed. “We dated for a little bit and she was obviously doing the show Charmed and she asked me to be on it. I ended up doing like 10 episodes.”

The actor the alluded to the fact that his time on the show got cut because the two broke up.

Eric Dane Meets Rebecca Gayheart

In 2003, Dane met his future wife, Rebecca Gayheart. The pair have been private about their early days, though he told Flaunt Magazine their courtship was pretty quick. “It’s probably one of the least interesting stories in the world. It went basically like this: ‘You wanna go out?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ Ten months later, we were married.”

Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart Get Married

The couple wed the following year on Oct. 29. As with much of their relationship, details of their wedding are not known to the public, except that they tied the knot in Las Vegas.

Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart Become Parents

On March 3, 2010, the couple welcomed their first baby, a daughter named Billie Beatrice. They would add to their family the following year with the birth of Georgia Geraldine on Dec. 28, 2011.

Eric Dane and His Family

The family of four was pictured together at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in 2017.

Eric Dane Becomes McSteamy

In 2006, Eric Dane joined Grey’s Anatomy, playing plastic surgeon, Dr. Mark Sloan. One particularly scintillating post-shower scene would see him dubbed as “McSteamy,” solidifying him as one of the most handsome TV hunks of all time.

Eric Dane’s Addiction Struggles

The actor would be on the hit show for six seasons before his character tragically died from wounds sustained in a plane crash. Though the show was a career high, Dane revealed he was struggling with alcohol and painkiller addiction at same time.

Going into the show, he said on Armchair Expert, he was able to keep his relationship to alcohol under control: “I had my wits about me and I sort of knew what reality was and what reality wasn’t, and I was able to differentiate between the two, and I was able to sort of conceptualize what that was, keep it in its place, enjoy it, dip in every now and again and come back.”

But that eventually changed, he said: “If you take the whole eight years on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I was f—– up longer than I was sober, and that’s when things started going sideways for me. [The attention] was overwhelming, and I think I just wanted to pretend that it wasn’t and that I was comfortable with it. Act like you’ve been there, but you haven’t been there.”

Eric Dane Lands Euphoria

With his addictions managed, Dane began working again, notably landing the role of Cal Jacobs on HBO’s Euphoria in 2019.

“I wanted to do something different. I felt like I had been doing the same thing in my career over and over again and I felt like it wasn’t allowing me to grow or stretch myself as an actor, as an artist,” he told Awards Radar.

“[I wanted to] really show that I wasn’t just a doctor on a hospital drama or captain of a naval destroyer. It’s a gift to be able to play a character like this, who is so complicated.”

Eric Dane Separates from Rebecca Gayheart

In 2018, Gayheart filed for divorce from the actor after 14 years of marriage.

“After 14 years together we have decided that ending our marriage is the best decision for our family,” Dane said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time.

“We will continue our friendship and work as a team to co-parent our two beautiful girls as they are the most important thing in the world to us. We kindly ask that you respect our privacy during this time as we navigate the next phase of our lives.”

And it appears the pair kept their promise as Gayheart posted the above picture of the family’s 2022 vacation, writing, “This is us, family vacay 2022 🇫🇷🥳❣️”

Seven years after their initial split, Gayheart requested to dismiss her divorce from Dane in March 2025, according to court docs obtained by PEOPLE. Both parties signed off on the docs.

Eric Dane, the Dad

In 2024, the actor, who played McGrath in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, walked the red carpet with his two daughters at the California premiere.

Eric Dane is Diagnosed with ALS

On April 10, 2025, Eric Dane revealed he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

“I have been diagnosed with ALS,” he told PEOPLE. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”

On Sept. 29, Dane traveled to Washington, D.C. with the nonprofit organization I AM ALS, advocating for the reauthorization of ACT for ALS.

In a TikTok video shared by U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, Dane spoke about his ALS journey, stating, “ALS is the last thing they want to diagnose anybody with. So often, it takes all this time for these people to be diagnosed, well, then it precludes them from being a part of these clinical trials.”

“That’s why ACT for ALS is so so great, and it’s because it broadens the access for everybody.”

“I have two daughters at home. I want to see them, you know, graduate college, and get married and maybe have grandkids. You know, I want to be there for all that. So I’m going to fight to the last breath on this one,” the actor said.

Eric Dane Appears on ‘Brilliant Minds’

Following his diagnosis, the actor continues to work and is using his talents to create more awareness about ALS.

On Oct. 20, Warner Bros revealed the actor will make an appearance on an upcoming episode of Brilliant Minds. In episode 9, Dane will play Matthew, a heroic firefighter who struggles to share his ALS diagnosis with his family, according to a press release.