1976–1998: Early roles and leading man stardom Lowe got his first professional acting role in 1976 when he was 12 and still living in Dayton. He played an errand boy in a production of
Sherlock Holmes at the
Wright State University summer theater. He landed the part by calling every local theater and asking each if there was a part for a child in a play. Lowe was paid $150 for the role. In 1979, Lowe landed the part of Tony Flanagan in the short-lived television comedy
A New Kind of Family. One of Lowe's earliest roles came in the 1983 television film ''
Thursday's Child'', for which he received his first
Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. He also appeared in the music video for
The Go-Go's song, "
Turn to You". His breakthrough roles, however, were in 1983 as Sodapop Curtis in
Francis Ford Coppola's cinematic adaptation of
S. E. Hinton's
novel,
The Outsiders, where he shared the screen with an ensemble cast that included
Tom Cruise,
Matt Dillon,
Emilio Estevez,
Leif Garrett,
C. Thomas Howell,
Diane Lane,
Ralph Macchio, and
Patrick Swayze, and as "Skip" Burroughs IV in the coming-of-age comedy film
Class along with
Andrew McCarthy and
Jacqueline Bisset. Next in 1984, he starred opposite
Jodie Foster in
Tony Richardson's
The Hotel New Hampshire, and opposite
Ally Sheedy and
Amanda Pays in the sports film
Oxford Blues. Lowe and Estevez reunited in ''
St. Elmo's Fire (1985), making them the two more prominent actors from the group known as the Brat Pack. About Last Night... (1986) followed, with Demi Moore (who had starred alongside Lowe in St. Elmo's Fire
). He then received his second Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the mentally disabled Rory in Square Dance'' (1987). In August 1987, he performed on stage, playing Baron Tusenbach in Chekov's
The Three Sisters at The Williamstown Theatre Festival. In 1993, while filming a British TV production of the
Tennessee Williams play
Suddenly, Last Summer with
Maggie Smith and
Natasha Richardson, he recalled in an interview that he had run into
Paul Newman four years earlier at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and that Newman had encouraged him to continue to work in theatre. In 1988, he starred in the thriller
Masquerade. In 1989, as part of the opening ceremony for the (critically derided) telecast of the
61st Academy Awards produced by
Allan Carr, Lowe made his musical debut singing a reworked duet of
Creedence Clearwater Revival's "
Proud Mary" alongside actress
Eileen Bowman, who was dressed as an unauthorized depiction of
Snow White. In the 1990s, Lowe appeared in
Wayne's World (1992),
The Stand (1994), based on
Stephen King's
book of the same name,
Tommy Boy (1995) and
Contact (1997).
1999–2009: The West Wing and acclaim Lowe played Young Number Two in
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and reprised his role in
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). He starred as
Sam Seaborn in the television series
The West Wing from 1999 to 2003 (and briefly in 2006). His performance in the show garnered Lowe a
Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Lowe was drawn to the role because of his personal love of politics, and his longstanding friendship with
Martin Sheen, who was cast as President
Josiah Bartlet. When the show premiered, Lowe was considered the lead, and the pilot centered on his character. But as other members of the cast —including
Allison Janney,
Richard Schiff,
Janel Moloney,
Dulé Hill,
John Spencer,
Bradley Whitford, Martin Sheen (who was initially scripted as a small role), and
Stockard Channing (whose
First Lady was initially scripted as a guest role)— grew more popular, Lowe's character no longer served as the show's main focus. Lowe and series creator
Aaron Sorkin soon found themselves at odds over the network's meddling with the show, most notably the network demanding changes in Lowe's character. Eventually, Lowe left the series, not long before Sorkin and director/executive producer
Thomas Schlamme resigned over a dispute with
NBC. During the final season of
The West Wing, Lowe returned to his role of Sam Seaborn, appearing in two of the final four episodes. In 2011, Lowe stated on
The Oprah Winfrey Show that he left the show because he did not feel he was being respected, when the other lead characters received a raise and he did not. After leaving
The West Wing, Lowe was the star and executive producer of a failed NBC drama, ''
The Lyon's Den (2003). In 2004, he tried again in a series entitled Dr. Vegas, but it also was quickly canceled. Lowe passed on the role of Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy, which eventually went to Patrick Dempsey, in favor of doing Dr. Vegas''. Despite his two canceled TV series and flops like
View From the Top and the made-for-TV movie
Perfect Strangers during his post–
West Wing run, Lowe found success in the TV miniseries genre. In 2004, Lowe starred in the
TNT remake of the Stephen King miniseries ''
Salem's Lot'', which was the highest-rated cable program of that summer and the highest ratings TNT original programming had at the time. In 2005, he starred as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee in Sorkin's London West End production of
A Few Good Men, the first time the two had worked together since
The West Wing. Although Lowe had expressed unhappiness about his decreased role on that show at the time of his departure, he has now repeatedly said that any animosity between them is over and that he was pleased to be working once more with Sorkin. That same year, Lowe starred in the miniseries
Beach Girls on the
Lifetime network, based on the
Luanne Rice novel of the same name. The series premiere received the highest ratings for a movie premiere in Lifetime history. Later, Lowe filmed his supporting role as a movie agent in the 2006 independent film
Thank You for Smoking. In 2006, he filmed
The Perfect Day for TNT, in which he took a pay cut to film in
New Orleans in order to help the
Hurricane Katrina-ravaged area. That same year, Lowe filmed
Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming, the sequel to the 1999
Kevin Bacon thriller
Stir of Echoes, and it was announced that Lowe would join the cast of
Brothers & Sisters for a guest run of several episodes. In January 2007, ABC announced that Lowe would be staying on
Brothers and Sisters as a "special guest star" for the rest of Season 1 after Lowe's initial appearance on the show in November 2006 brought the best ratings and demographic showing for the show since its premiere. Soon after ABC announced an early Season 2 renewal for
Brother & Sisters in March 2007, Lowe announced he would be returning for the show's second season. He continued to appear in the series until the end of the 2009–10 season. Then, Lowe announced he would leave, unhappy with the stories and his lack of screen time in the fourth season. In an episode broadcast on May 16, 2010, his character was part of a multi-vehicle crash involving a large truck and was put into a
coma. The storyline was wrapped up in the first episode of the fifth season; Lowe did not appear in the episode. In June 2006, he was the guest host for an episode in the third series of
The Friday Night Project for the United Kingdom's Channel 4. Lowe has also appeared in a televised advertisement for 'Visit California' with other celebrities, including Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger. (In the advertisement campaign, he was usually pictured in a white tee-shirt printed with the California state flag.) Lowe had a supporting role in the 2009 movie
The Invention of Lying and a leading role in
Too Late to Say Goodbye.
2010–2019: Parks and Recreation and other roles in 2011 In 2010, he appeared in the biography of the
Brat Packers called:
Brat Pack: Where Are They Now? He also appeared on ''
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. That same year, he partnered with 44 Blue Productions to develop a reality television pilot titled Potomac Fever, intended to follow the lives of young professionals in Washington, D.C. A pilot was commissioned by the E! network, but the series was not picked up for full production and ultimately did not air. In July 2010, it was announced that Lowe would be providing the voice for the superhero Captain Marvel in the animated series Young Justice. It was also announced in July 2010 that Lowe would become a series regular on the series Parks and Recreation. He portrayed Chris Traeger, the relentlessly upbeat city manager of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, for four seasons, before his character was written out of the show in 2014. He was so pleased with the show and his guest appearances on season 2 that he agreed to become a full-fledged cast member. He reprised the role in the 2015 series finale, "One Last Ride", and in the 2020 special episode "A Parks and Recreation'' Special". In 2011, Lowe guest starred in a recurring role on
Showtime's comedy
Californication. Lowe featured as the troubled but in-demand actor Eddie Nero – a character based upon "about ten people," according to Lowe but somewhat contradicted by sources at Showtime itself – employed to portray Hank in a film version of his book,
Fucking and Punching. In 2011, Lowe wrote a memoir titled
Stories I Only Tell My Friends, which was released in May 2011. During his promotional tour for
Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Lowe told
Australian radio show
The Kyle & Jackie O Show that during his five-day press visit to Australia in 1990, he was so badly affected by the overuse of
painkillers that the only two things he remembers from the trip were being at the
Sydney Zoo and getting a
tattoo, although he states in his book that he does not remember getting the tattoo. In 2014, Lowe wrote a second book titled
Love Life, which was released in April that year. He uses stories and observations from his life in a poignant and humorous series of true tales about men and women, art and commerce, fathers and sons, addiction and recovery, and sex and love. In 2014, Lowe starred in a
pilot for the
single-camera comedy
The Pro as Ben Bertrahm, a former professional
tennis player. The pilot was not picked up for series. He also narrated ''The '90s: The Last Great Decade?
on the National Geographic Channel, which aired in July of that year. In 2015, Lowe starred in the satirical thriller Pocket Listing'' Lowe has been a commercial spokesman for
DirecTV since fall 2014. Commercials featuring Lowe contrast him with some alternate, less appealing form of Lowe, who instead has
cable. The advertisements were pulled in April 2015 after the
National Advertising Division, acting on a complaint by
Comcast, found DirecTV's claims about its customer satisfaction, quality, and ranking to be less than truthful. In February 2015, Fox announced they had greenlit a pilot for the comedy
The Grinder starring Lowe and
Fred Savage, and directed by
Jake Kasdan. The series, in which Lowe starred as a washed-up actor starting a new career as a lawyer, was cancelled after one season. In November 2015, Lowe voiced
Simba in the television pilot movie
The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar. Lowe continued to voice Simba for its subsequent series
The Lion Guard. In December 2015, Lowe was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located in front of the Musso and Frank Grill on
Hollywood Boulevard. In 2015, Lowe launched Profile™, a men's skincare product line. The line features a collection of five antiaging products specially formulated for men. It is currently sold at
Nordstrom stores and online. The product collection includes a cleanser, a shave gel, an aftershave serum, a moisturizer, and an eye serum in the price range of $24.50 to $59.50. In 2016, Lowe launched a fragrance product line called 18 Amber Wood with the Profile™ brand. On August 27, 2016, a
Comedy Central Roast TV special was recorded and aired on September 5, 2016, with Rob Lowe as the Roastee and
David Spade as Roast Master. Amongst the Roasters were
Jewel,
Nikki Glaser,
Ralph Macchio,
Pete Davidson,
Peyton Manning,
Rob Riggle,
Jimmy Carr,
Ann Coulter and the "Roast Master General"
Jeff Ross. On April 21, 2017,
KFC released a campaign featuring Lowe as
astronaut Colonel Sanders giving a
JFK speech spoof/
homage about launching the Zinger chicken sandwich into space. Lowe said in a statement that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to meet
Harland Sanders. In late autumn 2017, Lowe began a reality series with his two sons, 24-year-old Matthew and 22-year-old Jon Owen, on
A&E titled
The Lowe Files. With the exception of the hour-long pilot, the series featured 30-minute road trips with the Lowe boys, and occasional TV guest stars known in the field, investigating common urban myths and legends that Rob has loved since he was a young boy and has shared with his boys throughout their growth. Some of the topics being explored are Bigfoot/Sasquatch, the alleged unidentified "submerged" objects that may have a base off the coast from Los Angeles, alien abduction, and ghosts and their direct responses to stimuli. The series debuted on August 2, 2017, and lasted one season. Lowe has said he hadn't planned on more than one season because of scheduling difficulties. On January 3, 2018,
Atkins Nutritionals announced Lowe as a new brand spokesperson. Due to his "low carb lifestyle," Lowe was selected for a series of multimedia ads that were still appearing in 2024. In October 2018, it was announced that Lowe would star in an
ITV series,
Wild Bill, about an American policeman who moves to
Boston, Lincolnshire, with his daughter. While the show was cancelled by ITV after one season, there were hopes it would be picked up by Netflix or Hulu at a future date. Also in 2018, he made his directorial debut with the television film
The Bad Seed, a remake of the
1956 film of the same name. On March 19, 2019, Lowe began hosting the
Fox competition series
Mental Samurai where he also served as a producer. It lasted two seasons.
2020–present Lowe began hosting a podcast called
Literally! With Rob Lowe on June 25, 2020. Guests included
Chris Pratt and
Conan O'Brien. In September 2021, Lowe launched a second podcast, a
Parks and Recreation recap show called
Parks and Recollection, alongside
Parks and Rec writer and producer
Alan Yang. Lowe directed a short documentary,
Madness in the Hills, which is about the mudslides that killed 23 people in Southern California in January 2018, including many friends and neighbors of Lowe. It debuted on the
Peacock streaming service on October 9, 2020. On May 12, 2019, it was announced that a spin-off the
9-1-1 series titled
9-1-1: Lone Star was ordered to series with Lowe in the starring role of Owen Strand. The series premiered on January 19, 2020, to generally favorable reviews and was renewed for a second season, which premiered on January 18, 2021. The fifth and final season concluded on February 3, 2025. In June 2021, as a surprise birthday present to his wife, he fulfilled her dream to be a contestant with him and their children on
Celebrity Family Feud. On August 6, 2021, Deadline revealed that Lowe will star and executive produce the Netflix movie
Dog Gone.Lowe will offer commentary in
The Andy Warhol Diaries, premiering on Netflix on March 9, 2022. On April 6, 2022, it was announced that Lowe will star in and executive produce
Unstable with
Victor Fresco and his son
John Owen Lowe for
Netflix. The show, which follows Lowe as successful biotech entrepreneur Ellis Dragon as he struggles to deal with his son and regain his footing following the death of his wife, premiered on March 30, 2023. In January 2024 he began hosting
The Floor, a trivia game show. In March 2024 he signed a production deal with
Fox following the show's renewal on the network for seasons two and three. In 2024, he appeared in
Andrew McCarthy's
Hulu documentary about the Brat Pack titled
Brats. He said on his podcast in 2025 and in a subsequent magazine article that he declined an unspecified television series because it was going to film in New York, as part of a larger conversation criticizing lack of support for the film industry in Los Angeles and the United States, noting that he filmed
The Floor in Dublin. ==Personal life==