Grimes started acting at an early age. In 1984, at the age of 13, he co-starred with
Mickey Rooney in a made-for-TV Christmas movie titled
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. In 1985, he appeared in an episode of the
Twilight Zone called "
Little Boy Lost". Grimes also began singing in childhood, and in March 1986 appeared on a
Bob Hope TV special ''Bob Hope's Royal Command Performance from Sweden
, singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". The special was taped in Sweden with King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in attendance. In 1987, he performed as a guest vocalist on the Time'' album by
Richard Carpenter of
the Carpenters, where Carpenter thanked the 15-year-old Grimes for his "spirited" performance on the song "That's What I Believe", commenting in the liner notes, "I believe young Scott to have quite a future in music." Grimes' first music album,
Scott Grimes was released by
A&M Records in 1989, with the single "I Don't Even Mind" produced by Carpenter. In 2005, he released his second album, ''
Livin' on the Run, and in 2010 his third, Drive.'' During the 1986–1987 TV season, Grimes played Jack Randall on the
CBS sitcom
Together We Stand, which was revamped and retitled
Nothing is Easy during its only season on the air. In 1987, Grimes voiced
Pinocchio in the dark animated film
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. In 1988, he appeared with
Dwayne Hickman,
Connie Stevens, and her daughter
Tricia Leigh Fisher in the TV movie
Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis; Grimes, Hickman, Stevens, and Fisher also appeared on the
All-Star Super Password Special with
Bert Convy. He had also guest starred on the
NBC sitcom
Wings. He is also known for his 1987 recurring role on ''
Who's the Boss'' as
Alyssa Milano's character's
love interest Chad McCann, and his regular appearances in the 1994–2000 series
Party of Five as Will McCorkle. Grimes appeared as Sergeant
Donald Malarkey in the
HBO mini series
Bands of Brothers in 2001. Grimes starred on the NBC series
ER playing Dr. Archie Morris from 2003 until the series' end in 2009. Initially a
recurring character on
ER, he later was upgraded to a main role in
season 12. The character initially provided comic relief, but grew over the years, becoming central to several episodes and story lines in the series' final seasons. Grimes'
film credits include the
dark comedy ''Who's Your Monkey'' and
Ridley Scott's
Robin Hood with
Russell Crowe and
Cate Blanchett. On October 11, 2010, Grimes announced on his
Twitter that he would voice a character on the animated series
Family Guy, which would turn out to be
Joe Swanson's previously thought-to-be-dead son, Kevin Swanson. On March 19, 2013, he was cast as Dave Flynn on the
NCIS: Los Angeles episode entitled
Red, the first episode of a two-part backdoor pilot to another
NCIS spin-off which would have been named
NCIS: Red, but it was not picked up. Grimes had previously appeared in an
NCIS episode entitled "Baltimore" in 2011 as Detective Danny Price,
Anthony DiNozzo's former partner at the Baltimore P.D. From 2017 to 2022, he played helmsman Gordon Malloy, the best friend of Captain Ed Mercer (
Seth MacFarlane) on the
Fox/
Hulu sci-fi comedy drama The Orville, created by executive producer MacFarlane. ==Personal life==