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Balthazar Getty

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Balthazar Getty: Biography

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Birth Name: Paul Balthazar Getty
Birth Place: Los Angeles, CA
Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 01/22/1975, Aquarius
Profession: Actor; producer; model; musician

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With an intense stare and a perpetually furrowed brow, Getty was still a teen when he burst onto the big screen as the de facto leader of a group of stranded military cadets in the 1990 drama Lord of the Flies. While his subsequent roles were rarely as meaty, his off-screen life provided plenty of drama. A few years before Getty was born, his father was kidnapped and lost his ear during the ordeal; then when Getty was 5, his dad overdosed on drugs and ended up in a wheelchair. Unfortunately Getty inherited his father's addictive personality, and during the '90s, he abused heroin and cavorted with gangs. Yet he managed to maintain his career, alternating between mainstream fare (Young Guns II) and indies (Lost Highway), and even pursued music on the side. In the '00s, he overhauled his life by getting clean and becoming a family man. He also concentrated on the small screen and turned in some of the best work he'd done in years as a sexy male witch on Charmed and as an agent on Alias. Balthazar Getty Fast Facts:

Great-grandson of tycoon J. Paul Getty.
His father, J. Paul Getty III, was kidnapped while on vacation in 1973. Although his family initially refused to pay the hefty ransom, the gangsters convinced them to do so by slicing off his right ear and sending it to a newspaper.
Fell out of a tree and broke both arms shortly before filming his 1990 breakthrough role in Lord of the Flies; his injuries were worked into the movie.
Founded production company called 5150.
Formed the band Ringside with friend Scott Thomas, releasing a self-titled debut album in 2005.