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Shaun Paul Cassidy was born on September 27, 1958 to Academy Award winner, Shirley Jones, and Tony winner, the late Jack Cassidy. He had roles as a pre-teen/teen in summer stock productions with his mother, but was discouraged from a show business life by both parents.



During his senior year in high school he decided to make some records in Germany and had a hit there called "Morning Girl" appearing in TV shows there as well as in Australia. In late 1976 he signed up with agent Ruth Aarons and began his career in 1976 playing Christopher Wentworth Hewlitt in a short independent film called "Born of Water" and successfully auditioning for the role of Joe Hardy in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. On several episodes of the show he sang some numbers from his albums, "Shaun Cassidy" and "Born Late" becoming one of the hottest teen idols of the late 70's.



When "The Hardy Boys Mysteries" ended in 1979, he went on to star in the short-lived series "Breaking Away". His main focus then became stage acting and in the 80's he starred in such regional productions as "Mass Appeal", "The Subject Was Roses", "Diary of a Hunger Strike", "Dangerous Music", "Romance/Romance", "Pass/Fail" and the WestEnd production of "Bus Stop" with Jerry Hall. He also made several television appearances in the 80's including: "Murder, She Wrote", "Matlock", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and the movies "Texas Guns" with Willie Nelson and "Roots: The Gift" with LeVar Burton and Louis Gossett, Jr. In 1989 he made a failed musical "comeback" attempt, recording the single "Memory Girl"; it was only released in Germany. In the early 90's he turned his attention to writing ("Strays", 1991) and was, in fact, in the middle of doing revisions to a script for "Midnight Run For Your Life" in 1993/94 when he made his Broadway debut in "Blood Brothers" playing Edward Lyons with Petula Clark and his half brother, David Cassidy. Edward Lyons would be his last "acting" role. He left acting to create, write and produce television shows including "American Gothic" (1995), "Roar" (1997), "Players" (1997), "Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family" (2000) and, most recently, "Invasion" (2005). He also wrote/produced episodic television not of his own creation such as: "The Agency" (2001), "Cold Case" (2003), "The Mountain" (2004)