Editing Dylan McDermott (section)

==Early life==
Mark Anthony McDermott was born on October 26, 1961, in [[Waterbury, Connecticut]], to Diane and Richard McDermott.<ref name="tvguide"/> He has a younger sister, Robin.<ref name="IrishAmerica">{{cite web|last=Rohan|first=Brian|title=Articles: Hollywood's New Golden Boy|url=http://members.tripod.com/Vickie_Fernandes/HollywoodsNewGoldenBoy.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116154635/http://members.tripod.com/Vickie_Fernandes/HollywoodsNewGoldenBoy.html|archive-date=November 16, 2007|access-date=February 10, 2007|publisher=The Practice: A Fanpage}}</ref><ref name="esq">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.esquire.com/features/dylan-mcdermott-0300|title=In Search of Dylan McDermott|magazine=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|issue=133|volume=3|date=March 2000|page=166|access-date=May 12, 2012|archive-date=July 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711073447/http://www.esquire.com/features/dylan-mcdermott-0300|url-status=live}}</ref> Diane was 15 and Richard was 17 when McDermott was born. By 1967 the couple had divorced, and Diane and her two children were living with her mother, Avis Marino.<ref name="IrishAmerica" /> On February 9, 1967, Diane died of what was believed for decades to be an accidental gunshot wound.<ref name="esq" /><ref name="msnbc">{{cite news|url=https://www.today.com/news/dylan-mcdermott-path-rediscovery-wbna16932594|title=Dylan McDermott is on a path of rediscovery|date=February 1, 2007|access-date=October 26, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|archive-date=July 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702093201/https://www.today.com/news/dylan-mcdermott-path-rediscovery-wbna16932594|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2012 it was revealed that it was not an accident but that she was murdered by her then gangster boyfriend, John Sponza, who had already died by that time.

McDermott and his sister were raised by their maternal grandmother Avis in Waterbury.<ref name="IrishAmerica" /> As a teenager, he began taking trips to visit his biological father, who owned the West Fourth Street Saloon in [[Greenwich Village|Greenwich Village, New York]].<ref>{{cite news|title=THEATER; Today the Anatomy, Tomorrow the World|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/26/theater/theater-today-the-anatomy-tomorrow-the-world.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 26, 1999|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315013023/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/26/theater/theater-today-the-anatomy-tomorrow-the-world.html|url-status=live}}</ref> McDermott worked in his father's bar, serving drinks and breaking up fights.<ref name="sunmorn">Rita Braver. "Dylan McDermott" (interview), ''CBS Sunday Morning'', October 30, 2011.</ref> He also fast-talked his way into the [[Mudd Club]] and [[Studio 54]].<ref name="esq" />

McDermott was uncomfortable with himself as a teenager, saying he had a "[[Dorothy Hamill]] hairdo". He began imitating his acting heroes, such as [[Marlon Brando]] and [[Humphrey Bogart]], adopting their demeanor.<ref name="fifty">{{cite magazine|title=Dylan McDermott|magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]]|volume=49|issue=18|date=May 11, 1998|page=144}}</ref> In 1979, McDermott graduated from [[Holy Cross High School (Connecticut)|Holy Cross High School]] in Waterbury.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archives.rep-am.com/2013/11/17/bringing-it-back-home/|title=Bringing it back home: Actor stars at Hall of Fame ceremony|work=[[Republican-American]]|date=November 17, 2013|access-date=October 26, 2018|first=Quannah|last=Leonard|archive-date=October 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027101428/https://archives.rep-am.com/2013/11/17/bringing-it-back-home/|url-status=live}}</ref>

McDermott's father's third wife was playwright [[Eve Ensler|V]], then known as Eve Ensler, who adopted McDermott when he was 15 and she was 23.<ref name="adoption age">{{cite web|url=http://www.vday.org/meet-vday/activist-spotlights/shiva-rose-mcdermott|title=Activist Spotlights: Shiva Rose McDermott|access-date=October 26, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603231929/http://www.vday.org/meet-vday/activist-spotlights/shiva-rose-mcdermott|archive-date=June 3, 2009}}, Interview with wife Shiva Rose McDermott</ref> She later divorced his father. V, with whom McDermott has remained close, encouraged him to pursue an acting career,<ref name="msnbc" /> and began writing roles for him into her plays.<ref name="esq" /> After V suffered a miscarriage, McDermott took the name Dylan, the name planned for her unborn child.<ref name="sunmorn" /> He then graduated from [[Jesuit]]-run [[Fordham University]] with a BA in 1983,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/dylan-mcdermott-9542247|title=Dylan McDermott|website=Biography.com|access-date=March 10, 2017|archive-date=March 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312060116/http://www.biography.com/people/dylan-mcdermott-9542247|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as studying under [[Sanford Meisner]] at the [[Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waterburyobserver.org/node/1780|title=Dylan McDermott Enters Hall of Fame 11/16|publisher=The Waterbury Observer|access-date=March 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809000141/http://www.waterburyobserver.org/node/1780|archive-date=August 9, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>