Chip Esten

Charles Esten
Esten in September 2005, aged 40.
Born	Charles Esten Puskar III (1965-09-09) September 9, 1965 (age 51) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Other names	Chip Esten
Alma mater	College of William and Mary
Occupation	Actor, comedian, singer
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	Patty Hanson (m. 1991)
Children	3

Charles Esten Puskar III (born September 9, 1965), known professionally as Chip Esten and Charles Esten, is an American actor, singer and comedian.

Esten is best known for his role as Deacon Claybourne on ABC's Nashville (2012–2016). The network dropped the show and CMT picked it up to transition it into its fifth season. He previously appeared on the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? regularly between 1999-2005.

Esten was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to Alexandria, Virginia at age nine, after his parents divorced. He and his younger sister were raised by their mother.

His late father, Charles, was a prominent local businessman and business partner of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Ray Mansfield.

Esten is a 1983 graduate of Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School, where he played football for the Titans a decade after the events of the film Remember the Titans. (He has noted in several interviews that his Nashville costar Hayden Panettiere appeared in the film as the daughter of his real-life coach.) He then attended his parents' and sister's alma mater, the College of William and Mary, where he was a brother of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and graduated with a degree in economics in 1987. At William and Mary, he was the lead vocalist in the local band "N'est Pas" from 1985-88. Following graduation, Esten moved to the United Kingdom to make his theatrical debut, playing the title role in the musical Buddy in the early 1990s.