Jeffrey Combs | |
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Combs in 2013
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Born |
Jeffrey Alan Combs September 9, 1954 Oxnard, California, United States |
Education | Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts |
Alma mater | University of Washington |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1971–present |
Home town | Lompoc, California |
Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954) is an American actor known for his horror film roles such as Re-Animator and appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek and the DC Animated Universe television franchises.
Combs was born in Oxnard, California, to Jean (née Sullins) Owens (1921-1986) and Eugene "Gene" Combs (1922-1999), and raised in Lompoc. He attended Santa Maria's Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and later developed his acting skills in the Professional Actor's Training Program at the University of Washington.
After spending several years performing in playhouses on the West Coast, Combs moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and landed his first role in the 1981 film Honky Tonk Freeway, in which he played an unnamed drive-in teller. His first horror film role came two years later, in the Frightmare (1983).
Combs's best known horror role was as Herbert West, the main character in the movie Re-Animator, which he has reprised in the film's two sequels. He also portrayed the part of author H. P. Lovecraft (creator of the Herbert West character) in 1993's film Necronomicon: Book of the Dead. Combs has starred in eight H.P. Lovecraft adaptations. Other film credits include FeardotCom (2002), House on Haunted Hill (1999), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) and The Frighteners (1996).