Adrian Zmed was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 14, 1954. He is now 70 years old.
He was born to two Romanian parents. His father was a Romanian Orthodox Priest.
Adrian was a high school athlete, playing football until one day he broke his leg which in turn punctured a major artery. After that he decided to quit playing sports and turned his energy and time to something new, acting. He joined the drama club and was cast in his schools production of “Guys and Dolls”. He was so good that he was featured on a local tv show, being labeled one of Chicago’s top HS performers. After this he went to a college that specialized in Arts and Drama, and began studying voice on the side at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Goodman School of Drama.
After graduating he landed the role of Danny Zuko in the national touring company production of Grease, being his first major acting gig. After this he did a lot of guest spots on tv shows and landed main cast roles on shows that didn’t last long like Flatbush and Goodtime Girls. However, he would soon reach celebrity status, getting cast as Officer Romano on TJ Hooker. He would continue to do guest spots on other shows throughout the 80s but decided to leave TJ Hooker in 1985 when the show was being moved to CBS.
While on TJ Hooker he was cast as Johnny in Grease 2, which was expected to be a big hit and help skyrocket his film career like it did John Travolta, but it wasn’t a hit. However, his performance led to him getting cast in a few other films like The Final Terror and Bachelor Party, but his film career never took off like was expected.
After a few films, tv movies and guest spots on tv throughout the 80s, he returned to the stage in the 90s, starring in numerous musicals on and off-Broadway. In 1995 he would reprise his role as Danny Zuko in the Broadway revival. In the 00s he began doing some voice work.
He’s been married 3 times and has two sons from his first marriage. He is still married to his third wife.
Now at 70 years old, he lives a quiet life with his wife and is still close friends with his TJ Hooker costar, William Shatner.
At just 5’8 and thin, he was never my usual type, but I always found him quite sexy and found him charming at times. I loved him on TJ Hooker. He was quite handsome! I remember him becoming a teen heartthrob for a bit, always in those teen magazines my ass had no business buying (but I did).
