Birth Name: Dominic Haakon Madbouli Myrtvedt Purcell
Birth Date: 17th February, 1970
Age: 39
Birth Place: Merseyside, England, United Kingdom
Early Life
Purcell is the eldest of his five siblings. His father is of Irish-American/Norwegian ethnicity and his mother Maureen of Irish descent. At the age of two, he along with his family, shifted to the Western Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. There, we studied his high school at the Blaxland High School which he left to work as a landscaper.
His father, who before working as installer of air – conditioning ducts, used to be in the Norwegian Merchant Navy, later left the family. Purcell’s surname Myrtvedt and middle name Haakon are Norwegian.
Career
Purcell got himself enrolled in to Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), impulsively as he had never really given acting a serious thought. At the institute also studying with him were actors, Frances O'Connor and Hugh Jackman. He graduated from WAAPA in 1996 and bagged his first ever role as a lead character Granger Hutton in the famous Australian TV show, Raw FM (1997-1998).
Purcell then shifted to the United States and first appeared in the American TV in 2002 to enact the titular role in John Doe. He also got lot of acclaim for his work as Drake in the movie, Blade: Trinity.
Other movies in which Purcell has made appearances are: American Pie (1999), Mission: Impossible II (2000), Equilibrium (2002), Visitors (2003), 3-way (2003), The Gravedancers (2005), Level Seven (2007), Primeval (2007) and Creek (2008).
In theatre, he has worked on productions like, Angels in America, Romeo and Juliet, The Pillars of Society and Antony and Cleopatra.
Dominic has also given some very notable performances on TV movies as well, like, First Daughter (1999), Silent Predator (1999) and Invincible (2001).
His credits on TV series include, Water Rats (1998), Moby-Dick (1998), Heartbreak High (1999), BeastMaster (2001), The Lost World (2001), House (2004) and North Shore (2005)
His best known work till date, however, is on the Fox network’s drama show, Prison Break.
Dominic Purcell joined the lead cast of the show ‘Prison Break’ in 2005, where he played the character of Lincoln Burrows, who has been indicted in the murder case of the brother of the Vice president of the United States. In the later seasons, he aids his brother Michael, and James Whistler to deal with Sona and subsequently joins the ‘A-Team’ to finish off The Company.
In 2007, for his excellent performance in the show, Australian Film Institute Awards bestowed upon him the International Award for the Best Actor
.
Personal life
Purcell won a green card lottery in 2000 and settled down in Los Angeles, California along with Rebecca Williamson, his wife and the couple’s four children. Lily and Augustus (born 2003) are twins and are his youngest children, who are preceded by Audrey (born 2001) and Joseph (born 1999) who is the eldest.
Purcell and Rebecca divorced each other on 21st October, 2007. He still keeps an Irish passport owing to his Irish background.
He received a lot of media attention during his visit to his mother’s home in Louth Village, Co. Louth, in Ireland. On 29th December, 2007, he along with his brother saved a baby’s life while driving towards Strandhill, Co Sligo where they were going for surfing.
