Career
MacLachlan has worked extensively with David Lynch, with whom he has been friends for many years. He first appeared as Paul Atreides in the film Dune (1984), Lynch's adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel, and as Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet (1986). Later he played Special Agent Dale Cooper in Lynch's ABC television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991), reprising that role for Lynch's 1992 prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Lynch commented on those roles in a GQ story about MacLachlan: "Kyle plays innocents who are interested in the mysteries of life. He's the person you trust enough to go into a strange world with."
In the 1993 film version of Franz Kafka's The Trial, MacLachlan played the lead role of the persecuted Josef K. He also had a recurring role in the American television series Sex and the City, portraying Dr. Trey MacDougal, the one-time husband of Charlotte York (Kristin Davis). He portrayed the spirit of Cary Grant in Touch of Pink. His resemblance to Grant had been previously noted in an episode of Twin Peaks.
In 1995, MacLachlan starred in Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls. The movie was heavily panned by critics and it collected seven Golden Raspberry Awards (from a record 13 nominations). MacLachlan himself was deeply embarrassed with his involvement; although some entertainment writers alleged that he walked out of the film's premiere, he personally contradicted these claims with the comment that he "suffered through the whole two hours" of the premiere.
MacLachlan has appeared in several plays, including John Kolvenbach's On an Average Day with Woody Harrelson, on Broadway in The Caretaker with Patrick Stewart, as well as in Romeo and Juliet and Henry V.
In recent years, MacLachlan continues to play dark or morally ambiguous characters. This included a guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which he played a father who shot and killed a sociopathic child who had murdered his son. MacLachlan later had another guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2011 as a different character. This time he portrayed the father of a boy who is murdered by his illegitimate half-brother. In the 1990s, MacLachlan was offered by NBC to be one of the lead actors on the then-new soap opera Passions as a powerful, wealthy villain and head of a multi-million dollar company, but MacLachlan turned it down. MacLachlan also lent his voice to the nefarious media mogul Donald Love in the video game Grand Theft Auto III. After starring in the short-lived In Justice, MacLachlan has become a regular on Desperate Housewives. His character, the mysterious dentist Orson Hodge, first appeared during the show's second season, and MacLachlan became a full-time cast member at the start of season three.
On July 7, 2007, MacLachlan was one of the presenters at the London leg of Live Earth. MacLachlan appeared in the 2008 movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
In the 2008 English language DVD re-release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy, MacLachlan voiced the character of "Marius", a militant animal rights activist.
After four years of playing Orson Hodge, MacLachlan decided to quit Desperate Housewives. He decided to leave the show because after having children, he found the commute from his home in New York City to the Desperate Housewives set in Los Angeles very difficult. However, MacLachlan returned to Desperate Housewives in season eight, the final season, to make one last appearance as a guest star.
MacLachlan guest starred in season 6 of How I Met Your Mother.
MacLachlan is the Mayor of Portland, Oregon in the IFC comedy Portlandia.
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Famous quotes containing the word career:
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
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“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
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