Early Life and Career
Cassavetes was born in New York City, the son of actress Gena Rowlands and Greek-American actor and film director John Cassavetes. As a child, he appeared in two of his father's films: Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974). After spending so much of his youth surrounded by the film industry, Cassavetes initially decided he did not want to go into the field. He instead attended Syracuse University on a basketball scholarship. His athletic career was effectively ended by an injury, and he decided to rethink his aspirations, ultimately deciding to attend his parents' alma mater, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
He has appeared in the films Face/Off, The Wraith, Life, Class of 1999 II: The Substitute, Backstreet Dreams and The Astronaut's Wife, among others. He has directed several films, including John Q, Alpha Dog, She's So Lovely, Unhook the Stars, The Notebook, and My Sister's Keeper. He also adapted the screenplay for Blow and wrote the dialogue for the Justin Timberlake music video "What Goes Around... Comes Around".
Cassavetes came in fifth in the World Poker Tour Invitational Season 5 attempting a bluff. He is also appearing on season 5 of The Game Show Network's (GSN) High Stakes Poker.
He also has played himself in the season 7 opener of Entourage on HBO.
Cassavetes made a cameo appearance in The Hangover: Part II after actor Liam Neeson was dropped from the cast due to scheduling conflicts.
Read more about this topic: Nick Cassavetes
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