text: jon cryer jonathan niven " jon " cryer ( born april 16 , 1965 ) is an american actor , screenwriter , television director , and film producer . born into a show business family , cryer made his motion picture debut as a teenaged photographer in the 1984 romantic comedy no small affair ; his breakout role came in 1986 , playing " duckie " dale in the john hughes - written film pretty in pink . in 1998 , he wrote and produced the independent film went to coney island on a mission from god ... be back by five . although cryer gained fame with his early film roles , it took several years to find success on television ; none of his star vehicles , including the famous teddy z , partners , and the trouble with normal , lasted more than 22 episodes . in 2003 , cryer was cast as alan harper on the cbs sitcom two and a half men , for which he won two primetime emmy awards in 2009 and 2012 . cryer received a star on the hollywood walk of fame for television in 2011 . cryer 's other film appearances include hiding out ( 1987 ) , hot shots ( 1991 ) , tortured ( 2008 ) , shorts ( 2009 ) , and hit by lightning ( 2014 ) . he also has a recurring role in the cbs drama series , ncis , playing dr. cyril taft . after appearing on the podcast crime writers on ... it was announced cryer is joining the team at the podcast for their second season . early life cryer was born in new york city , new york . his mother , gretchen cryer ( née kiger ) , is a playwright , songwriter , actress , and singer ; his father , donald david cryer , is an actor and singer who originally studied to be a minister . cryer 's paternal grandfather , rev. dr. donald w. cryer , was a well - known methodist minister . he has two sisters , robin and shelly . when cryer was twelve years old , he decided that he wanted to become an actor . when his mother heard this , she thought he should have a backup plan , and joked : " plumbing is a pretty good career . " cryer attended manor performing arts training center for several summers as a teenager , and is a 1983 graduate of the bronx high school of science . he was classmates with screenwriter and film director boaz yakin . to his mother 's " great disappointment " , cryer skipped college and went to study acting at the royal academy of dramatic art ( rada ) in london , united kingdom . career cryer 's first professional acting effort was as david in the broadway play torch song trilogy , replacing matthew broderick , whom he " closely resembled " . cryer was later an understudy and replacement for broderick in neil simon 's brighton beach memoirs in 1989 . at age 19 , cryer appeared in the 1984 romantic comedy film no small affair , in the lead role as charles cummings , after the original production with matthew broderick was shut down due to a heart attack by director , martin ritt . he went on to have small roles in films and television movies , and he made his breakthrough as phil " duckie " dale in the john hughes - scripted film pretty in pink . in an interview with the daily news , cryer 's mother said that after pretty in pink , she started getting calls from teenage girls from all over the world , who would leave hysterical , giggling messages on her answering machine . in 1989 , he got the lead role in the tv comedy series , the famous teddy z. his performance gained poor reviews and the show was canceled after the first season . a year later , he starred with charlie sheen in the jim abrahams comedy hot shots ! , which was received very positively . cryer is frequently linked to the brat pack . in a march 2009 interview on anytime with bob kushell , cryer stated that he had auditioned for st. elmo 's fire but was not cast in a role . in 1993 , he was asked to audition for the role of chandler bing on friends , while doing a play in london . his reading was videotaped by a british casting agent but the tape failed to arrive in the u.s. before the network had made its final decision . in 1995 , he was cast as bob in the sitcom partners , which , like his prior show the famous teddy z , was canceled after its first season . in an interview with time out new york he stated , " hey , every show i 'm in goes down . think about this : george clooney was in 28 pilots , or something . it means nothing " . after guest starring on shows such as dharma & greg and the outer limits , he successfully wrote and produced the film , went to coney island on a mission from god ... be back by five . it debuted in 1998 at the los angeles film festival and gained positive reviews from critics . leonard maltin from playboy magazine called it " a breath of fresh air " . in 2000 , he was cast as the lead in a comedy series called the trouble with normal . for the third time , cryer starred in a show which was canceled after its first season . cryer 's long run of unsuccessful tv projects finally ended three years later . against the wishes of cbs executives ( who were aware of his past failures ) and due to a friendship with charlie sheen , he was cast in 2003 to portray alan harper on the hit comedy series two and a half men . he has earned seven primetime emmy award nominations and two wins for his acting work on the show . in a comment on the show 's high ratings , he said : " when you ’ re on a show that 's fighting for survival every week , you stop trusting your instincts , because you think , ‘ my instincts haven 't worked so far . ’ but when people clearly like the show and are watching it in great numbers , it takes a huge amount of pressure off you . it allows you to trust your instincts and go with what has worked for you before . " after former co - star charlie sheen 's departure from the series , cryer 's character became the show 's main protagonist ( with ashton kutcher being cast as the co - lead ] ] ) throughout the final four seasons , mainly due to the show 's retooled plot . at the end of the series of two and a half men , cryer is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of the series , since sheen was fired in march 2011 and his on - screen son angus t. jones left the series at the end of season 10 , after expressing the show as " filth " and that jones is a " paid hypocrite " . all appeared to be forgiven , however , as jones , contrary to charlie sheen , appeared to great in the finale . before being cast for two and a half men , cryer auditioned for the role of gaius baltar on the sci - fi channel 's reimagined battlestar galactica , but the role went to james callis . in 2008 , cryer appeared with laurence fishburne and james cromwell in the film tortured , and in 2009 co - starred with james spader in the film shorts . cryer made a guest appearance on the sitcom series husbands in its second season . he was initially cast to voice the lead character in disneytoon studios ' animated film planes , a spin - off of pixar 's cars franchise , but later dropped out and was replaced by dane cook . cryer did however receive a credit on the film for " additional story material . " in 2015 , cryer released a book titled so that happened , a breezy , often comic tale chronicling cryer 's 30 - year career on stage , film and television . cryer currently appears in the highly popular cbs drama series , ncis where he currently plays navy dr. cyril taft who treats ncis special agent leroy jethro gibbs ( mark harmon ) . cryer had expressed a desire to appear in ncis since it premiered on september 23 , 2003 . pursuing a passion for criminal justice cryer joined the team of the popular podcast where he will be voicing the weekly addendum episode for the second season . personal life cryer married british actress sarah trigger in 1999 , with whom he has a son , charlie austin . the pair divorced in 2004 . in february 2007 , on an episode of the tonight show with jay leno , he announced that he would marry entertainment reporter lisa joyner ; the couple married in mexico in june 2007 . on september 29 , 2009 , jon and lisa announced that they adopted a baby girl , whom they named daisy . when pretty in pink co - star molly ringwald told out magazine in 2012 that she believed cryer 's character was gay , cryer defended duckie and other " slightly effeminate dorks , " and said he has had to live with others ' " faulty " gaydar . also in 2012 , joyner told jeff probst that when she and cryer started dating , she wondered if he might be gay because " he never kissed me . " cryer was asked in 2014 if he was " mistaken for gay " ; he again called himself " an effeminate heterosexual dork " and cracked a joke about never being propositioned : " fellas , you 're dropping the ball . " prior to the 2008 presidential election , cryer attended a fundraiser hosted by the mccain campaign and , according to news reports , endorsed senator john mccain . when cryer did not make a public endorsement for the 2012 race , his spokeswoman said that the 2008 report aligning him with the republican party was a " mistake " and that cryer is " not really political . " he had attended events for both republicans and democrats " because he wanted to hear what both sides had to say . " with regards to presumptive 2016 gop nominee donald j. trump , cryer shared his feelings on the may 5 , 2016 episode of the podcast never not funny . cryer stated , " i have been pointing out , and i have been screaming to the rooftops , that donald trump is the charlie sheen of politics . [ ... ] i have to tell you , i love charlie sheen , i loved working with him when he was sober , but he was , he 's full of shit . he has been full of shit , you know , he has serious addiction . you know , his addiction is obviously serious , drugs , and , but , trump is just addicted to feeling important . you know , and i think if anybody is under the delusion that he cares about , uh , uh , anybody in america besides himself , they are , they are stoned and need to rethink their priorities , ' cause he 's , you know , ' cause it 's just ridiculous that 's he 's gotten as far as he has . " filmography film television