If you don't know who he is, why are you here? Whatever...Denis Leary is quite simply, a God among Men. Actor, comedian, producer, philanthropist, all of these describe Leary at one point in his career.

As for the boring stuff, Leary was born on August 18, 1957 in Worchester, MA to an Irish-Catholic immigrant family. He graduated from Saint Peter-Marian High School in Worchester, as well as Emerson College in Boston in 1979. While at Emerson, he founded the Emerson Comedy Workshop which continues to be active on campus today.

Denis started up in the comedy world during the 1980s, hosting his own show at an underground comedy club called "Play It Again, Sam" and appearing on a local late-night comedy show hosted by friend Lenny Clarke. His breakout performance (or performances) started with a series of short commercials for MTV in the late 80s, where his quick-fire, sarcastic, pissed-off tone sold the network ("Y'know what I want to see? Cindy Crawford. All Cindy, all the time.") to Generation X.

In 1993, Leary released his first CD, No Cure For Cancer, capturing a live show at Irving Plaza in New York from October 10, 1992. This show was also made into a Showtime special, as well as a book. Where his MTV spots made him notable, No Cure made him somewhat notorious. Maybe due to the lead song, "Asshole" (which reached a #2 spot on the Australian charts), maybe due to the sardonic, sarcastic tone of his comedy, and maybe due to the allegations that he stole a good chunk of the material from No Cure from fellow comedian Bill Hicks. Regardless, once No Cure was released, Denis' career was shot directly into stardom. No Cure was followed up by Lock 'n Load, released in 1997 as an HBO special as well as a CD.

1993 also featured Denis' first role in a major motion picture - Demolition Man. Well, maybe he actually appeared earlier that same year in both National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I and The Sandlot, and technically his first "real" role was in 1991's forgettable Tommy Davidson vehicle, Strictly Business, but Demolition Man was his first relatively meaty role, and thus was born a film career spanning more than 40 movies. Many of these are lesser-known films such as Suicide Kings (opposite Christopher Walken), Monument Avenue, and Two If by Sea, but others include significantly better-known films such as Wag the Dog, A Bug's Life, The Thomas Crown Affair, and both Ice Age films.

Not content with just being a famous stand-up comedian and film actor, Leary moved onto the small screen with the 2001 ABC television series The Job, centered around a New York police office and his supporting crew. Unfortunately, The Job only lasted a year, spanning 19 episodes, due to lackluster ratings but amid critical acclaim. Leary's next foray into the TV world was much more successful - the highly-rated and critically-acclaimed Rescue Me on the FX cable network. Rescue Me premiered in 2004 on the cable network, and has run through four seasons, starring Denis as a New York City firefighter struggling with personal and professional stresses following the death of his cousin and best friend in the 9/11 attack on New York City.

So, most people would be content to sit and ride the wave of their career once they reached a certain status, well-known in three different segments of the entertainment world. Not Denis - who established himself as a philantropist as well as actor/comedian with the founding of the Leary Firefighter's Foundation following the death of his cousin and five fellow firefighters during a fire response in Worchester, Massachusetts. The Foundation has donated over $2.5 million to fire departments in Worchester, Boston, and New York City.

Additionally, the Fund for New York's Bravest, a separate fund managed by the Leary Firefighters Foundation, has distributed over $2 million to the families of the 343 firefighters killed during the 9/11 attack on New York City. The Leary Firefighter's Foundation has also provided assistance to the New Orleans Fire Department to purchase rescue boats and to help fund the restoration of at least 20 firehouses so damaged by Hurricane Katrina as to be rendered useless.