Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe was born on March 17, 1964 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He attended Santa Monica High School, the same high school as fellow actors Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, and Chris Penn. One of Lowe's earliest roles came in the 1983 TV movie Thursday's Child, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actor in a TV Movie/Miniseries. His breakthrough came in 1983, when he and Emilio Estevez were cast in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, which remains one of his most famous roles. Lowe played the role of Sodapop Curtis, the brother of the main character Ponyboy Curtis. Lowe and Estevez reunited in St. Elmo's Fire, making them the two… more prominent actors from the group known as the Brat Pack. Lowe is also known for playing Sam Seaborn in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2003. His performance in the show garnered Lowe an Emmy and two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series. In 2005, he starred as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee in a London West End production of Sorkin's play A Few Good Men, the first time the two had worked together since The West Wing. Despite his two canceled TV series and flops like View From the Top and the made-for-TV movie Perfect Strangers during his post West Wing run, Lowe found success in the TV miniseries genre. In 2004 he marked his return to this genre; he had appeared in 1994's The Stand, based on Stephen King's book of the same name. In 2004, Lowe starred in the TNT remake of the Stephen King miniseries Salem's Lot which was the highest rated cable program of that summer and the highest ratings TNT original programming had at the time. In 2005, Lowe starred in the miniseries Beach Girls on the Lifetime network, based on the Luanne Rice novel of the same name. The series premiere received the highest ratings for a movie premiere in Lifetime history. In that same year, Lowe filmed his critically acclaimed role as super movie agent in the 2006 independent film Thank You for Smoking. In 2006, it was announced that Lowe would join the cast of Brothers & Sisters for a guest run of several episodes. In January 2007, ABC announced that Lowe would be staying on Brothers and Sisters as a "special guest star" for the rest of season 1 after Lowe's initial appearance on the show in November 2006 brought the best ratings and demographic showing for the show since its premiere. Soon after ABC announced an early season 2 renewal for Brother & Sisters in March 2007, Lowe announced he would be returning for the show's second season. He continued to appear in the series until the end of the 2009/2010 season. Rob Lowe authored the book Stories I Only Tell My Best Friends: An Autobiography whcih made the 2011 Publisher's Weekly Best Seller List. He followed that with more stories in his book Love Life in 2014.