About Charles Esten
Charles Esten Puskar III , also known professionally as Charles Esten, and as Chip Esten, is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, and comedian.
Esten played the role of country singer Deacon Claybourne on the drama Nashville from 2012 to 2018, which subsequently kickstarted his own musical career. He also played Ward Cameron on the teen drama series Outer Banks. He appeared in the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a series regular between 1999–2005 and returned with guest appearances from 2017–2020.
Esten was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to Alexandria, Virginia at age nine, after his parents divorced. He and his younger sister were raised by their mother.
His late father, Charles, was a prominent local businessman and business partner of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Ray Mansfield.
Esten is a 1983 graduate of Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School, where he played football for the Titans a decade after the events of the film Remember the Titans. He has noted in several interviews that his Nashville costar Hayden Panettiere appeared in the film, as the daughter of his real-life coach. He then attended his parents' and sister's alma mater, the College of William and Mary, where he was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and graduated with a degree in economics in 1987. At William and Mary, he was the lead vocalist in the local band "N'est Pas" from 1985–88. Following graduation, Esten moved to the United Kingdom to make his theatrical debut, playing the title role in the musical Buddy in the early 1990s.
Esten's first television appearance was in December 1988 as a contestant on the NBC game show Sale of the Century . He won over $32,000 in cash and prizes in five episodes ; he later sold his prizes.
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