Patrick Muldoon

William Patrick Muldoon III was born on 27 September 1968 in San Pedro, the port district of Los Angeles. His father, William Patrick Muldoon II, was a personal injury lawyer, and his mother, Deanna Muldoon (born Petrov), was a homemaker. He was of Irish descent on his father's side and Croatian descent on his mother's, and he once said both sides were "really big families." He described growing up in "a family of lifeguards", a highly competitive athletic household. He had one younger sister, Shana, who later became a writer and co-created the Disney franchise Star Darlings with her husband, Ahmet Zappa.

He attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, a Jesuit school, where he played football. He went on to the University of Southern California, joined the Sigma Chi fraternity and played tight end for the USC Trojans, earning two Rose Bowl rings. He told the Los Angeles Times in 2012 that being flattened in practice by linebacker Junior Seau helped steer him toward acting. While still a student he took acting classes, where he met Denise Richards, and he graduated from USC in 1991.

He began acting while at USC with a two-episode role on Who's the Boss? (1990), then played Jeffrey Hunter in three episodes of Saved by the Bell (1991). In 1992 he originated the role of Austin Reed on NBC's Days of Our Lives, playing him until 1995 and again from September 2011 to 2012. He played the villain Richard Hart on Melrose Place in 1995 and 1996 and held an exclusive development deal with Spelling Entertainment, the only actor to do so.

In 1997 he played Zander Barcalow in Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. Other films included Rage and Honor II (1993), Wicked (1998), Arrival II (1998), Stigmata (1999), Bad Karma (2001), Blackwoods (2001), Heart of America (2002), Spiders 3D (2013), American Satan (2017), The Comeback Trail (2020), Arkansas (2020), Deadlock (2021) and Marlowe (2022). He starred in many television films, including Black Cat Run (1998), Chain of Command (2000), Project Viper (2002), A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004), Ice Spiders (2007) and Christmas in Palm Springs (2014). On stage he played Edmund in Patsy Rodenburg's 2006 King Lear.

He began producing in 2008 as a creative executive at Seven Star Pictures under Frank Yablans, then at Eclectic Pictures. As head of development at Storyboard Media he worked on the physical production and financing of its features, and his producing and executive producing credits include Badge of Honor, The Tribes of Palos Verdes, Arkansas, The Card Counter, Marlowe, Riff Raff, The Dreadful and Kockroach. His final acting role was Richie Denton in the crime thriller Dirty Hands, released on 24 April 2026, five days after his death.

Muldoon never married and had no children. He dated Denise Richards, whom he met in their first acting class, on and off in the 1990s; they remained close friends for 36 years and later worked together again, including on Dirty Hands. In October 2025 he said, "We dated on and off in the '90s, but since then, it's been just friendship." From around 2022 his partner was Miriam Rothbart. He was close to his sister Shana, her husband Ahmet Zappa and their children, Halo and Arrow, and was known in the family as "Bobo". He loved music, animals, boxing, martial arts and keeping fit.

Muldoon spoke publicly about the importance of staying active after sport. "I got into boxing and martial arts because after football you go through a bit of a depression," he told the Los Angeles Times. On his own website he described himself as "a guy who doesn't take himself too seriously but always takes the fun seriously." Friends said he "embraced each day with a full-tilt, rock 'n' roll spirit." Detailed political or religious views were not made public.

Muldoon was the original Austin Reed, a role that helped define the early 1990s on Days of Our Lives, and his Richard Hart remains one of Melrose Place's memorable villains. Starship Troopers gave him a lasting place in science fiction fandom, and he remained a popular guest at fan conventions, including a final reunion weekend in Scotland with the film's cast, after which Denise Richards saw him for the last time. As a producer he helped bring films by Paul Schrader and Neil Jordan to the screen. Storyboard Media noted that after his death he held the number one ranking on IMDb for a week. Co-stars including Alison Sweeney, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards remembered him as exceptionally kind and generous.

As a USC Trojans football player he earned two Rose Bowl rings. He held an exclusive development deal with Spelling Entertainment in the 1990s, which Wikipedia describes as unique for an actor. Arkansas, which he executive produced, was an official selection at South by Southwest. No major acting awards were documented in the sources reviewed.

Muldoon was lead singer of the rock band The Sleeping Masses; their song "The Woman Is the Way" was chosen for the end credits of the 2009 film Powder Blue and was featured on MTV's The Hills, with a music video filmed in Berkshire, England. He appeared in Daughtry's 2013 video for "Waiting for Superman", recorded "Doghouse Blues" for Christmas in Palm Springs, and wrote and performed "Gray Again" with Neil Graham Ives, which was featured on Bravo's Denise Richards and Her Wild Things, on which he also appeared in 2025. He was featured in an episode of the documentary series The Haunting Of... in 2013.

No significant controversies were documented in the sources reviewed. In 2025 Denise Richards' daughter Sami Sheen joked on Denise Richards and Her Wild Things that he might still have feelings for her mother; he later said on the MisSpelling podcast that the two had been just friends since the 1990s.

On the morning of Sunday 19 April 2026, Muldoon went to shower after his morning coffee at his Beverly Hills home; when he did not return, his girlfriend, Miriam Rothbart, found him unconscious on the bathroom floor and paramedics were called. He died shortly before 11 a.m., aged 57. His manager confirmed the death to Deadline and Variety. His death certificate, reported on 29 and 30 April, gave myocardial infarction as the immediate cause, with pulmonary embolism and hereditary coagulopathy as underlying causes. He was cremated on 28 April 2026; a public resting place was not made public. He was survived by his partner, his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and his niece and nephew. On what would have been his 58th birthday in September 2026, Denise Richards shared a photo of their "last hug" after the Starship Troopers reunion in Scotland.