Derek Cecil was born on January 15, 1973 in Amarillo, Texas. He
graduated from the University of Houston and the American
Conservatory's Advanced Theater Training Program in San Francisco,
California. He is a founding member of New York's Rude Mechanicals
Theater Company and has acted and directed as a member of the company.
Cecil gained national exposure when he starred opposite
Mark Ruffalo in
UPN's short-lived TV series
The Beat (2000). The series dealt with the lives of
two uniform police officers in New York City and was from
Homicide: Life on the Street (1993)
executive producers
Barry Levinson and
Tom Fontana. Following a recurring role on
the Fox series
Pasadena (2001), Cecil took on another starring television role
with ABC's experimental
Push, Nevada (2002). Cecil played IRS agent Jim Prufrock on
the show, which offered viewers a cash prize for solving its fictional
mystery. Derek Cecil continues to divide his time between theater,
television, and film.