Eric McCormack Signs on for TNT's Pilot 'Perception'

Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Eric McCormack (Will & Grace, Who Is Clark Rockefeller?) has signed up to play the lead role in TNT's PERCEPTION (Working Title), a dramatic pilot from executive producer Kenneth Biller (Smallville, Legend of the Seeker) and co-executive producer Mike Sussman (Star Trek: Voyager). This marks McCormack's third project with TNT after previously starring in the 2009 series Trust Me and co-producing the 2007 pilot Imperfect Union. He will also act as a producer on PERCEPTION.

PERCEPTION centers on Dr. Geoffrey Pierce, an eccentric neuroscientist who uses his unique outlook to help the federal government solve complex cases. With an intimate knowledge of human behavior and a masterful understanding of the mind, this quirky, crime-solving professor pulls lessons from an odd and imaginative view of the world. Biller and Sussman penned the pilot, which is produced for TNT by ABC Studios.

"Eric McCormack is an intelligent, intuitive and versatile actor who is adept at both comedy and drama," said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "We're very excited to work with him again and can't wait to see what he brings to the fascinating character of Dr. Geoffrey Pierce."

McCormack got his start as an actor in Toronto more than 20 years ago. After five seasons with the Stratford Shakespearean Festival and stints in theaters across Canada, he came to the United States, where he has appeared in dozens of series and TV movies.

In 1998, McCormack took on the role of Will Truman in NBC's long-running hit series Will & Grace, which earned him five Golden Globe(R) nominations and the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. McCormack followed that success with memorable performances in Who Is Clark Rockefeller?, the miniseries The Andromeda Strain and the comedy series The New Adventures of Old Christine. He was also a producer on Lifetime's Lovespring International.

McCormack made his Broadway debut in The Music Man in 2001 and returned to the New York stage in 2006 in Neil LaBute's Some Girl(s).

ABC Studios is a leader in the development, production and strategic distribution of entertainment content across television and emerging platforms. As a content driver for the Disney/ABC Television Group, the studio produced 16 productions for broadcast and cable television during the 2010/11 season.

TNT, one of cable's top-rated networks, is television's destination for drama. Seen in 100 million households, the network is home to such original series as The Closer, starring Emmy(R) winner Kyra Sedgwick; Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; HawthoRNe, with Jada Pinkett Smith; Memphis Beat, with Jason Lee; Dark Blue, starring Dylan McDermott; Men of a Certain Age, with Ray Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula; and Southland, from Emmy(R)-winning producer John Wells (ER); as well as the upcoming Falling Skies, starring Noah Wyle, and Franklin & Bash, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer. TNT also presents such powerful dramas as Bones, Supernatural, Las Vegas, Law & Order, CSI: NY, Cold Case and Numb3rs; broadcast premiere movies; compelling primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards(R); and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR, the NBA and the NCAA men's basketball tournament. TNT is available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff

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