Eric Dane, the actor whose charismatic portrayal of Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy made him a household name, died on Thursday at the age of 53 following a prolonged battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). His passing marks the loss of one of television’s most quietly compelling presences — an actor who consistently defied the limitations of his own stardom.
Dane’s path to fame was methodical rather than meteoric. He spent the 1990s building his craft through guest appearances on Saved by the Bell, Married… with Children, and Charmed, before early film roles in Sol Goode (2003) and the TV movie Helter Skelter (2004) began to broaden his reach.
Everything changed in 2006 when he stepped onto the set of Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Mark Sloan. Over 139 episodes spanning six seasons, Dane transformed what could have been a throwaway heartthrob role into something far more textured — earning the show’s beloved “McSteamy” nickname along the way, and a Satellite Award as part of the series’ Best Ensemble cast.
Rather than rest on Grey’s Anatomy’s considerable laurels, Dane pivoted to TNT’s military thriller The Last Ship, leading the series as Captain Tom Chandler across 56 episodes from 2014 to 2018. It was a striking gear-shift — trading hospital drama for geopolitical tension — and it worked.
His most daring reinvention came with HBO’s Euphoria, where he played the deeply unsettling Cal Jacobs from 2019 onwards across 13 episodes. The role stripped away any residual glossiness, earning him critical praise and cementing his reputation as an actor unafraid of moral complexity.
On the big screen, Dane accumulated over 20 film credits — including X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Marley & Me (2008), and most recently Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024). Several projects, including the miniseries Kabul and the film Countdown, remain in the pipeline as part of his final body of work.
Across his career, he earned four awards wins, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and six nominations.