Eric Dane has died. A veteran TV and film actor, Dane gained international prominence in 2006, when he was cast in a guest star role as Mark “McSteamy” Sloan on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy—a job that, after a sweeping audience response to the character, he would continue to hold for the next several years. Dane would go on to star in series like The Last Ship and Euphoria, leaning into his talents for showing both the lighter and darker sides of his traditional leading man persona. Diagnosed with ALS in 2025, Dane’s death on Thursday was confirmed to be due to complications from the disease. He was 53.
Born in San Francisco, Dane moved to Los Angeles in his mid-20s, where he pursued work in TV and film, gaining a number of small roles in shows like Saved By The Bell and Married… With Children. Although he scored a few notable roles during this time—including a recurring job as a love interest on Charmed, and a part as X-Men: The Last Stand‘s semi-villainous take on Marvel character Multiple Man—Dane got his big break in 2006, when Grey’s was looking to complicate its various love polygons even further. Arrogant, seductive, and charming, Dane’s McSteamy was enough of a charisma bomb for the hit show’s second season that producers reportedly called him a week after his guest episode ran, offering him a full-time position on the series. He would stay with the show for the next five seasons, before departing (in typically explosive Grey‘s fashion) at the end of its eighth.
Dane was vocal about his struggles during his time on Grey‘s, talking candidly about battles with prescription drug addiction, and how they likely impacted the decision to let him go from the series. (“I wasn’t the same guy they had hired, so I had understood when I was let go,” he told interviewers in 2024.) Nevertheless, he continued to work, notably with Michael Bay’s The Last Ship, which he began filming in 2012. Dane starred in all five seasons of the TNT original, playing the commander of a Navy vessel working to try to save the world after a deadly pandemic sets in. Dane was considerably less heroic in his next regular role, as Cal Jacobs, father of Jacob Elordi’s Nate, in HBO’s Euphoria; as Cal, Dane was able to tap into the uglier sides of his TV fantasy persona, showing a man whose considerable charm was being used to paper over the damaged and sometimes dangerous person lurking underneath. (Per Variety, Dane reprised his role for the show’s upcoming third season.)
Dane was married to actress Rebecca Gayheart, with whom he had two daughters, from 2004 until his death; although Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018, the two never formally split. In April of 2025, Dane revealed that he had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and by the end of the year was forced to use a wheelchair for mobility. He lent his support in his last year to nonprofit advocacy group I AM ALS, including helping to raise funds for research into the disease. “I don’t really have a dog in the fight, per se, when it comes to worrying about what people are going think about me,” Dane told The Washington Post in October. “This is more of a: ‘How can I help? How can I be of some service?’”
Dane’s family released the following statement on Thursday night:
With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS. He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world. Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight. He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he’s received. The family has asked for privacy as they navigate this impossible time
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