Actor Gabriel Macht gained insight from dad's career

PASADENA, Calif. — Gabriel Macht’s parents hoped their son would become a doctor or a lawyer.

In a way, their wish has been granted: He has played both on television.

Acting was more of a destiny than a choice for Macht, the son of actor Stephen Macht. Since age 8, the younger Macht has been reciting lines and hitting his mark.

“My father ... had a bunch of his actor friends around,” he said. “There was a lot of hanging out and having coffee and all this stuff.”

And Macht didn’t have to pass the bar for his role as pragmatic lawyer Harvey Specter on the USA Network series Suits, in its fourth season.

He did, however, face a trial: Another actor had been cast when Macht read the script.

“I had been doing film for 15 years and saw that a lot of the better writing was in television and started reading scripts,” he said. “I asked my representation about it, and they said they were going with another guy. And they did.”

But that actor turned down the offer.

“Then I said, ‘Can I get in?’” Macht recalled.

“I sat down with Aaron Korsh, the creator, and the producers. Coming out of that meeting, they said: ‘This is our guy. We need to see him read, but this is our guy.’ So I had that confidence and support going into the audition.”

Likewise, for his role as Dr. Mark Gabriel on the NBC series The Others (2000), Macht didn’t have to learn organic chemistry.

That scenario, though, played out differently.

“I was making $210 a week doing a play, fully committed to the play,” recalled Macht, 42. “I was told to go out for pilot season, and I didn’t want to do television.

“I was told there was one show that Steven Spielberg was doing. I thought: ‘OK, I’ll go in. I’ll just show my face. I’ll do a cold reading. I won’t even prepare for it. He’s never going to hire me, but I’d love for him to just see my face and think of me for a movie he’s doing, whatever.'"

Five minutes before his play performance that evening, he learned that he had won the part on The Others.

“I had to fly to Toronto two days later — where I would be making a lot more than $200 a week,” he said.

“And I was like ‘Uh, I didn’t want to do television. I have to forgo my responsibility for this show?’ I ended up being sued by the theater.”

Macht has endured lean years, too.

But watching his father’s career prepared him, he said.

“Seeing the ups and downs of a career in Hollywood helped me in many ways to see it. And to see that growing up was really the best sort of model.”

Macht has been married to actress Jacinda Barrett for almost 10 years, and the two have a 6-year-old daughter.

“I’m so appreciative of the opportunity I’ve had to work and the people I’ve been able to work with, but I think family trumps everything.”