He may be known as one of the most iconic actors in primetime television today, but before Magnum P.I., Friends and Blue Bloods, a young Tom Selleck was just trying to make a name for himself in Hollywood.
Selleck — whose full name is Thomas William Selleck — was born on January 29, 1945. He starred for years as small unnamed characters and movies and TV shows before his breakout role 1980 as private investigator Thomas Magnum in CBS’ primetime drama series Magnum P.I. The series ran for eight seasons from 1980 to 1988 and earned Selleck five Emmy Award nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series category. He won his first Emmy in the category in 1985. After Magnum P.I., Selleck also starred in a recurring role as Richard Burke in Friends from Season 2 to Season 6.
Selleck returned to primetime television in 2010 when he debuted as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan in CBS’ Blue Bloods.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in November 2022, Selleck revealed that he never thought he would be on a long-running primetime drama series again after the finale of Magnum P.I. “We did eight [seasons] on Magnum [P.I.] and I thought I’d never get that lucky again and now we’ve done 13 [on Blue Bloods] and going strong,” Selleck said.
He continued, “It’s hard to say you’re gonna go 13 seasons and we’re approaching 300 episodes, but I’ve always thought the show had enormous potential because there’s police work but it was a character-driven show. And I think my experience on Magnum was the same thing — being character-driven, the story could keep evolving and change when people get older, and all those things add to your ability to tell stories. We’re not out of ideas yet.”
Selleck’s Blue Bloods co-star, Donnie Wahlberg who plays Danny Reagan, also confessed to Entertainment Tonight that hever predicted that the series would air for as long as it did. “It takes a lot of luck to get to this point,” he said. “For anyone who’s trying to have a career in acting or show business, you need luck. You need an audience that cares about your show or whatever it is you’re doing and you need a great team. There’s so many elements that go into it but when we started I would say I thought it would be around for a little while, I couldn’t imagine 13 years,” he said. “But I definitely thought five, maybe six or seven. But it’s like a train now. It just won’t stop rolling.”
But back to Selleck. Read on to see what Tom Selleck looked like when he was young and photos of him through the years.
