Born on April 29, 1969, Adelstein grew up in the Chicago area. He attended Bowdoin College in Maine and after graduating summa cum laude with a degree in English, the 20-year-old returned to Chicago and joined John Cusack’s commedia dell’arte troupe, New Crime Productions, as well as took workshops at the well known Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago. After appearing in stage versions of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Balcony,” Adelstein joined the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where he appeared in numerous performances such as “A Clockwork Orange” and “A Soldier’s Tale.” Adelstein made the leap to the big screen in 1990, alongside longtime friend John Cusack in the crime drama “The Grifters” and made his television debut on the short-lived Chicago-set series of “Cupid” (ABC, 1998-99) starring another famous friend, Jeremy Piven.
At the urging of his celebrity friends, Adelstein relocated to Los Angeles, where he landed guest spots on high profile network shows like “ER” (NBC, 1994-), “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (USA, 1999- ), “Medium” (NBC, 2005- ) and “Scrubs” (NBC, 2001- ). He began to bulk up his screen resume with small roles in “Intolerable Cruelty” (2003), “Collateral” (2004), and “Be Cool” (2005).
The working actor finally hit “recognizable” status when he landed a regular series role portraying tough-as-nails Secret Service Agent Paul Kellerman on the gritty series, “Prison Break.” The show did not garner rave reviews among critics, but had an enormous fan following around the world. Two seasons later, Adelstein left his shady government assassin persona behind, when his mysterious on-screen disappearance left fans questioning if Kellerman was really dead or alive. Adelstein resurfaced on ABC, displaying his more sensitive side as a pediatrics specialist on the “Grey’s Anatomy” spin-off “Private Practice,” which was unfortunately cut short during the 2007 Writers Guild Strike. In the spin-off, Adelstein played the likeable, sex-obsessed Dr. Cooper Freedman – the good doc with the screwed-up love life.