The eldest son of actor Jose Ferrer and singer Rosemary Clooney, Ferrer was drawn to the drums as a child after seeing Little Ricky play them on "I Love Lucy" and Ringo Starr perform with The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show." A professional musician by his late teens, Ferrer was chosen as one of three drummers -- including Ringo Starr -- to perform on Keith Moon's solo album. Fittingly he made his acting debut playing a drummer in an episode of "Sunshine" (NBC, 1975), a sitcom co-starring his friend and fellow musician Bill Mumy (best remembered for playing Will Robinson on "Lost in Space"), who snared him the gig.
Apart from music, Ferrer became a busy character actor in films and TV. In 1990 alone his output included recurring roles on "Twin Peaks" and "Shannon's Deal:" a part in the "Drug Wars" miniseries; a starring role as a Blue Bayou cop in his own series "Broken Badges;" and supporting roles in two features, "Revenge" and "The Guardian." Ferrer achieved leading man status in the little-seen thriller, "The Harvest" (1993), landed higher profile gigs in three commmercial projects: "Point of No Return," "Hot Shots: Part Deux," and "Another Stakeout" -- all feature film hits.