Academy Award-nominated actor Gary Sinise plays Detective Mac Taylor on the CBS series CSI: NY. Sinise directed the 1992 film Of Mice and Men, starring himself and fellow Steppenwolf Theatre actor John Malkovich.

Though an acclaimed film and theater director in the 1980s, Sinise did not become well-known to most American audiences until the release of 1994's Forrest Gump, where he played Lieutenant Dan Taylor. He appeared with Tom Hanks the following year in Apollo 13 and portrayed former president Harry Truman in the 1995 HBO film Truman.

At the age of 19, Sinise and two friends founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, which has featured several notable actors, including Joan Allen, Laurie Metcalf, Glenne Headly, Gary Cole and John Malkovich. In 1982, Sinise produced and directed a production of Sam Shepard's True West. It had success in Chicago and New York, and was later shot and televised on PBS.

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• March 17, 1955: Born

• 1974: co-created Steppenwolf theatre company

• 1992: Of Mice And Men

• 1994: Forrest Gump

• 1995: Apollo 13

• 1995: Truman

• 1997: George Wallace

• 2000: Reindeer Games

• 2000: Mission to Mars

• 2003: created Lt. Dan Band

• 2004: CSI: NY