Dean Winters

Dean Gerard Winters (born July 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ryan O'Reily on the HBO prison drama Oz, and has also appeared on such television series as Rescue Me, 30 Rock, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as the character "Mayhem" in a series of Allstate Insurance commercials. Winters co-starred with Josh Duhamel in one season of the CBS Network cop drama series Battle Creek. 2Early life Dean Winters was born in New York City, New York to an Irish father and an Italian mother. He has three siblings: actor Scott William Winters, writer Bradford Winters, and Blair Winters. He grew up on Long Island and spent his teenage years in Scottsdale, Arizona. He attended the Jesuit Brophy College Preparatory school in Phoenix, graduating in 1982. He graduated from Colorado College. 2Career Winters has appeared in two of the Law & Order television series: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he was a regular in the first season, and as a guest star in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Purgatory". More than ten years after his final appearance on SVU, he again portrayed Detective Brian Cassidy in the 13th-season finale "Rhodium Nights", became a recurring character in the 14th season and, in the 15th season, also became Sergeant Olivia Benson's love interes