Dark-haired, boyishly good-looking Stephen Caffrey was born to Irish Catholic parents on September 27, 1959, the fifth of seven children in Cleveland, Ohio. Witnessing an older brothers' performance in a school play triggered an early interest and subsequent aptitude for acting, appearing in several plays of his own at various high schools (which were located in five different states!) At the age of 17 he and his family permanently settled in Chicago. Pursuing acting after graduation, he and a close knit group of acting friends founded the Immediate Theatre in Chicago. Blessed with "pretty boy" looks, Stephen was destined for soap opera attention and found just that playing a trouble-prone rich boy (Andrew Cortlandt) on the popular soap series La force du destin (1970) in the mid 80s. During his three years as a Pine Valley resident, he copped a daytime Emmy nomination in the "juvenile" category .
Instead of relying purely on eye-candy roles, he put his acting skills solidly to the test and in more rugged surroundings. After garnering some New York theatre role experiences, he earned a regular part as Lt. Myron Goldman in the Vietnam War-themed drama Commando Viêt-nam (1987) co-starring Terence Knox. He also managed to direct an episode during his three-season stint. Stephen's breakthrough in films came as the gay entertainment lawyer in the compassionate, critically-acclaimed AIDS drama Un compagnon de longue date (1989), following it with a featured role in John Goodman's The Babe (1992). What seemed like a very positive move forward toward large screen stardom ended up a perplexing and permanent stall for he has not appeared on film since with the exception of a single movie Blowback (2000) with Mario Van Peebles.
With the early 90s came appearances on the stage with "The Miser" (1990), "Bargains" (1991), "The Scarlet Letter" (1994), "I Hate Hamlet" (1995) and "The Singer's Boy" (1997). Stephen also marked a number of guest appearances in several other popular TV series drama, including "The Practice", "Providence", "Judging Amy", "CSI: Miami" and a recurring role alongside Dick Van Dyke and Cynthia Gibb in Diagnostic: meurtre (1993). He also racked up a number of TV movie credits, including co-star pairings with Valerie Bertinelli in Murder of Innocence (1993) and Ally Sheedy in Enterré vivant 2 (1997). The momentum of his on-camera career began to fade noticeably in the late 90s and he redirected his focus back to the stage. In 2004 he appeared as Torvald in a production of "A Doll's House" and in David Mamet's play "Oleanna" in 2006, among many others. Over time he has performed with relative frequency at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Stephen is single and currently establishes residences on both coasts.
