← Back to PopSpill Daily

Dermot Mulroney Finally Addresses The One Thing Fans Never Asked

Persona #3 · Vol: 2000
There are two types of people in this world: people who know who Dermot Mulroney is, and people who think I'm talking about Dylan McDermott. If you just felt a chill run down your spine because you genuinely cannot tell them apart, congratulations, you're part of a nationwide psychological experiment that's been running since 1988. For the uninitiated, Dermot Mulroney is the guy from "My Best Friend's Wedding." No, not the one who got the girl. The other one. He's also the guy from "Young Guns," "The Wedding Date," and approximately 400 other things you've definitely seen but can't quite place. He has the distinct honor of being one of Hollywood's most successful working actors who has never once been the most famous person in any room he's entered. But now, at long last, Mulroney is making headlines. Not for a new movie. Not for a scandal. Not even for a nostalgic reboot of something you vaguely remember from 1997. No, he's trending because the internet collectively woke up one morning and decided to ask: "Wait, is Dermot Mulroney still alive?" He is. He's fine. He's been fine. He's been quietly working this whole time while you were busy confusing him with Dylan McDermott, who is also fine, by the way. Two separate men. Two separate careers. Two separate IMDb pages that you've been accidentally merging in your brain for three decades. The confusion reached a fever pitch this week when a viral tweet asked, "Why do we never talk about Dermot Mulroney?" The answer, of course, is that we do. We just do it while looking directly at Dylan McDermott's face. It's a phenomenon scientists call "celebrity face blindness," and it affects millions of Americans every single day. Symptoms include squinting at your TV during a commercial break and whispering, "Is that the guy from 'Scream 3'?" (It's not. That's Scott Foley. But you're close.) Mulroney, for his part, has handled this existential crisis with the grace of a man who's been mistaken for another actor so many times that he's probably just stopped correcting people. In interviews, he's diplomatic. He's charming. He's exactly what you'd expect from a guy who's been in the business for forty years and still gets carded at the grocery store because nobody recognizes him without a haircut from 1991. The real kicker? Mulroney is actually having a moment. He's in "The Family Plan" with Mark Wahlberg. He was in "Anyone But You" with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. He's been in more hit movies in the last two years than most actors half his age. And yet, the average American still can't pick him out of a lineup that includes Dylan McDermott, David Duchovny, and a cardboard cutout of Patrick Dempsey. So here's to Dermot Mulroney: the hardest-working man in show business whose name you'll forget the second you finish this article. You're not Dylan McDermott. You're better. You're the guy who shows up, does the job, cashes the check, and goes home to a life that doesn't involve being chased by paparazzi or explaining to strangers that you're not the other guy. That's not a curse. That's a retirement plan. **The Verdict:** Dermot Mulroney is a national treasure who deserves better than being the answer to a trivia question nobody asked. Next time you see him in something, say his name out loud. Then immediately Google it to make sure you got it right.
Continue Reading