Actor Eric Dane has spoken with raw honesty about the profound impact of his ALS diagnosis, revealing the daily challenges of the degenerative condition while asserting his unwavering commitment to his acting career.
Confronting a Devastating Diagnosis
The 53-year-old star, best known for playing Dr Mark Sloan in Grey's Anatomy, participated in a virtual panel for IAMALS.org last week. He confessed to feeling overwhelmed by the diagnosis, which has significantly impaired his mobility and speech. Eric Dane received the devastating ALS diagnosis in April, after first noticing symptoms in early 2024.
"I have no reason to be in a good spirit at any time, on any given day," an emotional Dane admitted during the discussion. He added that nobody would blame him if he retreated, but instead, he is choosing a path of resilience. "I'm not about to concede my purpose for some disease. I just am not capable of doing that," he stated firmly.
Adapting His Career Amid Physical Limits
The neurodegenerative disorder, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, has forced Dane to reconsider the roles he can perform. He has lost mobility in his arms, experiences noticeable speech changes, and now uses a wheelchair. Despite this, his resolve to work remains strong.
"I'm fairly limited in what I can do physically as an actor but I still have my brain and I still have my speech so I'm willing to do just about anything," he explained. Dane acknowledged that future roles will likely need to be "ALS-centric," accepting that the condition will be a visible part of any character he portrays.
This determination led him to take a deeply personal role on the NBC medical drama Brilliant Minds last month. He portrayed Matthew, a firefighter living with ALS, in an episode filmed in October. Dane was photographed in a wheelchair on set in Toronto.
A Cathartic Yet Challenging Portrayal
Dane admitted that playing a character with ALS while battling the condition himself was an intensely difficult experience. "The hardest thing for me to do was separate myself from the character because it was something that was so fresh and so real to me," he shared.
He revealed there were moments where it was "very difficult" to get his lines out, but overall, he found the process "a bit cathartic." He described the project as a "one of a kind experience" that he is unsure he would repeat for anyone else.
The episode marked his first acting role since publicly revealing his diagnosis. Viewers had previously noticed his limited use of his right arm and hand in his role in the Prime series Countdown, which premiered in June. He has also reportedly reprised his role in Euphoria and will appear in the thriller Family Secrets.
Using His Platform for Awareness
Beyond his career, Dane is focused on his family—he has two daughters with his wife of 20 years, actress Rebecca Gayheart—and on using his platform to raise awareness. He stated that sharing his journey is now "imperative."
"This is such a big deal to me, to make sure that people are aware of what ALS is," Dane said. He expressed frustration with the "rocky" landscape filled with "bureaucracy" that hinders progress, vowing to help sift through it to find solutions. His primary goal is to shift the focus from himself to the broader fight against the disease, a perspective he believes is essential to moving forward.
