Charles Esten

Charles Esten
Esten in 2024
Born	Charles Esten Puskar III (1965-09-09) September 9, 1965 (age 59) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other names	Chip Esten
Alma mater	College of William and Mary
Occupations	Actor musician singer-songwriter comedian
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Patty Hanson ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	3
Website	charlesesten.com

Charles Esten Puskar III (born September 9, 1965), also known professionally as Charles Esten, and (when appearing as himself on improvisation shows or hosting) as Chip Esten, is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, and comedian.

Esten played the role of country singer Deacon Claybourne on the drama Nashville from 2012 to 2018, which subsequently kickstarted his own musical career. He also played Ward Cameron on the teen drama series Outer Banks. He appeared in the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a series regular between 1999–2005 and returned with guest appearances from 2017–2020.

Early life

Esten was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to Alexandria, Virginia at age nine, after his parents divorced.^[1] He and his younger sister were raised by their mother.^[2]

His late father, Charles, was a prominent local businessman and business partner of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Ray Mansfield.^[3]

Esten is a 1983 graduate of Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School, where he played football for the Titans a decade after the events of the film Remember the Titans. He then attended his parents' and sister's alma mater, the College of William and Mary, where he was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and graduated with a degree in economics in 1987.^[2] At William and Mary, he was the lead vocalist in the local band "N'est Pas" from 1985–88. Following graduation, Esten moved to the United Kingdom to make his theatrical debut, playing the title role in the musical Buddy in the early 1990s.^[4]

Esten's first television appearance was in December 1988 as a contestant on the NBC game show Sale of the Century (under the name Chip Puskar). He won over $32,000 in cash and prizes in five episodes (December 13-19); he later sold his prizes.^[4]

Career

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

In 1992, Esten made his debut on Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the fourth series and "won" the episode. He subsequently appeared in more episodes later the same year when the show did a run in New York City. At the time, the show needed a second specialist improvisational singer to fill in for Mike McShane.

Esten made his final appearance in the UK edition in 1994 before moving back to the US. Although appearing on stage and screen thereafter, his 1999 return to Whose Line Is It Anyway? — in the show's American format with Drew Carey as host — established him as a regular "fourth contestant" on the show. Due to his singing abilities, he was often paired with series regular Wayne Brady on musical games. Although he did not return as a regular when the show was revived in 2013 and only appeared as a special guest during the 13th and 14th seasons (as he was one of the main cast members of Nashville), he eventually returned as a fourth seater in season 15.

Other comedy work

Following his return to Whose Line Is It Anyway, Esten made a guest appearance as himself with fellow regular cast members from the show Wayne Brady, Greg Proops and Brad Sherwood on The Drew Carey Show. In 2003, he hosted a semi-scripted semi-improvised comedy mini series called On the Spot. Between 2004–06, he was a member of the touring group Improv All-Stars^[5][6] and recurring cast member on Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.

In 2011, he was a regular on Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza on GSN. Esten and fellow former Whose Line Is It Anyway stars Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles and Jeff Davis regularly teamed up and tour around the country doing live improv under the name Whose Live Anyway?. In April 2014, Esten left Whose Live Anyway? due to his role in Nashville, and was replaced by Joel Murray.

Film appearances

In 2001, Esten appeared in Billy Crystal's TV movie 61* as Kevin Maris, the son of legendary New York Yankees slugger Roger Maris. He had small roles in three Kevin Costner movies, The Postman, Thirteen Days as downed U-2 pilot Major Rudolf Anderson, and Swing Vote.

Television

Esten has appeared as a guest star in various TV series, including Married... with Children, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, ER, NCIS: Los Angeles, Jessie, The Mentalist, and The Office.^[7]

From 2012 to 2018, he was part of the main cast of Nashville, starring as Deacon Claybourne. He has also contributed to the soundtracks as both a singer and songwriter.^[8] He co-wrote "I Know How to Love You Now" with Deana Carter, which was featured in the season 3 premiere. Starting in 2020, he was one of the stars of the Netflix series, Outerbanks, playing Ward Cameron.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, he appeared as a celebrity contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $500,000 for his charity.^[9]

In 2017, Esten was cast in a series of television and radio advertisements as Carl Hardee Sr., the fictional founder of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast food chains.^[10]

On July 9, 2018, it was announced that Esten was cast in a recurring role in the TNT thriller Tell Me Your Secrets. ^[11]

Music

On July 25, 2018, Esten was awarded the Guinness World Records title of "The most consecutive weeks to release an original digital single by a music act".^[12] He was presented with the certificate following a performance of his single, Halfway Home, on NBC's Today. His #EverySingleFriday project was announced via his Twitter page July 1, 2016 and ran from July 15th of that year through July 21, 2017. Over the course of 54 weeks Esten delivered a new single each Friday, which he himself wrote or co-wrote. Artists featured throughout the project include Ashley Campbell, Colin Linden, Steve Mandile of Sixwire, Sarah Siskind, Karla Davis, and Miss Jackie Wilson.^{[citation needed]}

Esten is a frequent performer on the Grand Ole Opry. His 100th performance was celebrated with his appearance on the program on July 20, 2018. On February 4, 2023, Esten filled in as host of the Saturday live performance segment of the Grand Ole Opry, his first appearance in that role.^{[citation needed]}

On May 15, 2019, it was announced that Esten had signed with APA's concert division for music representation. ^[13] He continues to tour across the U.S. and Europe, performing his original music.

In 2023, Esten announced the release of "One Good Move", the debut single from his upcoming debut studio album, set for independent release later in the year.^[14] "Love Ain't Pretty" was released as the second single from the album, later revealed to be set for release on January 26, 2024.

Personal life

Esten is married to Patty Hanson,^[15] whom he met in college.^[2][16] They have three children. The family moved to Nashville after Esten was cast as a series regular on Nashville.^[17]

Esten is national chairman for the annual Light the Night Walks, a fundraiser benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). His daughter is a leukemia survivor.^[18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1996	Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom	Generic Cap #1	Video game, voice role
1997	The Postman	Michael, Abby's Husband
2000	Thirteen Days	Maj. Rudolf Anderson
2001	Roots of the Cuban Missile Crisis	Major Anderson	Video documentary
2002	Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet	Bill	segment "Twelve Miles to Trona"
2003	Water Under the Bridge	Don
	Nobody Knows Anything!	Conner Fulton
2007	American Family	Larry Bogner
2008	1%	John Tipton
	Swing Vote	Lewis	(as Charles 'Chip' Esten)
2024	The Easy Kind	Tye
TBA	Grizzly Night †	Gary Bunney	Post-production
	Signing Day †	Coach Crew Marshall	Post-production

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

TV

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1988	Sale of the Century	Self/Contestant	4 episodes (as Chip Puskar)
1989	On the Television	various	5 episodes
1990	Scrabble	Self/Contestant	1 episode (as Chip Puscar)
1992, 1994	Whose Line Is It Anyway (UK)	Self/Performer	8 episodes (as Chip Esten)
1993	Cheers	unnamed marine	1 episode
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Divok	Episode: "Rightful Heir"
1994	Murphy Brown	Secretary #67	1 episode
1995–1996	The Crew	Randy Anderson	Main cast
1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Dathan	Episode: "Remember"
	Diagnosis: Murder	Joe Carter	1 episode
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Ethan Press	Episode: "Stop the Presses"
1997	JAG	Lieutenant Pete 'Pistol' Ayers	1 episode
	Married... with Children	Lonnie	2 episodes
	The Sleepwalker Killing	Mark Schall	Made-for-TV movie
1998–2000	The Brian Benben Show	Chad Rockwell	Main cast
1998	Instant Comedy with the Groundlings	Self	TV series
1999–2005, 2017–2020	Whose Line Is It Anyway (US)	Self/Performer	Recurring (Seasons 2–8), Guest (Seasons 13–16) (all as Chip Esten)
1999	Jesse	Tad	1 episode
	Jack & Jill	Nick Seraph	1 episode
	The Expendables	Ram	Made-for-TV movie
	Late Last Night	Beverly Hills Cop	Made-for-TV movie
	Providence	Ted Shannon	1 episode
2000	Party of Five	Luke	Recurring role (Season 6)
	My VH1 Music Awards	Self	TV special documentary (as Chip Esten)
2000–2001	The Drew Carey Show	Chip / Stall for Time Player #1	2 episodes
2001	Hollywood Squares	Self	2 episodes (as Chip Esten)
	The Trouble with Normal	Carson	Episode: "Unconventional Behavior"
	61*	Kevin Maris ('98)	Made-for-TV movie (as Chip Esten)
	Drew Carey's Improv All Stars	Self/Performer	TV special (as Chip Esten)
2002	The Guardian	Mark Hanson	1 episode
	The Johnny Chronicles	Patrick Monroe	Made-for-TV movie
	Rendez-View	Self	Episode: "Freak-a-thon"
2003	On the Spot	Self/Host	Main cast
	L.A. Dragnet	Carl Savitsky	1 episode
	All Grown Up!		Made-for-TV movie
	Just Shoot Me!	Jake	1 episode
	Rocket Power	Story writer	Episode: "A Rocket X-mas"
2004–2005	Drew Carey's Green Screen Show	Self/Performer	Recurring (as Chip Esten)
2004	NYPD Blue	Tim Keating	1 episode
	Cold Case	John "The Hawk" Hawkins	1 episode
	The Magical Gathering	Self	Made-for-TV movie (as Chip Esten)
2006	The Office	Josh Porter	Guest (Season 2), Recurring role (Season 3)
2007	Help Me Help You	Willis	Episode: "Moving On"
	The Winner	Gary	Episode: "Broken Home"
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Joe Campbell	2 episodes
2007–2008	ER	Dr. Barry Grossman	4 episodes
2009–2010	Big Love	Ray Henry	Recurring role (Season 3), Guest (Season 4)
2009	The Mentalist	Rick Bregman	1 episode
	The Cleaner	Dr. Jake Slovak	Episode: "An Ordinary Man"
	NCIS: Los Angeles	John Cole/Ethan Stanhope	1 episode
2011	Wilfred	Nick	2 episodes
	Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza	Self/Performer	Main cast (as Chip Esten)
	Jessie	Morgan Ross	4 episodes
	Enlightened	Damon Manning	Recurring role
2012–2018	Nashville	Deacon Claybourne	Main cast; 124 episodes Nominated—Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television
2012	Nashville: The Whole Story	Self/Narrator	TV special
2013	Nashville: On the Record	Self	TV special
	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire		2 episodes
2014	Nashville: On the Record 2		TV special
2015	Nashville: On the Record 3		TV special
2017	CMT Music Awards	Self/Host
2020–2023	Outer Banks	Ward Cameron	Main cast; 28 episodes
2020	Country Music Association Awards	Self/Presenter
2021	Tell Me Your Secrets	Saul Barlow	4 episodes
2023-2024	The Kelly Clarkson Show	Self/Musical Guest	2 episodes
TBA	Homestead	Cain Ross

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Title	Album details
Love Ain't Pretty[19]	Released: January 26, 2024 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download, streaming

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Sales	Album
		US Country [20]	US [21]
2012	"Undermine" (with Hayden Panettiere)^A	35	116		The Music of Nashville: Season 1 Volume 1
	"No One Will Ever Love You" (with Connie Britton)^A	36	117
2013	"This Town" (with Clare Bowen)	41	—		The Music of Nashville: Season 2, Volume 1
2017	"Sanctuary" (with Lennon & Maisy)	31 [22]	—	US: 9,000[23]	The Music of Nashville: Season 5, Volume 1
2020	"Strong" (with Jillian Cardarelli)	—	—
2023	"One Good Move"[24]	—	—		Love Ain't Pretty
	"A Little Right Now"[25]	—	—
	"In a Bar Somewhere"	—	—
	"Down the Road"[26] (featuring Eric Paslay)	—	—
	"Somewhere in the Sunshine"	—	—
2024	"Make You Happy"[27] / "When Love Ain't Love"^B	—	—
	"—" denotes releases that did not chart

• ^ADid not enter the Hot 100 but charted on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.
• ^B "When Love Ain't Love" is the B-side to the single "Make You Happy."

References

1. ""Whose Live Anyway"? is a party, performer says". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. October 13, 2009. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012.
2. "Life is Good – For Chip Esten '87, success is more than "Nashville"" (PDF). William & Mary Alumni Magazine. College of William & Mary. Spring 2014. pp. 32–36. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
3. "Obituary: Charles E. Puskar: force behind creation of SIDS of Pennsylvania". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 25, 2009.
4. Bugler, Daphne (October 25, 2019). "Charles Esten: 'I was more afraid of me than of anyone else'". GQ. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
5. 'Whose Line' co-star relishing 'Improv All-Stars' tour : North County Times – Californian, Nctimes.com; accessed March 19, 2015.
6. "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on August 27, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
7. Chip Esten (2009). NCIS: Los Angeles episode (TV-Series).
8. "Watch Charles Esten Bring 'Nashville'-Worthy Grit to the Opry". Rolling Stone. December 3, 2014.
9. Moraski, Lauren (May 7, 2014). "Chip Esten on Nashville Finale, Show's Future". CBS News. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
10. Stanley, T.L. (March 19, 2017). "Burgers, Not Boobs: Carl's Jr. Brilliantly Flips the Script by Tearing Down Its Own Smutty Ads". Ad Week. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
11. Swift, Andy (July 9, 2018). "Nashville's Charles Esten Joins TNT Thriller Tell Me Your Secrets". TVLine. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
12. Stephenson, Kristen (August 2, 2018). "Country music star and actor honored with the official certificate on TODAY show". Guinness World Records. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
13. Mims, Taylor (May 15, 2019). "'Nashville' Star Charles Esten Signs With APA for Music Representation". Billboard. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
14. "Charles Esten announces his debut album release with new song 'One Good Move'". February 22, 2023.
15. "Puskar-Hanson". Orlando Sentinel. November 3, 1991.
16. Leydon, Joe (August–September 2015). "Charles Esten". Cowboys & Indians.
17. "Charles Esten Isn't Leaving Nashville After 'Nashville'". December 28, 2017.
18. Schmitt, Brad. "Charles Esten's painful path through daughter's cancer". The Tennessean. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
19. Anderson, Liza (August 24, 2023). "Charles Esten To Ring In 2024 With 'Love Ain't Pretty' Release". MusicRow. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
20. "Hot Country Songs Week of November 10, 2012". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
21. "Bubbling Under Hot 100 Week of November 10, 2012". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
22. "Billboard Country Update" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
23. "Top 30 Digital Singles Chart: March 13, 2017". March 14, 2017.
24. Newman, Melinda (March 23, 2023). "Charles Esten on the Story Behind New Song, 'One Good Move': 'I Was Just a Bad Decision Machine'". Billboard. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
25. Yeseke Taylor, Katherine (April 24, 2023). "Charles Esten Announces Faith-Inspired Single "A Little Right Now"". American Songwriter. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
26. Wendowski, Andrew (August 27, 2023). "Charles Esten Shares Story Behind New Single "Down The Road," Talks Debut Album & Reuniting With 'Nashville' Cast For Tour". Music Mayhem. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
27. Watts, Cindy (January 22, 2024). "CMT Premiere: Charles Esten Returns To His Improv Roots With His Lighthearted "Make You Happy" Video". CMT. Archived from the original on January 22, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Charles Esten at IMDb 
• Whose Live Anyway? live improv comedy show starring Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Jeff Davis touring North America