Peter Killian Gallagher was born on August 19, 1955 in New York. He has appeared on Broadway, but first achieved fame for his role in Steven Soderbergh's "sex, lies, and videotape". He hosts an annual award ceremony named "The Sandy Cohen Awards" after his character on The O.C. that gives a scholarship to a law school student at UC Berkeley who wants to become a public defender. He currently stars as Sandy Cohen on The O.C., a public defender and corporate lawyer.
Sandy Cohen is a public defender and corporate lawyer who is the husband of
Kirsten and father of
Seth Cohen . He takes in
Ryan Atwood , a troubled teen, and later adopts him after his own mother abandoned him. Sandy became the CEO of the Newport Group until he decided to return to the public defender's office.