Robert Hepler Lowe (/lo?/; born March 17, 1964)[1] is an American actor. He came to prominence as a teen idol in the 1980s, appearing in teen and young adult film roles in The Outsiders (1983), Oxford Blues (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), and About Last Night... (1986). Thereafter, his film career decreased and he ventured into television, making his breakthrough as Sam Seaborn on the NBC political drama The West Wing (1999–2003), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Award nominations. Lowe appeared as Robert McCallister on the ABC television drama Brothers & Sisters (2006–2010), followed by a four-year run as Chris Traeger on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2010–14), for which he was critically acclaimed. He is currently starring as Dr. Ethan Willis on the CBS medical drama Code Black (2015–) and appears with his two sons, Matthew and Jon Owen, in the A&E reality series The Lowe Files (2017–). In addition to his 2001 Emmy nomination for The West Wing,[2] Lowe has six Golden Globe Award nominations, which span four of the seven categories for male actors.[3]