Donald Carl "Don" Swayze (born August 10, 1958) is an American actor. He is the younger brother of actor Patrick Swayze.
Swayze was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Patricia "Patsy" Yvonne Helen (née Karnes), a choreographer, dance instructor, and dancer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze, an engineering drafter. His brother, Patrick Swayze, is also an actor.
He was a dancer in the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy. He played "Rudy" in the 1993 low-budget film Eye of the Stranger, but is best known for his television work. He appeared as a mentally handicapped man suspected of murder in an episode of Matlock, as well as a rough edged man in an episode of Murder She Wrote, as well as dozens of other TV appearances. More recently, he made several appearances on the HBO drama Carnivàle. He gained particular acclaim for his role in The Cutting Edge 2 with a stand out performance. His most recent role is on Cold Case as Grant Hall.
Don, Patrick, Vicki (deceased) and Sean are the children of Jessie Wayne "Buddy" Swayze and Yvonne Helen "Patsy" Swayze (nee Karnes). They are also distantly related to the late John Cameron Swayze They are descendants by 7 or 8 generations of Judge Samuel Swayze (1688/1689-1759) and his wife Penelope Horton (1689/1690-1746). Judge Swayze was the son of Joseph Swasey and his wife Mary Betts. Mary was the daughter of Captain Richard Betts and Joanna Chamberlayne. Other famous relations would be actors William Holden, Tom Hulce and Evgenia Citkowitz, wife of actor Julian Sands
