Tom Selleck is one of my favorite actors! He is also a veteran, having served in the California National Guard.
The actor got rose to popularity after he played P.I. Thomas Magnum, in the TV show, Magnum P.I, which ran from 1980-1988. I remember watching a lot of Magnum P.I. on reruns in the 1990s and loved that show. It’s so 80s!
Today, you can find him on the show Blue Bloods, as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan. Another great show about a family of police officers. Selleck plays a widow and father of the family. Actor Len Cariou plays his father on the show, even though the two are only about six years apart in real life.
You might also remember Tom Selleck in the 1987 comedy, Three Men and a Baby, or as Monica Geller’s love interest in Friends.
Tom Selleck was born in Michigan in 1945, and his family moved to Sherman Oaks, CA just a few years later. He started acting while in college and stared in a Pepsi commercial in 1967. He was also drafted into the Vietnam war the same year.
He joined the California National Guard and served from 1967-1973 in the 160th Infantry Regiment of the California Army National Guard. In fact, he even appeared on the California National Guard recruiting posters at one time.
In a quote on Military.com, the actor has said, “I am a veteran; I’m proud of it. I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense.”
Tom Selleck is a big supporter of the military, and we thank him for his service. In 2009, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund as national spokesman for the new Education Center being built on the National Mall.