Gary Sinise is standing in a brilliant green grove outside his rural Nashville home, grinning as he discusses the leading part that has become his favorite: “Papa” to his five grandkids, aged one to eight.
“It’s just the most wonderful thing,” the actor says.
Earlier in the day, Sinise, 70, handled the school run, but it’s not uncommon to see the Oscar-nominated actor hanging out with the grandchildren at Chuck E. Cheese or a nearby trampoline park.
“He spoils them rotten,” says Sinise’s daughter Sophie, 36, of her and her sister Ella’s children, who always find two things at Papa’s house: ice cream (“They know they’ll get fed a lot of it when they come,” he confesses) and hugs. “Being able to show love to them and our daughters has helped me a lot.”
That devotion kept him going after he stepped aside from his Hollywood profession in 2019 to care for his son Mac, who was diagnosed with bone cancer. In the year after Mac died in January 2024 at the age of 33, the actor found consolation in his close-knit family and Tennessee home, as well as a new purpose in honoring Mac’s legacy.
“Mac left us things that are beautiful,” Sinise says. “I want people to know who he was.”
In the summer of 2018, Sinise, an actor in high demand since his roles in Forrest Gump and Apollo 13 in the early 1990s (he has acted in over 50 feature films and television programs, including all nine seasons of CSI: NY), experienced a life-altering event.
Moira, 71, his wife of nearly 44 years, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer after they met while co-founding Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company as budding performers. And, as the couple was navigating her treatment, they discovered that Mac, the second of their three children, had a tumor on his lower backbone.
“It looked like a monster grabbing my son’s spine,” Sinise says of the MRI exam, which revealed Mac had chordoma, a bone cancer that affects only 300 individuals in the United States each year. Suddenly, the actor began to consider strategies to assist both of them: “It was a devastating blow.”
Moira was certified cancer-free after eight chemo and 35 radiation sessions, but Mac’s condition deteriorated further. Doctors excised his tumor, but he was among the few chordoma patients whose cancer returned. Sinise contacted specialists and investigated the ailment during breaks on site while filming movies and the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
“Dad bravely faced the challenges,” his daughter Ella, 32, remembers. “Whatever’s going on in his life, he goes all out. He performed admirably, but it was difficult to see since it was traumatic. It’s a true testament to his spirit; he doesn’t let difficulties slow him down.”
Mac spent six of the first eight months in the hospital in 2020. “That’s when I stopped acting,” Sinise explains. “I started putting everything I had into trying to find a miracle for Mac.”
He served as his son’s “air traffic controller”: “I didn’t want Mac to think about the next treatment or be worried. So I was thinking about cancer all the time. You’re attempting to alleviate the discomfort. I’ve had moments when I felt like I wasn’t doing enough or didn’t know what to do. Then you say a small prayer, get back up, and resume the battle.”
Sinise has witnessed other families go through similar challenges via his work assisting soldiers, first responders, and their families through the Gary Sinise Foundation, which he founded in 2011. “I’ve wrapped my arms around many children who have lost a mother or father. I’ve been around folks who have endured under terrible circumstances. It has given me strength. There’s little doubt that God prepared me well for dealing with our loss.
Even after tumors immobilized Mac from the chest down and limited his ability to move his arms fully, the family remained hopeful, relying on their strong Catholic faith. “Hope keeps you in the fight,” Sinise explains. “You could see malignancies on his body. You knew the medications were ineffective. But I didn’t imagine we’d lose him.
Moira, who has limited movement owing to severe back troubles, urged Mac, a musician and composer who had graduated from the University of Southern California music department, to teach himself harmonica, one of the few instruments he could still play.
Mac, who worked at the foundation creating music for promotional videos, had been a drummer since Sinise purchased him a starting drum set when he was nine, occasionally joining Sinise’s Lt. Dan Band (called after Sinise’s Forrest Gump character as a wounded Vietnam warrior). With the harmonica, Mac learned to perform the traditional song “Oh Shenandoah.” According to his sister Sophie, as his body weakened, his faith got stronger. He persevered in his body, soul, and spirit with outstanding bravery and strength.”
In 2023, Mac reconnected with a USC acquaintance, composer Oliver Schnee, who assisted him in reviving and arranging some of his dormant pieces. By Mac’s 33rd birthday in November, Gary’s foundation and family had relocated from Los Angeles to Tennessee, which was appealing due to its closeness to military bases and cheaper cost of living (“I wanted to spend less,” Sinise explains). Mac spent his birthday producing songs in Nashville for the CD Resurrection & Revival.
But the next month, on December 30, he was back in the hospital, with a St. Augustine prayer book by his side. Mac died on January 5, 2024, surrounded by family. “He kept wanting to stay.” He would rather not depart. But I know Mac was at peace toward the end. “He handled it with grace and courage,” Sinise adds.
A catastrophe like that may either destroy you or bring you together. Sinise recalls, “We pulled together a lot.” Sophie claims her parents became much closer. “She’s my dad’s number one supporter,” Sophie adds of Moira. “And she was Mac’s prayer warrior.”
In the months following Mac’s death, Sinise discovered new songs on his laptop and enlisted the help of friends to make a second album. Sinise published both, with the revenues from Resurrection & Revival: Parts 1 and 2 going to the Gary Sinise Foundation, as Mac requested.
Sinise aspires to one day see the records played live by an orchestra. He also plans to animate another of Mac’s pieces. “I want everyone to hear his music. I want people to share it.” I am on a mission.
He understands it’s his method of dealing with grief: “I was thinking the other day, ‘What happens after all these projects are done?’ Well, I’m going to draw things out as long as I can.”
Sinise is unsure when, if ever, he will return to acting. “Something may come along and it’ll be right, but it’s harder to leave home now,” adds the man. “I simply want to be with family. Since losing Mac, I’ve held my girls much tighter. You think about the most crucial things.”