Trivia

Was originally cast as Chandler in Friends (1994) but turned down the role and was replaced by Matthew Perry.

Gained a good deal of muscle and bulk to play boxer Max Baer in Cinderella Man (2005).

He played traveling salesman Professor Harold Hill in the Broadway revival of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man," which opened on April 27, 2000. He was later nominated for a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical later that year.

Was offered the choice to lead a sitcom called "Best Friends," or play Chandler Bing in "Friends Like Us," later renamed to just "Friends." After conferring with close friends and fellow aspiring stars, Hank Azaria and Matthew Perry--both of whom having implored Bierko to go with the Chandler Bing role--Bierko instead told his agent to put him down for the lead on "Best Friends", which ended up getting canceled after a handful of episodes. Perry, having witnessed the phone call to Bierko's agent, positioned himself to read for the role himself at that point, securing it within three days, and launching himself into superstardom and Americana as a result.

Given title "Sexiest Broadway Star" by People Magazine. (November 2000)

Renny Harlin credits Bierko with suggesting Santana's cover of the Zombies' "She's Not There" for the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

He has Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) and Polish (father) ancestry.

He studied journalism at Boston University and studied at the School of Speech at Northwestern University in 1986. Other NU alumni include NRA president Charlton Heston.

His surname pronounced as "bee-yehr-kaw" (shortly).

Matthew Perry stated in his autobiography that the funniest human being he ever met was Bierko, and that the two of them were friends for years when both were struggling actors, before Perry landed the Chandler Bing role. Perry revealed that when their circle of friends would go on outings together, he would crack everyone up so hard that Perry would often have to pull his car over on the way home due to the laughter Bierko's jokes would induce, at which point he would look outside his window and see Bierko driving past, laughing himself because he understood what was happening.

Attended Blind Brook High School in his hometown of Rye Brook, New York.

In early 1990s, frequented West Hollywood's celebrity-friendly Martin Henry Fitness Studio with good buddy Helen Hunt and took Nelson Aspen's step-aerobics class.

His name is from a Scottish surname which was derived from Gaelic creag meaning "crag" or "rocks", originally indicating a person who lived near a crag.