He portrayed Kenickie in the film Grease and had roles in three television series: struggling actor Bobby Wheeler in Taxi (1978-1982), Prince Erik Greystone in Wizards and Warriors, and security officer Zack Allan on Babylon 5.

Conaway was born on October 5, 1950, in Manhattan, New York, and raised in the Astoria, Flushing, and Forest Hills neighborhoods of Queens.

[4] He also spent time living with his grandparents in South Carolina, which gave him enough of a Southern accent[4] that when he accompanied his mother to a casting call for director Arthur Penn's Broadway play All the Way Home, a story set in Knoxville, Tennessee, the 10-year-old Conaway landed a featured role as one of four boys.

[3] After playing with the rock band 3+1⁄2 beginning at age 15, he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts[3][6] and later transferred to New York University.

[3] He made his film debut in the 1971 romantic drama Jennifer on My Mind, which also featured future stars Robert De Niro and Barry Bostwick.

[3] The following year, Conaway appeared in the original cast of the Broadway musical Grease, as an understudy to several roles including that of the lead male character, Danny Zuko, and eventually succeeded role-originator Barry Bostwick.

[2][8] The two reunited in the 1978 motion picture musical Grease, in which Travolta played Zuko and Conaway his buddy Kenickie.

[2] After breaking into series television in 1975 with Happy Days, followed by guest spots in several other TV shows, and three more films including Grease, he was cast as aspiring actor Bobby Wheeler on Taxi, which premiered in fall 1978.

He had appeared in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show for the same producers, and, he said in 1987, had been considered for the role of John Burns, which eventually went to Randall Carver:But then one day I got the whole script and became real interested in the actor character, then called Bobby Taylor.

[11] Conaway was reported at the time to be dissatisfied with being typecast as a "blond bimbo" and the "butt of struggling-actor jokes," along with finding the nature of the role repetitive.

The show revealed that Conaway was addicted to cocaine, alcohol, and painkillers, and that he was in a codependent relationship with his girlfriend, who was also a user of prescription opiates.

Conaway's appearance on the show's first and second seasons drew much attention[citation needed] because of his severely crippled state, his constant threats to leave the facility, and his frequent inability to speak clearly.

During the second episode of Celebrity Rehab's first season, Conaway, fed up with his back pain, withdrawal symptoms, and the humiliation of having to be assisted while using the toilet, told Pinsky that he was thinking of killing himself.

During group sessions, Conaway revealed he was "tortured" during his childhood, as older boys in his neighborhood would put him into dangerous situations, tying him up and threatening him.

[19] With John Travolta's support, Conaway took courses and auditing from the Church of Scientology to cope with his drug problem and depression,[20] although he did not intend to become a Scientologist.

[27] After initial reports, Drew Pinsky, who had treated Conaway for substance abuse, said the actor was suffering not from a drug overdose, but rather from pneumonia with sepsis, for which he was placed into an induced coma.

"[30] An autopsy performed on Conaway revealed that the actor died of various causes, including aspiration pneumonia and encephalopathy, attributable to drug overdoses.