His film roles include playing Larry Davies in The Hamiltons (2006), as well as appearances in Dead Tone (2007) and in Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003).

His performance on The Tonight Show led to a number of appearances on daytime soap operas including Days of Our Lives, Passions, Port Charles, and All My Children.

[5] He graduated from Skyline High School in Oakland and then moved to Kuna, Idaho, to live on the family farm while he worked a variety of jobs.

He earned two college degrees, in business administration and political science, from Boise State University,[6][7] which included attending an acting class during his last year before graduating in 1985.

[2][10] He spent 11 years living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in Calgary, Alberta, and in Butte, Montana, while he trained in the hopes of joining the U.S. Olympics team as a speedskater.

[4] Some of Laverty's earliest appearances in a lead role were in two early short films by Irish filmmaker Dermot Tynan,[5] A Talk in the Dark and The Biscuit Eaters.