He was a late regular on Happy Days, Dynasty and The Love Boat and is known for playing the villainous role of Stan Gable in the film Revenge of the Nerds and several made-for-television sequels.

[4] McGinley attended the University of Southern California, but after pursuing work as a model, dropped out and moved to New York in 1979.

[8] Two years later, he was selected for a role in Charlie Lawrence, a situation comedy about a freshman congressman from New Mexico, played by Nathan Lane.

McGinley played Graydon Ford, the neighbor of Lane's title character, who was a member of the opposing political party.

That same year, McGinley affected a Southern accent in his role in the miniseries Wild Justice, which was poorly received by critics.

He played Mitch Carson, a sexual predator who lures a teenage girl into his house, where he holds her captive and tortures her.

This is a reference to the several instances McGinley joined popular television programs in their final years, often to replace a departing regular cast member.

[9] Hein explains he is not making any comment "on Ted's fine acting skills" and furthermore notes that "[McGinley] has a great sense of humor about it, too.

To that end, he starts replacing aspects of the show, including switching Aquaman's regular voice actor, John DiMaggio, with McGinley.