Who Plays Steve On The Conners?

Over the 5 seasons of "The Conners," fans have seen a few messy dating situations. Who can forget when Aunt Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) finds out her unemployed boyfriend, Peter (Matthew Broderick), is not only a deadbeat but a cheater in Season 1? And then there was Becky (Lecy Goranson), who starts dating one of her college professors, which results in his suspension from his job after they're caught. There's no doubt the Conner women don't have the best judgment when it comes to potential suitors.

But one of the weirdest dating scenarios comes in Season 5, In Episode 3 ("Driving, Dating and Deceit"). Darlene's daughter, Harris (Emma Kenney), is talking to an older man, Steve, on a dating app and her Aunt Becky realizes she had once gone out with the same guy but forgets how their date ended.

Eventually, Becky decides to contact Steve under the guise of checking him out as a potential date for Harris. After reuniting with him, Becky finds out that she'd gotten drunk and started a fight with a biker gang when they went out years ago. "I really liked you before you got drunk," Steve says, before telling Becky he'd like to take her out again now that she's sober. When Harris finds out about the date, she calls her aunt "old and desperate" and says she doesn't want her "leftovers." Ouch.

So who played this mystery man who had teen Emma and her 40-something aunt pitted against each other?

If Steve looks familiar, it may be because the actor who played him, Ken Kirby, has been logging television roles for more than 20 years. Kirby has appeared in everything from "Smallville" to "Dynasty," and he had a recurring role on the Freeform drama, "Good Trouble," per IMDb.

The Canadian-born actor is of Asian descent, and grew up in Hong Kong and Shanghai, per Voyage L.A. Not only is he an actor and a writer, but Kirby got his start as a stand-up comedian, even training with the famous Groundlings comedy troupe, as seen on his YouTube page. In a 2019 interview with Hidden Remote, Kirby said his ultimate goal is to have a career like Issa Rae, Adam Sandler, or Seth Rogen. "I want to write my own stuff and act in it," he said.

In a later interview with Pop Culturalist, Kirby shared his love of performing. "I've always loved acting, comedy, and making people laugh; that's why I got into this business," he said. "I wanted to get my comedic voice out through my own material. It's that weird idea where it's like no one is going to write you as well as you can because you know yourself."