He was born in Old Bethpage, New York, to Muriel (nƩe Smeallie), a housewife, and Floyd-Jones Youngs, an insurance salesman who served on Guadalcanal during World War II with the Marine Corps. He has two sisters, Robin Young and Gail Youngs, and a brother, Jim Youngs. He trained at the American Academy of Performing Arts before relocating to Los Angeles where he starred in the film Eric (1975) opposite Patricia Neal and Mark Hamill. In the early 1970s, he made his Broadway debut in the chorus of Fiddler on the Roof in which he played one of the sons, after an actor fell sick, opposite Zero Mostel. Between 1972 and 1975, he continued to perform on stage, playing Dov Landau in Ari on Broadway, and performing in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dance on a Country Grave in Chicago. He gained widespread recognition for his range and sensitivity during the 1970s. John's breakthrough film role was as Steven Pushkov, the returning Vietnam veteran missing both his legs, in the