Hollywood’s Top Doctors: The Dermatologist Who Is an Oscar Winner’s Secret Skin Weapon

This story first appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Sean Penn, Charlie Sheen and top entertainment attorney Ken Ziffren are said to have put their skin in the game with him. But go-to Hollywood dermatologist Dr. Kopelson‘s key industry client is his dad, Platoon and Seven producer Arnold Kopelson, who’s been a patient since Peter finished his residency at UCLA nearly two decades ago.

Most recently, Peter treated dad’s basal-cell and squamous-cell carcinomas.

“When I was a kid in Brooklyn, I used to go up on the roof with a reflector to get handsome,” says Arnold, 79, who notes that colleagues around town constantly buttonhole him about their happy experiences in his son’s Beverly Hills office suite. “He never tells me who his patients are, but people in show business come up to me and say, ‘Look what he did with my face. Isn’t it beautiful?’ ”

Dr. Kopelson, known for his advanced laser work, says he was drawn to medical school to better understand why his mother, Joy, had died of breast cancer when he was 8. He notes that patients should take consistent care of their skin and that plastic surgery isn’t a last-ditch cure-all: “A 70-year-old who gets plastic surgery looks like a 70-year-old with plastic surgery. You don’t want that pulled-back look.”

More From THR‘s Top Doctors Issue:

Hollywood’s Top Doctors Revealed: Exclusive Survey

See The Doctors With Their Famous Patients

Hollywood’s Vaccine Wars: L.A.’s “Entitled” Westsiders Behind City’s Epidemic

Hollywood’s Biggest Anti-Vaccine Proponents

Hollywood Vaccination Fail: Why L.A. Schoolkids Are Getting Sick

How to Live Forever: The (Mad?) Science Hollywood Is Using to “Cure” Death

“I’m Going to Live Forever”: Hollywood Elders’ Best Quotes About Aging

Is Working in Hollywood Bad for Your Health?

L.A.’s Emergency Rooms, Rated

Meet the Real-Life McDreamy: The Doctor Behind ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

4 NYC-Based Physicians Loved by L.A.