Billy Wirth

Actor/director Billy Wirth is a study in opposites. After graduating from Brown University, the former Ivy league track athlete worked as a model and dabbled in commercial acting before landing his signature role as the handsome bloodsucker Dwayne in the adolescent vampire thriller "The Lost Boys," with 1980s heartthrobs Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. Later, Wirth co-starred as the other man in a love triangle in the pilot for provocateur Zalman King's erotic cult hit "Red Shoe Diaries." Some of Wirth's further appearances on the big and small screen--from guest spots on HBO's campy horror anthology "Tales from the Crypt" and Aaron Spelling's magical melodrama "Charmed" to a larger role in Abel Ferera's remake of classic horror film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"--harkened back to Wirth's supernatural breakthrough.

But vampirism, brainwashing and Wicca were far from Wirth's mind when he stepped behind the camera to for his gutsy directorial debut. "MacArthur Park," which Wirth also co-wrote and co-produced, took an unflinching look at addiction, grief and homelessness centered on the eponymous park in seedy downtown Los Angeles. Wirth's independently produced tale, which followed a crack-addicted, absentee father's struggle for redemption, screened in the dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Beyond his career in Hollywood, Wirth has nurtured interests in rock music, painting and photography.