Corin Nemec

This engaging dark blond-haired young lead of TV and some features--who in his (even) younger days was billed as Corin 'Corky' Nemec--gained celebrity as the ultra-cool and resourceful star on the cartoonish teen sitcom "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" (Fox, 1990-93). He had previously garnered attention and an Emmy nomination with an impressive portrayal of a teen kidnapped in his youth and molested by his "father" in the 1989 NBC miniseries "I Know My First Name is Steven."

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Nemec began acting in TV commercials at age 13. In 1986, he made his TV debut on an episode of "Sidekicks," and then played the recurring role of Alex Karras' nephew from the farm on episodes of "Webster" (ABC) during the 1987-88 season. Nemec went on to a role in a busted sitcom pilot entitled "Cadets" (ABC, 1988) as the romantic interest of Soleil Moon Frye.

After the success of "I Know My First Name Is Steven," Nemec signed with Eddie Murphy Productions to star in a CBS pilot "What's Alan Watching?" about a suburban youth who speaks into a video camera as we watch his barely functioning family. This oddball format also allowed Murphy to appear on the small screen in numerous incarnations. Though critical response was good, again it was no sale. Nemec finally scored with "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," an inspired rip-off of John Hughes' popular 1986 feature "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," in which he was the top dog at his high school except when Principal Musso got in the way. Shot in a quick-paced, highly visual style with unusual camera angles, the show was a success with teen audiences. It also led to Nemec doing more longform TV starting with "For the Very First Time" on NBC in 1991, in which he played a Jewish teen in love with a Catholic girl. He was the good son to Rick Schroeder's bad boy (and he kills Schroeder!) in "My Son Johnny" (CBS, 1991), and starred in "The Lifeforce Experiment," one of the first originals made for the Sci-Fi Channel (1994). Nemec was superb as a horny nerd who gives in to the dark side (and the considerable erotic charms of Laura San Giacomo) in a major supporting role in the hit ABC miniseries of "Stephen King's The Stand" (1994).

Nemec co-starred in the survival story "White Wolves II: Legend of the Wild" (1996) which was made by the Disney Channel and went direct-to-video. Nemec's first feature film was in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" (1988) in which he was Jeff Bridges' second son. In 1990, he was Charlton Heston's son, an astronaut rushing to save the earth from destruction in "Solar Crisis." He has also played key roles in "Drop Zone" (1994), "Operation Dumbo Drop" (1995) and "The War at Home" (1996).