Costas Mandylor

Sensuously handsome and full-lipped, this actor quickly established himself in a handful of featured roles in films and as a regular on the acclaimed drama series "Picket Fences" (CBS, 1992-96). Born in Australia of Greek descent, Mandylor abandoned a professional soccer career after sustaining injuries and relocated to Hollywood to pursue acting. He quickly won a co-starring role as Willem Dafoe's younger brother in the Holocaust drama "Triumph of the Spirit" (1989). Director Oliver Stone cast him as a drugged-out Italian aristocrat in his biopic "The Doors" (1991) and Mandylor went on to star as a young Frank Costello in "Mobsters" (1991), another Hollywood picture romancing the image of Chicago gangsters and Prohibition. He also played an actor in the soap opera spoof "Soapdish" (1991).

On "Picket Fences" Mandylor made his small screen debut as Officer Kenny Lacos, whose sometimes quirky behavior led to run-ins with his female partner (Lauren Holly). The ambivalence in both their private and professional relationships provided much of the tension between the two characters. He went on to appear in a 1993 episode of "Tales from the Crypt" (HBO) and had a villainous role in the TV-movie "Falling for You" (CBS, 1995). Other credits include the post-nuclear "Fist of the North Star" (HBO, 1996), the suspense thriller "Almost Dead" (HBO, 1996) and the futuristic sci-fi "Last Exit to Earth" (Showtime, 1996).

Mandylor has appeared in several movies since his "Picket Fences" fame, but none have really caught on with critics or audiences. He was bodyguard to a mobster's moll in "Fatal Past" (1994), a mysterious stranger in the appallingly bad soft-porn "Delta of Venus" (1995) and Denzel Washington's doomed partner in a virtual reality world in the big-budget sci-fi actioner "Virtuosity" (also 1995). He then returned to low-budget dramas and thrillers like "Crosscut" (1995), as a good-natured criminal, the sci-fi film noir "Venus Rising" and as a murder suspect in "Portraits of a Killer" (both 1996). He has completed work on three films awaiting release in 1997: the courtroom thriller "Double Take," the 1930s Hollywood drama "Stand-Ins" and a welcome return to comedy, "Just Write."