Gabriel Mann

An affable blond actor with choirboy good looks and an unmistakably mischievous air, Gabriel Mann worked steadily with supporting roles in independent films in the 1990s, breaking through to more starring parts and bigger productions as his experience advanced and his profile rose. Having trained with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse and appeared in such productions as "Return of Ulysses" at BAM and "Potato Creek Chair of Death" at the Ensemble Studio Theater, Mann (who is occasionally billed as Gabriel Mick) began working in independent features. 1994's "Parallel Sons" would mark his starring debut, playing a white youth entranced with black culture. In 1995's "Stonewall," he played one of the famed rioters and went on to be featured in the similarly historical "I Shot Andy Warhol" as well as the New York City-set "illtown" (both 1996).

Segueing easily from these gritty films to traditional TV-movie fare like the CBS productions "Harvest of Fire" (1996) and "Heart Full of Rain" (1997), Mann proved a versatile performer. Back on the big screen, he was featured in the coming-of-age indie "How to Make the Cruelest Month" in 1997 and had featured roles in the higher profile films "Great Expectations" and "High Art" the following year, the latter earning the actor his best notices up to that point for his role as the straight-laced boyfriend of Syd (Radha Mitchell) unimpressed with her hip artist pals.

Guest roles on such forgettable series as "Wasteland" and the remade "Fantasy Island" (both ABC) and a starring turn as a high school diver whose girlfriend brings him warnings from beyond the grave in "Dying to Live" (UPN) paved the actor's way in 1999, a year he capped with a featured supporting role as a ne'er-do-well prep school student in the 1970s-set comedy "Outside Providence." Mann played the long-suffering boyfriend of both the virtuous Jody (Brittany Murphy) in "Cherry Falls" and Mena Suvari's "Live Virgin" in 2000 releases that fared well on video. He reached a wider audience as Alan M in "Josie and the Pussycats," his rumpled hipster take on the love interest of the lead singer (Rachael Leigh Cook) an update on the more athletic all-American Alan featured in the animated series source.

Mann had a challenging role as a rock journalist who must face the artist (Kim Dickens) whose personal torment he knows all too well in Alison Anders' "Things Behind the Sun," which premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival but was aired on Showtime in lieu of a theatrical release. That same year, he supplied the only moments of emotional verity with a charming and memorable supporting turn as the hometown best friend of a pitcher (Freddie Prinze Jr.) headed for bigger things in the lackluster baseball feature "Summer Catch." Mann also was featured in "New Port South" (2001), a portrait of high school-set civil disobedience and continued to take role after varied role in such film festival-screened independents as "Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes" (2000) and "Buffalo Soldiers" (2001), proving a chameleonic performer with a bright future.