Jake Weber

Equally at home onstage or in front of the camera, Jake Weber entered films with two wildly disparate 1989 pictures, writer-director Melvin Van Peebles little-seen farce "Identity Crisis" and Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July," but turned down roles in "Glory" (also 1989) and "Reversal of Fortune" (1990) to continue his graduate studies at Juilliard.

He honed his classical chops in a number of Shakespeare in the Park productions, including "Richard III" (1990), "Othello" (1991) and "As You Like It" (1992), as well as acting in Off-Broadway productions of John Patrick Shanley's "The Big Funk" (1990) and the highly-acclaimed "Mad Forest" (1991).

The blandly attractive blond actor made an auspicious Broadway debut playing five Italian brothers in Alan Ayckbourn's farcical "A Small Family Business" (1992). He had small roles as an ill-fated Hassid in Sidney Lumet's "A Stranger Among Us" (1992) and as a secret informant who puts his life on the line in Alan J. Pakula's "The Pelican Brief" (1993) before enjoying more screen time as a violent but likable pimp in the independent "Skin Art" (also 1993).

Weber upped his visibility somewhat as a regular on Gene Wilder's unsuccessful sitcom vehicle "Something Wilder" (NBC, 1994-95) and made a stronger impression as a dedicated country doctor with a dark past on the highly touted but low rated supernatural drama "American Gothic" (CBS, 1995-96).

He worked Off-Broadway in Arthur Laurents' "Radical Mystique" (1995), Shanley's "Missing Marisa/Kissing Christina" (1996) and a Williamstown Theatre Festival revival of "The Rivals" (1998), but his burgeoning film career has precluded further stage work.

Increasingly, he has essayed characters with an edge like the snotty, rich brat in "What the Deaf Man Heard" (CBS, 1997), the treacherous would-be successor and son-in-law to Anthony Hopkins in "Meet Joe Black" (1998) and John Cusack's sarcastic, opinionated best friend in "Pushing Tin" (1999).

A change of pace was provided by the chamber drama "Into My Heart" (also 1998) in which he co-starred as the eyepatch-wearing never-been-emotionally-hurt "golden boy" best friend of Rob Morrow. Weber found himself in the top-notch ensemble of the blockbuster "U-571" (2000), playing the quietly-brave, German-speaking mastermind of the plot to capture the Enigma machine, and rounded out the year as an FBI agent unsure of the direction taken by his partner in the supernatural thriller "The Cell."