Josh Pais

The face of hard-working American character actor Josh Pais is recognizable from dozens of hit indie films, while his voice may be remembered from the 1990 live action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" film. Raised by his single mother in a New York East Village tenement, Pais dreamed of a Hollywood screen career, and in his early 20s he quickly began to fulfill that dream. After heading west, he immediately won small parts on popular sitcoms like the family-oriented classic "The Cosby Show" and the office comedy "Murphy Brown." In 1990 he played the part of Raphael in the first "Turtles" movie, where he was the only actor to both play the life-size hero and voice the character. The next year he began the recurring role of Assistant Medical Examiner Borak on the wildly successful "Law & Order" series. Though his resume thins out in the mid '90s, Pais came roaring back toward the end of the decade with a potpourri of roles.

This success carried on into the early 2000s, when parts in Ron Howard's award-winning biopic, "A Beautiful Mind," and the rural indie drama "The Station Agent" brought him increased exposure. Around this time, Pais returned to his hometown, armed with a camera to document the changes in his old neighborhood. The result was the 2003 award-winning documentary "7th Street." Pais worked steadily through the rest of the decade, mostly in TV series and in films shot in the New York area.