Justin Chambers

As the surly but kind young doctor on "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005 - ), Justin Chambers seems so in his element that it's hard to believe that he struggled for ten years before becoming a star. An extremely attractive male model perhaps best known for his Calvin Klein ads, Chambers made the transition to film acting gradually building a resume of work in small TV roles before breaking in to features.

The tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed Chambers grew up in Springfield, Ohio, one of five children (he would eventually become father of five as well). The striking stud was spotted by an agent in a Paris Metro station. Soon he was modeling in Europe, Japan and the U.S. with contracts at Calvin Klein and Armani, among others.

Chambers began appearing in stage productions in the mid-1990s and in 1995 caught what should have been his first break, a role on the NBC daytime drama "Another World." Unfortunately for him, the show changed producers and the new executive decided to take the character in a different direction and fired Chambers. The budding performer rebounded a bit with primetime guest roles in series like Fox's "New York Undercover" and UPN's "Swift Justice" and the CBS "Hallmark Hall of Fame" productions "Harvest of Shame" (CBS, 1996) opposite Lolita Davidovich as an FBI agent who visits an Amish farm after three barns have mysteriously burned to the ground and the sudser "Rose Hill" (CBS, 1997) opposite Jennifer Garner.

Another potential career boost came when he was tapped to co-star with Ann-Margret and Sonia Braga in the CBS drama series "Four Corners" in 1998, but few people saw his turn as the troubled son of title estate's caretaker; the network pulled the plug on the show after only two airings. He then made the sudser "Seasons of Love" (CBS, 1998) with Hume Cronyn, Rip Torn and Nick Stahl Chambers segued to the big screen in the featured role of a WASP who befriends a Jew in "Liberty Heights" (1999), Barry Levinson's semi-autobiographical drama of growing up in Baltimore.

The actor was briefly seen as a dope-smoking buddy of Cameron Diaz in "The Invisible Circus" before his breaking through as the Italian immigrant expecting to marry Jennifer Lopez in the box-office hit "The Wedding Planner" (both 2001). The latter allowed Chambers to demonstrate his capacity for broad humor as well as light romance and he made a charming rival to co-star Matthew McConaughey.

Continuing his ascent to stardom, Chambers landed his first starring role as D'Artagnan in yet another take on the Dumas classic in "The Musketeer" (2001), as the dashing swordsman D'Artagnan trying to avenge the death of his parents despite distraction from Mena Suvari's lovely Francesca. The critics weren't kind; fortunately he also continued his day job, featured in advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein. Luckily, his next role opposite Uma Thurman in HBO's melodrama "Hysterical Blindness" (2002) in which two women, Thurman and Juliette Lewis, are single and pushing 30 in 1980s New Jersey.

Cambers played rakish contractor Rick whose casual fling with Thurman's character Debby turns into a possible marriage in Debby's mind though Rick remained indifferent. His next project, "Leo" (2002) with Sam Shepard, Elisabeth Shue and Joseph Fiennes, was another critical disaster. He played a small role in "For Which it Stands" (2003) as a German soldier in a movie about a World War II vet's path to redemption.

Chambers finally got meaningful exposure on the hit procedural drama "Cold Case" (CBS, 2003) with Kathryn Morris. Cambers played her partner, a level-headed cold case detective. The show took off with viewers in its second season--after Chambers' departure. Happily, Chambers' own big break came in his next role as Dr. Alex Karev on "Grey's Anatomy" with Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey. He played the seemingly superficial sleazeball who turned out to be a nice guy and a talented doctor with an amazing bedside manner, as well as the budding love interest of Katherine Heigl's character Isobel.

Chambers was also afforded time to pursue roles in movies, though his choices exhibited questionable taste. He made "Southern Belles" (2005) as co-star Laura Breckenridge's love interest, a cop named Rhett Butler. In the virtually unseen "Zodiac" (2005) with Rory Culkin. Chambers, a police detective, and his son Culkin become obsessed with finding a serial killer and endanger their family in the process.