Chris Isaak

Born: June 26 1956
Where: Stockton, California, USA

The singer, writer and sometime actor is best known in Britain for the hit pop ballad Wicked Game.

Big screen appearances include Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs, That Thing You Do and John Waters' A Dirty Shame.

The youngest of three sons, he attended Stagg High School, Stockton, California and went on to graduate in English Literature from The University of the Pacific.

While studying in Japan, he worked in a film studio as well as taking up the gloves as a lightweight amateur boxer.

Returning to San Fracisco, he performed solo and then formed the Silvertone Band, who were signed up by Reprise Records.

In 1985, he released his debut album Silvertone and in 1989 the double platinum Heart-Shaped World yielded the international smash Wicked Game.

He was actually going to be dropped by his record label until director David Lynch used the song for 1990's Wild at Heart.

Isaak made his big screen debut as "the killer clown" in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob in 1988.

The same year he appeared in Let's Get Lost, Bruce Weber's documentary about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker.

Demme went on to cast him as a SWAT commander in The Silence of the Lambs and he starred in Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

In 1993, he starred in Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha and subsequently starred alongside Tom Hanks in the music drama That Thing You Do.

On the small screen, he has enjoyed guest appearances in Friends and as a roving reporter for Jay Leno's The Tonight Show.

Back on the big screen, he appeared in the crime drama Blue Ridge Fall in 1999 while also hosting the popular The Chris Isaak Show on American TV.

Recent work includes the John Waters' sex comedy A Dirty Shame with Tracey Ullman.