Thomas Jane

Born: 1969
Where: Baltimore, Maryland

The journeyman actor finally hit the big time with his portrayal of revenge-fuelled action hero The Punisher.

Jane, the former son-in-law on Rutger Hauer, worked out and put on 40lbs to play the role of the government offical bent on vengeance for the murder of his family.

Jane first caught the eye as a cocaine addict who concocts a plot to rob a drug dealer in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights.

As a 17-year-old he was cast by Indian producers making a Bollywood Romeo & Juliet who were looking for a light-haired star for a Madras-based producton.

However, he failed to pursue a career in Bollywood and moved to LA to chance his luck with a future in Hollywood.

He broke into American films with a small role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Jane first caught the attention of moviegoers in 1997 in The Last Time I Committed Suicide before Boogie Nights.

He saw his stock in Hollywood rise as an ex-drug dealer whose past catches up with him in Thursday and a gay man who falls in love with a bisexual porn star in the triangular romance The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name).

A part in Terrence Malick's lyrical epic The Thin Red Line ended up mostly edited out of the final cut.

Jane next landed his first high profile studio lead as a shark wrangler in Deep Blue Sea.

Next he demonstrated he could handle a romantic lead opposite Elisabeth Shue in Molly but he barely registered in a cameo as the young incarnation of Philip Baker Hall's game show host in Magnolia.

He went on to deliver a nice turn as a hotheaded detective assisting the cool Morgan Freeman in a murder investigation in Under Suspicion.

Continuing his ascent to stardom, Jane was next cast as part of a romantic triangle opposite Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie in the period thriller Original Sin.

He followed up with starring roles opposite Samantha Morton in Plain Jane, based on a short story by playwright Arthur Miller, and Cameron Diaz in the romantic comedy The Sweetest Thing.

Recently, he appeared in the lacklustre Stephen King-penned Dreamcatcher with Morgan Freeman.

In 2005, he starred alongside Deborah Kara Unger as a South African cop-turned-robber in the drama Stander.