Nick Stahl

Born: 5 December 1979
Where: Harlingen, Texas

A young veteran of TV adverts, Nicolas Kent Stahl made his big-screen film debut in Mel Gibson's directorial debut, The Man Without a Face.

During his early teens, Stahl largely alternated between features and TV, appearing in Tall Tale and Eye of God, before landing a supporting role in the thriller Disturbing Behaviour.

In 1998 Stahl appeared in Terrence Malik's war saga The Thin Red Line and played an aspiring musician in Sunset Strip.

But 2001 proved to be Stahl's breakthrough year, with eye-catching parts in two acclaimed Sundance-screened independents, The Sleepy Time Gal and the Oscar-nominated melodrama In the Bedroom.

In the latter film, Stahl comfortably assumed the role of Marisa Tomei's much-younger lover opposite seasoned Brit Tom Wilkinson and the evergreen Sissy Spacek.

Later that year, he offered a chilling portrait of an abusive friend and sexual predator in the based-on-fact Bully, Larry Clark's follow-up to the controversial Kids.

Terminator 3 was Stahl's introduction to the box office big time, in which his resistance leader enjoyed the protection of Arnold Schwarzenegger's indestructible cyborg.

Stahl also made an impression as a reluctant Depression-era messiah in HBO's odd and allegorical TV series Carnivàle.

But there was nothing messianic about Yellow Bastard, the grotesque sex offender he played in lurid comic book adaptation Sin City. Stahl now has the dubious honour of being castrated in a movie by Bruce Willis... twice.