Skeet Ulrich

Born: 20th January 1969
Where: Concord, North Carolina

Born Brian Ray Ulrich, his first nickname 'Skeeter,' was given to him by a Little League baseball coach who said he was tiny, like a mosquito. He then decided to shorten it to Skeet after he saw a TV movie featuring a girl named Skeeter.

His parents divorced when he was 3, with Skeet and his older brother moving around with their mother for 6 years, after which she married D.K. Ulrich.

Skeet suffered numerous bouts of pneumonia before doctors finally discovered a ventricle defect in his heart, and open-heart surgery at the age of 10 corrected the problem.

At university he started work on a marine biology major, during which time he got a handful of jobs as extras in local movie productions and started taking acting lessons from a local deli owner-slash-thespian.

Switching his major to theatre and transferring to New York University, he was recruited by David Mamet to join his Atlantic Theatre Company.

Skeet spent five years doing stage work in New York, taking the odd construction job to stay afloat, and in 1996, he segued to the big screen with Boys, Last Dance, and The Craft.

He appeared in Wes Craven's Scream, and Kevin Spacey's directorial debut, the hostage drama Albino Alligator, followed by Touch and The Newton Boys.