Brendan Sexton III

An incredibly versatile actor capable of projecting menace, goofiness, air-headedness, rebellion and, it seems, every conceivable urban teenage emotion, Brendan Sexton III (who has also been billed as Brendan Sexton Jr) has carved a name for himself in edgy independent films. With his pale skin and street tough demeanor, Sexton speaks with a "working class" Manhattan drawl and has attended public schools unlike other New York teen actors who have the elongated "A"s and privileged mannerisms of a private school lifestyle. In 1995, he made his debut as Brandon, the abusive classmate who declares his affection for Heather Matarazzo's Dawn Weiner by threatening to rape her, in Todd Solondz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse." He also earned a bit of a cult following as 'Warren Beatty', the shoplifter given a job at "Empire Records" (1995). Sexton then played a solider in "Arresting Gena," was in the ensemble of "A,B,C...Manhattan" (both 1997), about the residents of a Lower East Side apartment building and stole the show as a Generation X-er in "Myth America" (lensed in 1996) The rising young actor had his first lead as a 15-year old struggling on the streets of Manhattan in the Sundance Film Festival hit "Hurricane Streets/Hurricane" (1997), which focused on the moral choices faced by teens today.