Clifton Collins Jr.

The grandson of famed Mexican character actor and comedian Pedro Gonzales Gonzales, Clifton Collins, Jr. launched his own career as a film and television performer in the late 1980s. At first, Collins' Latino heritage assured him steady work in stereotypical roles - thugs, police officers, troubled youth - in features like "Menace II Society" (1993) and "187" (1997). But his versatility and dedication to craft allowed him to spread his wings in a wider variety of characters, appearing in higher-profile picture like "Traffic" (2000), "Capote" (2005) and "Babel" (2006). An Emmy nominee for the short-lived "Thief" (FX, 2005-06), Collins was a frequent guest star on episodic series, and even began adding producer credits to his CV in 2005, making him one of the more versatile and talented young actors to have emerged on the scene.