Ryan Merriman

Good-looking, dark-haired Oklahoma native Ryan Merriman began modeling at age six and landed his first broadcast acting role just a few years after, cast as a regular on the NBC sitcom "The Mommies" (1993-1995, renamed "Mommies" in its final year). Segueing from this sitcom role to a recurring turn as the young version of genius Jarod Russell on the gripping NBC series "The Pretender" (1997-2000) showed the actor's versatility. He was featured in the somewhat sentimental TV dramas "Everything That Rises" (TNT, 1998) and "Night Ride Home" (CBS, 1999) before portraying young Meyer Lansky in 1999's "Lansky," an HBO biopic of the famed gangster. That year saw Merriman take on his first feature acting role, playing a young boy who surprises parents Michelle Pfeiffer and Treat Williams nine years after he was kidnapped in the affecting drama, "The Deep End of the Ocean."