Skeet Ulrich

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Brian Ray Trout, who is more commonly known as Skeet Ulrich, was born into a family that loves sports. His mother owns the marketing agency, Sports Management Group, and his uncle is NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver, Ricky Rudd. Growing up, Skeet played Little League, which is where his size earned him the nickname, Skeeter. As a child he often suffered from pneumonia and, at the age of 10, he underwent heart surgery. Even though he was in poor health, he continued to be athletic and was considered a soccer standout in high school. He enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to study Marine Biology, but he was soon pushed into another, more creative direction.

Upon transferring to New York University, he was noticed by famous playwright, David Mamet. He joined the Atlantic Theater Company as an apprentice and often performed with the group, where he gained the attention of a director who cast him in a School Break Special on CBS called Same Difference. Up until that point, Skeet had worked as an extra on films such as Weekend at Bernie's and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1996, the director who cast him in Same Difference helped him receive his first credited role in film as Winona Ryder's good-for-nothing boyfriend in Boys. During that same year he appeared in the witchcraft movie, The Craft alongside Neve Campbell and Robin Tunney, Last Dance with Sharon Stone and Albino Alligator with Matt Dillon.

Also in 1996, Skeet was cast in Wes Craven's extremely successful thriller, Scream. His performance as Neve Campbell's psychotic boyfriend/serial killer got the attention of movie going audiences and casting agents everywhere. Skeet soon found himself doing one feature film after another, including Touch with LL Cool J, As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, The Newton Boys with Matthew McConaughey and Ethan Hawke, Chill Factor with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Nobody's Baby with Gary Oldman.

In 2003, Skeet decided to tackle the small screen with a lead role in the supernatural series, Miracles. In 2005, he appeared in the western television miniseries, Into the West, which earned multiple Emmy nominations. He also appeared with Keri Russell in the television movie, The Magic of Ordinary Days. Soon afterwards he was cast as Jake Green in the television series, Jericho, which premiered on CBS on September 20, 2006.

Jericho revolves around the citizens of a small town in Kansas named Jericho, who are left struggling to survive when a nuclear attack wipes out almost every town in the United States. Skeet's character is a post-apocalyptic hero of sorts who works with his family to help maintain order in the town and develop a structure that will help Jericho's residents subsist until help arrives. The show ended its first season on a cliffhanger, as the town was about to enter a battle with a neighboring town who wanted all of Jericho's supplies. Though the show quickly developed a loyal fanbase, CBS cancelled the series.

As a testament to their love for the show, fans rebelled against the network and launched a campaign to get CBS to renew it. While about to go into war, Skeet's last word on the show, Nuts, became the theme of the campaign, and fans soon flooded CBS' corporate headquarters with thousands of nuts. In what can only be called a remarkable conclusion, the fans' voices were heard and CBS reinstated the show for a shortened second season. Jericho now airs on Tuesday nights at 10 PM. For more information about the show, check out www.cbs.com/primetime/jericho/.

Skeet is currently filming the motion picture thriller, Armored, with Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne and Milo Ventimiglia. Whether or not Jericho gets an extended second season remains to be seen, but the television audience has spoken and it looks like Skeet has gained the attention of fans, including those of us at Young Hollywood, who will follow him wherever he goes!