Costas Mandylor

Costas Mandylor initially launched a career as a soccer player, then gravitated to film acting when debilitating shin injuries spelled an end to his tenure on the field. Raised in Australia as the son of Greek immigrants, Mandylor first caught the attention of the American public and press in the summer of 1991, when People magazine christened him one of 1991's 50 Most Beautiful People in the world, and cited his contribution to that year's "young gangsters" crime saga Mobsters (as Frank Costello) as a star-making turn. Mandylor soon began to specialize in ethnic roles that took full advantage of his Mediterranean extraction, and that spanned a wide array of genres -- from biopic (The Doors, 1991) to farce (Soapdish, 1991) to psychological thriller (The Pledge, 2001). On the small screen, Mandylor had a regular role as Officer Kenny Lacos on the small-town drama Picket Fences (1992-1996), and he also appeared in a recurring part on the family drama 7th Heaven (2004-2006). His popularity increased in the late 2000s when he played a forensic specialist in chapters three and four of the Saw series of slasher films. - Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide