A heartthrob who came to prominence on the small screen, Ventimiglia made viewers swoon as Alexis Bledel's brooding, on-again, off-again love interest on Gilmore Girls. His seductive charms also worked on his costar as they became a couple for a time off screen as well. In 2003 he signed on to star in his own spin-off, but when that project fell through he jumped networks (and many decades) with a recurring role as a '60s radical on the period saga American Dreams. While his next series, the tepid college drama The Bedford Diaries, came and went, Ventimiglia and his fabulously unruly hair and moody attitude were quickly snatched up for the smash fantasy drama Heroes in 2006. That same year, the actor  a veteran of low-rent horror flicks  made a bid for mainstream big-screen stardom playing Sylvester Stallone's son in the umpteenth Rocky sequel.