Already in his mid-twenties when he shot to stardom playing a James Dean-type high-school rebel on Beverly Hills, 90210, Perry has, like most of the series' costars, struggled to shed his teen-idol image. Cute and brooding, if a bit one-note, the actor pursued a big-screen career and even took a two-season hiatus from 90210 in order to appear in a succession of big-screen projects. But most of his starring roles were in box-office duds (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lifebreath) and even his impressive turn as a bull-riding champion in 8 Seconds couldn't jump-start his film career. Perry wisely returned to the small screen, reprising his 90210 role until the series went off the air in 2000, and subsequently tackled a variety of parts on cable shows (a corrupt televangelist on Oz, a postapocalyptic survivor on Jeremiah) and on stage. In 2006 he returned to network TV with the ensemble drama Windfall, in the decidedly mature role of an unhappily married lottery winner.