A handsome small-screen actor, Fox managed to become a star without being prolific. While studying economics at Columbia University, he landed a few modeling jobs before acting. He only had a handful of roles on his résumé when he became a teen idol as a sensitive orphan on Party of Five in 1994. During his six years on the series, he took on just one outside project, the 1999 TV-movie Behind the Mask. After a few years out of the limelight, Fox reaffirmed his audience appeal as plane-wrecked physician Jack Shephard on Lost.