Alan Dale

Although best known to his fellow countrymen Down Under for his eight-year stint on the wildly popular soap Neighbours, Dale found stateside fame playing a string of powerful but ruthless characters on American TV. The New Zealand-born actor moved to Australia early on to further his career and became a national icon for his small-sceeen work on The Young Doctors and the aforementioned Neighbours. Even though the latter series turned him into a star, Dale disliked the way the producers treated the cast. Perhaps his unhappiness influenced his decision to try his luck in Hollywood in 2000. Despite being a fiftysomething character actor with little name or face recognition in the U.S., he soon became a ubiquitous presence on the tube, appearing on hit shows like ER, The X Files and 24. He was particularly memorable in a trio of similar roles: three villainous tycoons who also happened to be overprotective family men on The O.C., Lost and Ugly Betty.