Justin Kirk

Due to his angelic blue eyes and sensitive aura, Kirk was initially cast as vulnerable, often wounded characters. In his 1993 Broadway debut, Any Given Day, he was in a wheelchair. Then a pair of gay roles jump-started his career: a sweet blind man in Love! Valour! Compassion! (a part he played off-Broadway, on Broadway and in the 1997 film adaptation) and an abandoned, AIDS-stricken lover in the lauded 2003 miniseries Angels in America, a searing performance that earned him an Emmy nod and national recognition. Although Kirk subsequently appeared in a number of low-profile indies (Flannel Pajamas, Puccini for Beginners), it was cable TV that offered him the delicious part that shattered his well-established good-guy image. Kirk joked in numerous interviews that in real life, he was much more like his character on Weeds, an immoral layabout who moves in with his pot-dealing sister-in-law. Whether or not that was the truth, he was hilarious in the role and was rewarded with a Golden Globe nod.