Taylor Handley

While most rising stars would be reluctant to tarnish their all-American image by appearing in films that demand they morph into another gender or in television roles that call for them to be as prickly as possible, handsome theater veteran Taylor Handley is always willing to throw the viewing audience the kind of curveballs that set him well apart from the pack. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, CA, Handley took to acting at the tender age of eight and cut his teeth in summer stock. While few of the aspiring actor's early television appearances -- including bit roles in Frasier, Touched By an Angel, and CSI -- would call for anything out of the ordinary, more substantial roles in Dawson's Creek and The O.C. began to reveal an actor of unusual complexity and ambition. It was his role as bad-boy Oliver Trask on The O.C., in particular, that first brought Handley to the attention of many television viewers, yet even with that edgy performance on his resumé, few could have foreseen something as strange as his role in the decidedly off-kilter romantic comedy Zerophilia a couple years later. Cast as an insecure teen boy who realizes he is gradually morphing into a female in writer/director Martin Curland's gender-bending film, Handley went places that few rising stars would be bold enough to venture. Handley next appeared in the period drama September Dawn, which detailed the historic confrontation between a traveling band of peaceful settlers and a renegade Mormon group. He could also be seen in the rip-roaring horror sequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, which pitted him against one of the most notorious madmen in screen history. Back on the small screen, following an appearance on CSI: Miami, Handley scored the lead role of Johnny Miller on the weekly guilty pleasure Hidden Palms. Scripted by Dawson's Creek mastermind Kevin Williamson, Hidden Palms told the tale of a troubled teen (Handley) doing his best to recover from his father's recent suicide and a stint in rehab by connecting with the angst-ridden kids who inhabit his new Palm Springs neighborhood.