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Rodney Scott
Rodney Scott makes his television starring debut as a series regular on "Young Americans."
Born in Washington, D.C., Rodney cherished his childhood in the beach resort town of Ocean City, MD. An athletic teenager, he enjoyed playing basketball, football and especially golf. A cousin got him hooked on the latter, and he honed his skills and competed in the state finals during his sophomore year in high school. However, his attention was diverted by drama in his senior year, when he took a class on a lark and wound up starring in three school plays, including "Romeo and Juliet."
Upon graduation, he enrolled in a community college, but after one semester, he set his sights on a show business career. At 19, to his mother's dismay, he decided to take the scenic cross-country trip to Hollywood with three friends.
Soon after his arrival, Rodney found representation and began auditioning for roles, while working as an usher at the Mann's Chinese Theater. When funds ran low, he went home to Maryland for the summer and worked as a waiter. With untarnished optimism and money in his pocket, he returned to Los Angeles in the fall of 1998, and immediately was cast as a runaway teen on the series "Promised Land." Several months later, he landed "Young Americans."
In his leisure time, Rodney enjoys playing golf and attending baseball and football games. An avid traveler, he has visited most major U.S. cities and hopes to venture to Egypt one day to see the pyramids.
Kate Bosworth
It almost seemed too good to be true when Kate Bosworth, a champion equestrian, learned they were casting a movie about horses. Then 14, she heard of an open audition in New York for Robert Redford's film "The Horse Whisperer" and decided to try her luck.
Casting executives were amused when Kate handed them a family Christmas card photo in lieu of a standard head shot, and later were impressed by her talent. While her previous performing experience consisted of singing at county fairs in California and acting in a community theater production of "Annie," she won the role of the female lead's best friend and the chance to work with director/star Redford.
Bosworth was born in Los Angeles and moved with her parents to San Francisco at age 6, to Connecticut at 9, and to Cohasset, MA at 14. Since landing the movie role, she has frequented more sound stages than ranches. Fearful that an early career would rob her of her childhood, she took 18 months off to live a normal life before opting to plunge into acting again. Last year, she landed the role of the bratty sister in the upcoming feature film "The Newcomers" and the part of a football co-captain's girlfriend in the upcoming Denzel Washington movie "Remember the Titans."
Currently a high school junior, she has maintained academic excellence and is an honor roll student and a member of the National Honor Society. Bosworth has volunteered her spare time with various non-profit organizations, including a Los Angeles program for physically challenged children who learn to ride horses with assistance, and is a veteran member of the Appalachia Program.
In her off-hours, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, as well as her cats, Louise and Dusty. She also plays Varsity soccer and lacrosse and hopes soon to "get back in the saddle again."
Mark Famiglietti
Promising new talent Mark Famiglietti makes his primetime series debut with "Young Americans."
The son of a pharmaceutical executive and an office manager, Famiglietti was born in Providence, RI, and raised in Clinton, CT, where frequent family trips to the Goodspeed Opera House sparked his interest in performing. However, it wasn't until his teen years that he shifted to the other side of the footlights in Goodspeed's "An Evening with Max Showalter and Friends" and won the Goodspeed Guild Musical Theatre Award for his performance.
In high school, he was class president in his junior and senior years, captain of the baseball team, a member of the band and chorus and co-announcer of school football and basketball games. After winning a small part in his school's production of "Guys & Dolls," he added drama classes to his curriculum and began to exercise acting and singing muscles. Leading roles followed in local theater productions of "Bye, Bye Birdie" and "The Music Man" and school plays including "Kiss Me Kate" and "Once Upon a Mattress."
Now bent on an acting career, he began attending auditions in New York while studying at New York University as a drama major, where he studied with the Atlantic Theatre Company. During his second semester, he put college on hold and headed for Hollywood after being cast as Deering High's resident heartthrob, Nick Hammer, on the Saturday morning teen show "Hangtime." He also guest-starred on The WB comedy "Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane" and co-stars as a friendly bartender in the February-slated TV movie "Bunny Girls" starring Marilu Henner and Rhea Perlman.
Famiglietti, who loves the stock market, aims to go back to school someday to study economics or marketing, but he's aiming towards show business success as an actor, writer and producer. Offstage, he devotes considerable time to writing and has completed two screenplays and stays fit by working out daily and running 35-40 miles a week.
Ian Somerhalder
Marking his network series debut with "Young Americans," Ian Somerhalder comes to the WB from the world of modeling.
The son of a massage therapist and a building contractor, Somerhalder was born and raised in the small southern town of Covington, LA. Boating, swimming, fishing and training horses filled much of his recreational time growing up, as did the school drama club and performing with the local theater group. With his mother's encouragement, at age 10 he began a modeling career that took him to New York each summer.
By junior high, he opted to put modeling on the back burner and focus more on sports and school. A few years later, when the opportunity to model in Europe arose, Somerhalder grabbed it, embarking on an enriching path of work, travel and study that took him to cities including Paris, Milan and London.
At 17, he began studying acting in New York, and by 19 had committed himself to the craft, working with preeminent acting coach William Esper. His fate was sealed while working as an extra in a club scene in the feature film "Black & White." A talent manager visiting a client on the set spotted Somerhalder's amazing look in a crowd scene of 400 and immediately signed him for representation.
Happy to be anchored in New York, Somerhalder spends much of his time studying acting, writing and practicing yoga. His recreational interests include water and snow skiing and horseback riding.
Katherine Moenning
Katherine Moenning preferred climbing trees and skateboarding to playing with tea sets as a tomboy growing up in Philadelphia, PA. Hence, she relishes the chance to make her television debut as the elusive Jake Pratt in "Young Americans," a girl masquerading as a boy at the all-male Rawley Academy.
The daughter of a Broadway dancer mother and a violin maker father, Moenning was primed to perform at an early age. She first stepped on stage at 10 years old in a Children's Theatre Workshop production of "Winnie the Pooh" and opted to expand the experience by writing and directing an improvised version of "Pooh" with a friend. The duo performed their original production at Philadelphia's Free Library.
She continued doing school productions before moving to New York and entering the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Within two months of graduation, she landed an apprenticeship at the prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival and acquired a wealth of experience working behind the scenes. This year, during a second stint at Williamstown, she appeared in a production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It."
Moenning recently spent Thanksgiving in Toronto, having won a central role in a music video for the Canadian band "Our Lady Peace" just prior to landing her first television series with "Young Americans."
In her leisure time, the young actress enjoys sleeping late, spending time with friends and walking around New York City.
Steven Antin, Creator
A San Fernando Valley, CA, native, who marks his TV series debut behind the scenes with "Young Americans," Steven Antin recently signed a development deal with Columbia TriStar Television to create and executive produce one-hour dramas.
Antin worked consistently as an actor, amassing numerous commercials and guest-staring credits as a teenager in such series as "Silver Spoons" and "21 Jump Street," segueing to feature films including "The Last American Virgin," "The Accused" and "The Goonies." He recurred for several seasons on the hour drama "NYPD Blue," and earned a CableACE nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in HBO's "Vietnam War Stories."
Antin wrote and produced the feature "Inside Monkey Zetterland" (1993), in which he assembled an eclectic ensemble cast including Ricki Lake, Rupert Everett, Sofia Coppola, Sandra Bernhard, Debbie Mazar and Patricia Arquette. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, then played at San Sebastian, Toronto, and Seattle Film Festivals and was distributed internationally. Antin quickly surmised that the writing/producing aspects of the project were personally more rewarding than acting. After being signed by ICM, a string of writing assignments followed for HBO, Working Title, Columbia Pictures and Fox.
He most recently sold a feature pitch to Columbia Pictures, for which he will write the screenplay, about the "boy band phenomena" of pop music titled "The Hit Factory," to be produced by Larry Mark ("As Good as it Gets," "Jerry Maguire").
Scott Sanders, Executive Producer
From executive producer at Radio City Music Hall to president of Mandalay Television and executive producer on every Mandalay series, show business veteran Scott Sanders has built an exceptional career in entertainment.
At Mandalay, Sanders oversees all creative development and production for the company's programs, currently including "Young Americans," "Oh, Baby!" on Lifetime and "Rude Awakening" on Showtime.
A native of St. Petersburg, FL, he majored in advertising at the University of Florida, while breaking into entertainment as a local radio deejay and working briefly at United Artists Records. Upon graduation, he landed a job as talent coordinator at Radio City Music Hall in New York, rocketing to vice president of Entertainment in a year and executive producer in three years. During his 15-year tenure at Radio City, Sanders transformed the theater from a financially troubled New York landmark to one of the country's most successful venues and live entertainment production companies.
He has produced more than 1,000 live shows and events, including engagements for Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Pee Wee Herman, Harry Connick Jr. and Whitney Houston; a Presidential gala for President Clinton; the World Cup closing ceremonies and the Super Bowl XXVII half-time show starring Michael Jackson. In addition, Sanders produced the AIDS Project Los Angeles' Commitment to Life at the Universal Amphitheater.
In association with Columbia TriStar Television, his Mandalay Television has made five pilots, all of which garnered series commitments, including the 1998 series "Cupid" and "Mercy Point." Sanders' partners at Mandalay are Peter Guber, Joe Voci and Paul Schaefer.
The bi-coastal executive divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.
Joe Voci, Executive Producer
In his role as executive vice president of Mandalay Television, Joe Voci serves as executive producer of "Young Americans" and "Rude Awakenings" on Showtime.
A native of Philadelphia, Voci majored in marketing at Georgetown University and during school started a business that custom-designed and sold restaurant uniforms. Upon graduation, he accepted a job with Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati. When an opportunity arose to join Proctor & Gamble Productions in Los Angeles, he grabbed it. Stepping onto the bottom rung of the ladder as a production assistant, he soon moved up a notch to unpaid development intern.
Voci got his big break landing a position as associate director of Current Programming at New World Television, thus beginning his executive career. At New World for a year-and-a-half, Voci oversaw production on the critically acclaimed series "The Wonder Years." In 1987, he accepted a position as manager of Comedy Development at CBS and rose through the network ranks to vice president of Comedy Programming by the end of his seven-year tenure there.
He launched his producing career at Warner Bros. in 1995 with the comedy series "High Society" starring Jean Smart and Mary McDonnell. The following year, he produced the pilot "Totally Cool," which he brought to Mandalay Television.
Currently, Voci is a partner at Mandalay with Scott Sanders, Peter Guber and Paul Schaefer. During the company's association with Columbia TriStar Television, all five of its pilots were picked up as series, with Voci serving as executive producer, including "Cupid" and "Mercy Point."
Voci lives in Los Angeles.
~~~Credit Columbia TriStar Television~~~