Ken Olin

His dark sincere good looks were steadily put to use on the small screen during the 80s but in retrospect actor Ken Olin will probably be considered more of a major force behind the camera Born in Chicago Ken went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and headed for Hollywood in the late 70s After the typical route of bit parts he started moving up in leaps and bounds on TVs top shows A couple of strong single season regular parts on both Hill Street Blues 1981and Falcon Crest 1981 ultimately led to his casting as the introspective and quietly sexy Michael Steadman on Thirtysomething 1987 which ran for four seasons and nabbed numerous awards for its liberal writing and sensitive content Ken costarred with wife Patricia Wettig on the show but the multiEmmy winner Wettig did not play Kens wife actress Mel Harris did and the public was often confused as to who Kens wife really was Ken also earned the chance to direct occasionally on Thirtysomething 1987 and this would have a significant impact as to the direction of his career in the years to come Following Thirtysomething 1987 Ken pursued acting work in minimovies as both hero Police Story Cop Killer 1988 and villain Dead by Sunset 1995 but almost always seemed on the verge of leaving acting altogether It was his burgeoning interest in directing that took over and he has since found steady helming duties on such popular shows as Felicity 1998 and The West Wing 1999 His TV drama Doing Time on Maple Drive 1992was nominated for three Emmys