Biography

Left his role on Matlock (1986), after its seventh season, to co-star opposite Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger (1993).

As a little boy, like co-star Nancy Stafford, he was a huge fan of The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Several years after that show went off the air, he beat out three other actors for the role of a private investigator on Andy Griffith's Matlock (1986), for the fourth season of the series, when he replaced Kene Holiday.

Working toward a Master's Degree in Acting at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

He is an associate professor of theater at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Was a finalist for the role of Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).

I grew up as an Air Force brat. My family moved around a lot. I entered the U.S. Air Force Academy after high school, but left after a year. I couldn't afford to stay at Sterling College in Kansas, where I played wide receiver for the football team, so I went to work and eventually moved back to California.

Why I got to do 13 straight years of network television and somebody else didn't, who knows?

It took me 10 years, but I eventually graduated from college, too.

[on his character in "Left Behind"]: I am blessed to be a part of the production and get to play this character. I'm not the best actor in the world, but even better, I get to help this character evolve. I think God wants me to be playing Bruce Barnes.

[Of his journeyman career]: I had been trying to make it in show business without any real vision. I was getting some success because I was a type - I had a quality that producers were looking for. But I wasn't controlling my destiny.