Joe Nieves

Joe Nieves's burgeoning career is a testament to how an innocuous mistake can have positive repercussions. After being cast as a police officer in the pilot of "How I Met Your Mother," his one scene was apparently cut. However, no one managed to tell the actor, who showed up on the set of the sitcom in full uniform. Rather than tell him his services were not needed and to go home, they cast him as Carl, the bartender at the main characters' favorite watering hole, which has led to a recurring part in over a dozen episodes through 2010. Prior to appearing on the show, the tall, dark actor started out guest-starring in sitcoms and dramas during the mid-'90s, which led to independent films and small parts on popular series such as "NYPD Blue" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." He also played a teenager who harasses presidential candidate David Palmer in the show "24," and years later, showed up again in the unrelated role of a cop targeted by terrorists. In 2006, he landed his first supporting cast role as the mysterious character Fencik in the action thriller series "Day Break."