Robin Dunne

Dunne seemed poised to take his fame to another level in 1999 with the Fox drama "Manchester Prep," a series prequel to the popular "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" redux "Cruel Intentions" (1998). Dunne was cast as Sebastian Valmont in the controversial show, which followed the main characters through their early high school days. Scrapped by the network despite a particularly vociferous round of early buzz, "Manchester Prep" was recycled into the direct-to-video feature "Cruel Intentions 2" (2000), an R-rated release complete with badly-inserted explicit language and gratuitous nudity. The actor bounced back with a somewhat memorable recurring role on "Dawson's Creek" (The WB, 1999-2000), playing Joey (Katie Holmes)'s college-age suitor. A brainy looker who still couldn't compete with the charms of Pacey (Joshua Jackson). In 2001 Dunne surfaced with several TV-movie appearances, including two supporting roles on Lifetime ("Criminal Intent: The Wandering Soul Murders" and "Criminal Intent: A Colder Kind of Death") and a featured turn as an ill-fated lottery winner in the USA Network thriller "Class Warfare." The following year the actor took on two other notable TV-movie roles, starring in the drama "Borderline Normal" (USA Network) and playing the young Samuel Clemens in the Hallmark Channel's biopic "Mark Twain's Roughing It." That same year Dunne starred in the direct-to-video sequel "The Skulls 2" and returned to series television with a regular role as Alex, a gay twentysomething, on UPN's edgy, cinema verite ensemble comedy/drama "As If" (2002), based upon the successful British series of the same name.