Thomas Ian Griffith

In a bid for more control over his career, Griffith branched out into producing and scriptwriting starting with the martial arts-themed "Night of the Warrior" (1991). He continued to appear, write and produce genre fare like that over the next several years, although the films tended to received limited release or were consigned to the video shelves. In 1997, Griffith landed another villainous role as the nemesis to Kevin Sorbo's "Kull the Conqueror." While he proved a suitable foil in that sword and sorcery epic, the film itself tanked at the box-office. But the actor appeared to have found his mettle; his next role was Valek, the 600-year old leader of a band of the undead, in "John Carpenter's Vampires." With his dancer's training and sexy charisma, Griffith cut a memorable figure of evil and proved a worthy opponent to James Woods' vampire hunter.