By Susan Michals

Photographed by Hellin Kay

Styled by Jessica de Ruiter

Luke Grimes

The 25-year-old actor has the soulfulness of Johnny Depp and the sexual swagger of Robert Pattinson — not exactly a bad combo. Currently he stars in the award winning Brothers and Sisters as Ryan — who is indoctrinated into the seasoned cast with a mere phone call.  Raised in a Pentecostal household — his father has been a minister for over 35 years — Grimes has spent enough time in the City of Angels to assess what’s right and what’s wrong with this town. Is this the sort of place one loses their religion? “I wouldn’t blame it on this town,” says the actor. “Spirituality is a personal thing. With certain religions, the view of god is an almost humanlike thing with an ego — and I just can’t believe that something all that powerful would have an ego.” Truer words were never spoken.

Shawn Hatosy

…is one part neighborhood tough guy, one part good cop. Add a dash of dysfunction and you have the perfect concoction that makes up Detective Sammy Bryant. Southland is about to embark on its second season, and for Hatosy — a veteran of numerous procedural shows — this is the best thing he’s been a part of on television. “I love this job. I’m excited to go to work. Something about this show creatively just moves me; it just feels phenomenal. And that’s rare. I go in and it’s cathartic; it’s almost relaxing sometimes. When I act, nothing else gets in there and I can shut out everything and focus.”

Michael Rady

…has got a pair of the most piercing eyes in the business — they’re the kind you feel right down to your soul. You need that in a guy like Jonah Miller, Rady’s new character on the show Melrose Place. Rady got his first big break in the feature film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and went on to recurring roles on Swingtown and Greek. Yet it is Melrose Place that will catapult Rady to new heights. As it turns out, the cast sounds pretty down to earth. “There’s no divas, no animosity… I think we’re all just old enough to realize this is great work.” Doesn’t he want to experience the Hollywood dream? Not particularly. “I’m pretty much a normal, quiet dude. I surf, read and hangout.” And man oh man, it shows.

Tristan Wilds

…just had his 20th birthday and he’s already a veteran of  two television shows. He stars on the second incarnation of 90210, and before was a part of the HBO series, The Wire. “The transition was definitely hard, but I like things that will challenge me — not just as an actor but as a person.” Pretty introspective for someone so young; but then again, Wilds was forced to grow up quickly. “Because of The Wire, I didn’t get to go to high school really. Now I’m getting to live the years I missed out on, especially through the microscope that is Beverly Hills. It’s like high school to the extreme! Fast cars, big houses, beautiful women! I couldn’t wish for a better high school to attend!”

Johann Urb

As Will on the new show Eastwick, he plays a bookish, soft spoken photographer. But if you take off the glasses, you won’t find Superman. Instead, you’ll get a handsome brainiac, who’s more about understanding why people do what they do as opposed to saving them from evil… at least in real life. In addition to Eastwick, the Estonian born actor has two films in 2009 - 2012, starring John Cusack, and Pornstar, where he plays a straight man playing a gay porn star. “One of the great things about being an actor for me is I have a lot more compassion for different types of folks because when you play a character, you get to think like them and experience like them. It turns out there is no right or wrong — it’s all perception, right?”

Tate Donovan

…has every actor’s dream job — an Emmy Award winning steady gig as Tom Shayes on Damages. And while known primarily for his acting prowess, Donovan has expanded to directing — with a couple of episodes of Damages under his belt as well as Medium and Nip/Tuck. “Just when you think you’re sick, you direct something like that and you realize you’re not that sick.” In addition to acting and directing, he still likes to play the fiddle, though his traditional Irish band has broken up, “Everyone got married and didn’t want to stay out until 4 in the morning. But I still play the occasional traditional Irish gig when I get a chance.”

AJ Buckley

Even at 31, AJ Buckley is incredibly insightful, which makes him perfectly cast as Adam Ross, resident lab tech for the NYC Crime Lab on CSI: NY. Yet until he got this golden gig, things were lean. “It seems like a cliché story, but I literally had $32 in my pocket when I got the call for CSI.” Maybe it’s that struggle that’s made him so Zen about life – but the actor takes nothing for granted and savors the moment. “There’s something about the journey — the hustle… You have to enjoy it in the here and now, or else what have you got?”

Brendan Hines

On Lie to Me, Hines plays Eli Loker, part of a band of merry men and women whose job it is to assist government agencies with seemingly unsolvable crimes — by reading facial expressions. Loker practices, “radical honesty” which Hines says is impossible to maintain in the long run. “The extent to which this character goes with his honesty… it’s like diarrhea of the mind… which is even more dangerous. He doesn’t think about repercussions.” While Hines admits his role has given him the opportunity to see people in a different light, he’s not an actor who lives and breathes his role 24/7. He can also be found at Hotel Café in Hollywood performing folk music — something he relishes even more than acting, on occasion.

Robert Buckley

…just landed a spot on One Tree Hill as the new hottie-in-residence, sports agent Clay. “Luckily I landed at a new cool school, and so far, the kids are being nice to me,” says the actor of his new gig, which has moved him from New York to North Carolina.  Needless to say, Buckley welcomes the slower pace of life. “Now we can actually shoot a scene without a mob and the streets blocked off.” Work is back to back for the actor, but he took a bit of time out for something important for him the weekend of this photo shoot — his ten-year high school reunion.