Justin Bruening

With his chiseled good looks, Justin Bruening made as big a splash as a young actor can by conquering the world of daytime soaps, living his own youthful fairy tale romance onscreen and off, and impressing showbiz suits enough to sign him to a starring role on a reboot of a classic television series. The producers of the feature "Superman Returns" (2006) passed on him for their title character, but NBC made Bruening the new face of the redux of its sci-fi/spy action show, "Knight Rider" (2008-09) - first with a two-hour movie, followed by a series revival. In many ways, Bruening's career arc ironically saw him echo the path of onetime daytime star-cum-Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff, though the young upstart was ultimately regarded with much more respect and higher expectations than his predecessor, boding well for a lengthy, dependable career in showbiz.