Matt Keeslar

Hunky Matt Keeslar was virtually unknown when director Peter Yates cast the Juilliard student as Danny, Albert Finney's confused son, in the 1995 feature "The Run of the Country." The novice actor had to learn an Irish brogue practically overnight to play a young man whose combative relationship with his father and the recent death of his mother lead him to run off into the Irish countryside, where he meets and impregnates a young lass only to have the experience trigger a reconciliation with his father. Prior to that, he had played a soldier in "Renaissance Man," an NBC Page in "Quiz Show" and the son of Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard in "Safe Passage" (all 1994). On the small screen, the strapping, strong-featured Keeslar made the most of his small role as the youthful collector, inspiring sensuous musing by Blanche DuBois (Jessica Lange) in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (CBS, 1995). Greater exposure greeted his title performance in "A Brother's Promise: The Dan Jansen Story" (CBS, 1996), which recounted how the Olympic speedskater's life was influenced by his sister's bout with leukemia.