Adrian Zmed

Adrian Zmed played football while studying at Lane Tech High School in Chicago and what could have been a disastrous accident--a broken leg and a punctured artery--turned out to be fortuitous. It ended his football career, but got him to start acting, first performing in a high school production of "Guys and Dolls."

His acting success in high school encouraged him to study theater at the city's Goodman School of Drama, as well as voice at the Conservatory of Music, with his first big break coming as gang-leader Danny Zuko in a touring production of the musical "Grease." He appeared on television for the first time in 1978 with a part in the action-crime series "Starsky and Hutch." This led him to his first recurring role the next year, playing Brooklyn teen Socks Palermo, in the comedy "Flatbush." When that show was cancelled after only one season, he was cast in another short-lived comedy, "Goodtime Girls" and in 1982, he landed his first film role, once again playing the leader of the T-Birds, in the musical-sequel "Grease 2." That same year, he took on what is probably still his best-known role, and became a major star, playing Officer Vince Romano in the William Shatner crime-series "T.J. Hooker." He played the character in 72 episodes until 1985. Since then, he has appeared in the sitcom "Caroline in the City," the 2003 thriller "The Drone Virus," and the comedy "Spring Break '83."