Ian Ziering on AllMovie

Known to most as Steve Sanders on Beverly Hills 90210, Ian Ziering actually got his start onscreen almost ten years earlier, playing Brooke Shields' brother in the romantic teen drama Endless Love in 1981 when he was just 17. While it was the young actor's first big break in Hollywood, Ziering was already an accomplished actor, having performed in the national touring production of Peter Pan earlier that same year. Ziering's young life didn't revolve around only show business, however -- he graduated from William Patterson University in 1987.

Despite taking time out for his education, Ziering continued to rack up credits on his resumé throughout the '80s, including a two-year stint on the soap opera Guiding Light from 1986 to 1988. Then, in 1990, Ziering scored the part of Steve on a new nighttime soap called Beverly Hills 90210, and his fame skyrocketed. Not only did he suddenly find that he'd become an extremely successful actor, he also became a teen heartthrob to girls everywhere -- despite the fact that even though his character was 16, Ziering himself was ten years older, though he was hardly the oldest of the cast. He would stay with the extremely successful show for ten years, occasionally acting in side projects like 1995's action thriller No Way Back, starring Russell Crowe.

In 2005, Ziering appeared in Tony Scott's high-octane thriller Domino, and in 2006, he directed and starred in a comedy short called Man vs. Monday. Then, in 2007, the newly minted filmmaker sashayed his way back into prime time, appearing on the hit show Dancing with the Stars. Ziering and his partner, Cheryl Burke, proved very popular with audiences, who voted to keep the couple on the show for multiple weeks.