Born to doctor parents in Berkley, California, hot hunk Ryder Jared had a typical early childhood. Or almost. “Right away we noticed his good looks, and, eventually his strong voice,” says the young star’s mother, Dr. Maureen Jared. “We knew there was potential there,” agrees Dr. Marc Jared, his father. His parent’s premonition that they had a potential celebrity on their hands led them to put their house and practice up for sale when Ryder turned ten and move to a smaller LA apartment, virtually inside the Warner Bro’s studio lot. “He seemed old enough to handle showbiz by then,” they agree. But it wasn’t smooth sailing from day one for the heartthrob hopeful. “I remember auditioning for a role in Master and Commander, which would have been awesome, since I look up to Russell Crowe so much, but it just didn’t work out. I suppose that’s for the best anyway, because other opportunities came along.” It took the Drs. Jared a full year before they could watch their son’s screen dream come true with a shot at primetime drama via the popular NBC hospital show ER. Just after the episode aired, Ryder received an offer from the network to audition for the role of Douglas on their family sitcom pilot Wonderland Drive. They loved Ryder, and America loved Wonderland. Ryder’s mom recalls their intense joy at steady work in the trade. “At this point, Ryder was really more caught up in school and the life of a pre–teen, so the regular production work on such a successful sitcom was a great entertainment industry safety net.”

At the age of 16, the hip actor’s career began to take off, with the wildly popular made–for–TV movie Old Soul, Young Heart, co–starring Morgan Freeman, and the coming–of–age fantasy flick Dragon’s Breath, directed by Peter Jackson. Since then, Ryder’s been making movies a full–time job, with such career success as the pair of high school romance films Study Hall and Study Hall: Class Dismissed; Double Date, co–starring fellow hottie Hilary Duff; The Ranch at Bitter End with Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood; and the edgy Greensky, which garnered a few BAFTA nods and great international acclaim. “Really, it’s all happened so fast, I mean, I just feel like a regular guy, you know,” says the man himself. And with hobbies like surfing, snowboarding, learning the guitar, and karate, Ryder Jarred could almost be that regular guy . . . if it weren’t for his insanely good looks and talent at burning up the silver screen!