Georgia-born and Bronx-reared, actor Desmond Harrington had the envious success of landing the first major role for which he auditioned when Luc Besson tapped him to play Aulon, the co-starring role, in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999). Although few critics noted the young actor's performance, he acquitted himself well and quickly landed in several other projects. Harrington was cast as a teen actor with a troubled past in "Drop Back Ten", which premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. He also had a small role in "Boiler Room" (2000) and filmed "Massholes" (scheduled to air on Cinemax during the 2001-2002 season), which follows one night in the 1980s in the live of a group of Massachusetts residents.
Harrington was back at Sundance in 2001 in the featured role of a angry twentysomething in the festival's opening night offering "My First Mister", directed by Christine Lahti. Later that same year, he was seen as a British rugby-playing teen trapped with three others in "The Hole" and was featured as Brittany Murphy's soldier boyfriend in "Riding in Cars With Boys". The rising talent next was seen in the ensemble of the Vietnam War drama "We Were Soldiers" and the horror thriller "Ghost Ship" (both in 2002). The following year, he took on the Rob Schmidt indie thriller "Wrong Turn," which also co-starred Eliza Dushka.