A ruggedly handsome actor whose best-known work has been on American TV, Antonio Sabato Jr. came to the US from his native Italy at age 12. He first won notice as a young actor playing the brooding Jagger Cates on the ABC soap opera "General Hospital" (1992-94). Sabato's smoldering good-looks and sexy demeanor turned him into a frequent pin-up and he was the only daytime performer to be voted one of the world's "50 Most Beautiful" by PEOPLE Magazine in 1993. Soon thereafter, he was snatched by NBC to play the cocky but gifted pilot Alonzo Solace in the short-lived sci-fi series "Earth 2" (1999-95). He fared slightly better with a short-term role on Fox's primetime soap "Melrose Place". Cast as the first husband of vixen Amanda (Heather Locklear), Sabato was impressive as the abusive, hot-tempered Jack Parezi. The network was impressed by the young actor; he landed a co-starring role as a murderer in the based-on-fact "If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of 'America's Most Wanted'" (1996) and was later signed to a deal for three TV-movies in which he would play the same character/ The first of these, "Codename: Wolverine", aired in December 1996 and led to talk of an eventual series based on the character.
Sabato also played a small role in "Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride" (syndicated, 1991) and had a bigger part as a killer in "Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter?" (NBC, 1993). In the 1994 Showtime original, he lured Shannen Doherty into his getaway plans in "Jailbreakers" and was Kellie Martin's beau in "Her Hidden Truth" (NBC, 1995). Sabato also won fans displaying his physique as Janet Jackson's love interest in the music video for "Love Will Never Do Without You" and as a model for Calvin Klein underwear.