A striking brunette who moved from Poland to Brooklyn, New York at age seven, Dagmara Dominczyk fell into acting when she accompanied a friend on an audition, but quickly proved a natural talent, earning acting awards and recognition at New York's famed LaGuardia High School of Music and Art & the Performing Arts and Pittsburgh's Carnegie-Mellon University, where she was granted a full scholarship. Dominczyk made her Broadway debut in 1999, working in the acclaimed drama "Closer" as the understudy for Anna Friel's Alice. Called in to cover for Friel on several occasions during the play's run, Dominczyk was given the opportunity to work opposite Natasha Richardson, quite a coup for a performer with her minimal experience. In 2001, Dominczyk was featured in two episodes of the popular NBC drama "Third Watch" and made her feature film debut with an unforgettable role as the sexy and mysterious PR agent for fictional heavy metal band Steel Dragon. in the charming "Rock Star" (2000). Exiles from their homeland because of her father's status as a Solidarity leader, the Dominczyk family experience was shaped by struggle against and revenge for the wrongs done by Communist aggressors (who killed Dagmara's grandfather). This background was called upon by the actress, who was cast as the lovely Mercedes in Kevin Reynolds' adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic revenge tale "The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002). Blessed with good looks as well as talent, Dominczyk had more of a serious demeanor than her homegrown Hollywood starlet counterparts and lent a convincing gravity to her turn as the leading lady whose beauty and grace turns Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce) into a jealous monster capable of setting up Edmond Dantes (James Caviezel), his friend and her betrothed. Later that year, the actress was featured in a cast of fellow up and comers in the night terrors-themed psychodrama "They" (also 2002).