Comparisons of Skeet Ulrich to Johnny Depp were inevitable. For starters, Ulrich's greasy hair, smoldering eyes, chiseled visage, and gaunt figure lend him a striking resemblance to the established Hollywood hunk. But there are career similarities to be considered, as well: both made an early splash with a genuinely scary Wes Craven flick (Depp in Nightmare on Elm Street, Ulrich in Scream); both have made embarrassing movies with Rob Morrow (Depp in Private Resort, Ulrich in Last Dance); and both have had on-screen — and in Depp's case, off-screen — dalliances with Winona Ryder (Depp in Edward Scissorhands, Ulrich in Boys). The heroin-chic-without-the-heroin-use appeal Ulrich shares with Depp certainly helped jump-start his career — and hey, there are definitely far worse comparisons young actors can have made about them. Ulrich once joked that his worst nightmare was "being labeled the next Keanu Reeves."

As a youth, Ulrich had bigger worries to contend with than becoming a monosyllabic heartthrob. His mother divorced his father when he was 3; she moved Skeet and his older brother Geoff around until he was 9, at which point she married D.K. Ulrich and settled down in Concord, North Carolina. Skeet was a sickly child, and suffered numerous bouts of pneumonia before doctors finally discovered a ventricle defect in his heart. He had open-heart surgery at age 10 to correct the problem, but the experience rendered him something of a hypochondriac nancy boy. "Anytime I got in emotional turmoil, I felt sick all the time, like at any minute I would die," Ulrich remembers. His fragile posture and sensitive countenance once resulted in him being mistaken as a girl by a school official during a seventh-grade assembly. Still, he managed to develop into quite an athlete, and earned his nickname of Skeet (he was born Bryan Ray) when a baseball coach dubbed him "Skeeter," as in "skinny little mosquito." The name stuck, and so did the athleticism: Skeet almost had a soccer scholarship to a local college in the bag, when he blew his chance by blowing his cool during a big game at which talent scouts were in attendance.

Ulrich made it by the skin of his teeth into the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he commenced work on a marine biology major. He got a handful of jobs as extras in local movie productions like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Chattahoochee, and started taking acting lessons from a local deli owner-slash-thespian, who gave him a book of facial expressions to memorize. A string of wise choices followed: Ulrich switched his major to theater; transferred to New York University; and was recruited by David Mamet to join his Atlantic Theater Company. Mamet was no doubt impressed with Ulrich's wide range of facial expressions.

Ulrich spent five years doing stage work in New York, taking the odd construction job to stay afloat. In 1994, he landed the gig that has opened the door to fame for so many actors: an ABC After-School Special. He starred in Same Difference, a touching drama about a Catholic boy who falls in love with a Jewish girl. The experience provided more than just an instructive life lesson — he also made a valuable contact in young director Stacy Cochran, who went on to cast him as Winona Ryder's one-night-stand in Boys. A one-night-stand who just so happened to be a pitcher for the major-league Pittsburgh Pirates — not too bad for a little Skeeter.

Parts started pouring in as fast as Ulrich could swallow them up. The year 1996 witnessed a near complete Skeet saturation of the movie market, as he turned in performances in five movies, the highlight of which was his lead assignment in Scream. He created a minor sensation as a would-be date rapist in The Craft who gets his proper occult comeuppance, but his minute roles in Sharon Stone's Last Dance and Kevin Spacey's Albino Alligator barely registered. The following year, Ulrich got his chance to carry a film, Paul Schrader's adaptation of the Elmore Leonard adaptation Touch, in which he played the innocent Juvenal, a former monk who has the power to heal by touch. Though the movie received mixed critical reviews and quickly disappeared from theaters, its lack of success didn't break Ulrich's momentum any. He's since appeared in a supporting role in the James L. Brooks comedy As Good As It Gets; in a co-starring capacity in Richard Linklater's The Newton Boys (with Matthew McConaughey and Ethan Hawke — actors who might not have Depp to wash out of their hair, but are still every bit as greasy as he is); and in a headlining role alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. in the buddy action comedy Chill Factor. 1999 marked the release of esteemed director Ang Lee's Civil War drama Ride With the Devil, in which Ulrich shared top billing with Tobey Maguire and pop songstress Jewel.