A versatile actor who continues to expand his career on television and in film, Eddie Cibrian is fast becoming one of the leading talented, young actors in the business today. Cibrian is best known for his role as firefighter Jimmy Doherty on the popular NBC series "Third Watch," which he starred in for four seasons.

Born and raised in California, Cibrian began his acting career at the age of 12, landing a Coca-Cola commercial on his very first audition. Following the success of that spot, Cibrian appeared in numerous other national commercials.

Upon entering high school, Cibrian decided to put his acting career on hold to pursue his other passion-sports. He excelled in every sport he competed in, including football, baseball, soccer and volleyball, and graduated high school with several All-State honors.

Cibrian continued his successful athletic career when he entered UCLA's football program in the fall of 1991.

Unfortunately, an injury during his first year on the team left Cibrian sidelined and with extra time on his hands. The lack of physical activity left a void in Cibrian's life, so he decided to return to acting.

Cibrian immediately landed several national commercials and soon after, starred in Malcom-Jamal Warner's Emmy-Award winning television special "Kids Killing Kids." The attention Cibrian garnered for his appearance on Warner's special led to several soap opera auditions, one of them being for the role of Nick Newman on CBS's "The Young and the Restless." Although the show's producers felt that Cibrian was too old to play Nick, they were extremely impressed with his acting abilities and created a character for him on the show, that of the conniving Matt Clark. Within three months, Cibrian had received so much fan mail that CBS signed him to a three-year contract.

After appearing on "The Young and the Restless" for two years, Cibrian starred in several television shows including "Baywatch Nights" as a series regular, and recurring or guest stints on "The Bold and the Beautiful," "Beverly Hills 90210," "Sabrina The Teenage Witch" and "Saved by the Bell: The College Years."

It was not long before Aaron Spelling offered Cibrian the starring role of Cole Deschanel on the NBC daytime drama, "Sunset Beach." Just five months after his debut, TV Guide named Cibrian one of "Daytime's 12 Hottest Stars."

Coinciding with "Sunset Beach," Cibrian also found time in his busy schedule to star as the lead in a CBS movie-of-the-week "Logan's War: Bound by Honor," as well as wow audiences with his memorable motion picture debut in "Living Out Loud" as Holly Hunter's masseur. Cibrian's other television and film credits include the Lifetime movie "Jackie's Back," and the NBC biblicial mini-series "In the Beginning," starring Martin Landau, Jacqueline Bisset and Billy Campbell, as well as 20th Century Fox's "Say It Isn't So" starring Heather Graham and Chris Klein and Fine Line's "But I'm a Cheerleader" starring Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall. Eddie recently wrapped on a sci-fi film for Lakeshore Entertainment / Paramount Pictures currently entitled "Cave," which is set to be released this summer.

In his spare time, Cibrian enjoys playing golf, football, tennis and basketball, and is involved with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, as well as several other charitable organizations.

--ESPN