Life and career

Scott was born in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the son of Cynthia "Cindy" (née Pierce), an insurance sales representative, and William Joseph "Bill" Scott, a civil engineer.

His first notable role was appearing for several seasons in the recurring role of Matthew on the television situation comedy Grace Under Fire. He played the title character's out-of-wedlock son, whom she had placed for adoption. In 1997, Scott landed the role of Guy Patterson in the film That Thing You Do!. He was almost passed over because of his resemblance to the film's director, actor Tom Hanks, but Hanks's wife, Rita Wilson, encouraged Hanks to cast Scott in the role.

Scott has had several other notable roles; he was the lead in the films An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) and Dead Man on Campus (1998), and co-starred with Kate Capshaw and Tom Selleck in The Love Letter (1999). Scott also had a recurring role on the television series ER in 2002 and 2003 and has played numerous minor parts in other films and television shows. He starred in Saved (2006), a medical-drama series on the TNT cable channel. He appeared as one of Mandy Moore's character's boyfriends in the comedy Because I Said So (2007), and starred in a Broadway-theatre comedy The Little Dog Laughed, as closeted film star Mitchell Green, written by Douglas Carter Beane. He also appeared as Zip in an Off-Broadway production of The Country Club, also written by Beane. He starred as Jack Cutting on the ABC's brief comedy-drama series Cashmere Mafia (2008). In 2009, he appeared in four episodes of Law & Order playing the fictional Governor of New York, Don Shalvoy. He also played Detective Russell Clarke in the seven episodes of the first season of Southland, which was dropped by NBC and subsequently picked up by TNT. At the start of second season, he became a recurring character appearing in three of six episodes. In the third season of the series, he has continued to appear in selected episodes.

Filmography

Film

Television