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Erik Palladino
Dr. Dave Malucci

Growing up on the streets of blue-collar Yonkers, New York, Erik Palladino’s life might have taken a different path if not for the indelible impression made on him by the Oscar-winning film “Raging Bull” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Palladino returns to “ER” for his third season as a gregarious and up-front fourth-year resident in the emergency room.

The youngest of three brothers, Palladino’s father owns a heating contractor business in the Bronx that involves most of the family (his mother is a schoolteacher). At 14, he began performing with the Children’s Repertory Company, and even appeared with the troupe off-Broadway. However, he became a full-time theater arts student, in spite of his friends, when he auditioned for and was accepted at Marymount Manhattan College – an all-women’s campus except for its theater program – where he later received his bachelor of arts degree.

While Palladino credits acting for “turning my life around in college,” he later opted to play in No Happy Faces, an alternative rock band, for four years. Eventually, he worked his way back to his studied craft.

Perhaps Palladino’s big career break came when he simply decided to cut his long hair. The next week, he was cast as a series regular in the comedy “Love and Marriage,” followed quickly by gigs as a recurring regular on “Murphy Brown” and “DiResta.” His request to exit the latter series was honored, and he was cast on the last day of his series commitment in the hit feature film “U-571” as an American sailor in World War II opposite Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Harvey Keitel. His other features include “Can’t Hardly Wait” and the independents “This Space Between Us,” “The Week That Girl Died” and “Roadkill.” Palladino recently completed production of the film “Finder’s Fee,” opposite James Earl Jones. He also guest-starred on “Party of Five.”

Palladino enjoys his offbeat character who’s not above bending the rules to save a patient. “He’s really an adrenaline junkie,” he says. “He enjoys people’s quirks and likes to mess with them to get a reaction. He’s tough, strong-willed and a straight-shooter.”

In his leisure time, Palladino prefers to box (while also participating in other sports), write and hang out with his dog. In addition, he remains a loyal New York Yankees fan. His birthday is May 10.

Eriq La Salle
Dr. Peter Benton

Two days into the filming of “ER” the producers had not yet cast the regular role of the self-assured Dr. Benton. Eriq La Salle seized the moment. “When casting waits that long, they’re basically waiting for someone to come in and take the role,” says La Salle. “I was completely focused and came into the office with a stethoscope and surgical greens I had left over from a previous role. When I left, I wanted them to say, ‘That’s Dr. Benton.’” Three days later, he suited up again—this time on the set as Peter Benton, a role which earned him two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, as well as three Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination.

La Salle, who was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut as one of four children, studied at Juilliard for two years, before receiving a bachelor of fine arts degree in theater arts from New York University. Just before his graduation, he was cast in the first of several productions for Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare-in-the-Park theater company. He found continuous acting work on Broadway, off-Broadway and in the daytime TV drama “One Life to Live” as reporter Mike Rivers.

In 1991, La Salle moved to Los Angeles to co-star (with John Mahoney of NBC’s “Frasier”) in the medical drama series “The Human Factor.” He piled up television credits by guest-starring on NBC’s “L.A. Law,” “Quantum Leap” and “A Different World,” as well as in cable’s “Vietnam War Stories.” Among his television movie credits are “Empty Cradle,” “Circumstantial Evidence,” “What Price Victory?” and “Leg Work.” His feature films include “Coming to America,” “Five Corners,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “The Color of Night” and “D.R.O.P. Squad.”

La Salle appeared on Broadway in “Death and the King “ and in “Two Trains Running” at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.

La Salle is also making his mark as a film and TV director. He wrote and directed “Psalms from the Underground,” a 35-minute short film in which he also starred. He also directed the critically acclaimed cable movie “Rebound,” about legendary athlete Earl Manigault, whose drug addiction destroyed his promising basketball career. La Salle has written, directed and produced two short films that won awards at the Worldfest Houston film competition and the USA Film Festival. He produced the television movie “Mind Prey,” in which he starred as Lucas Davenport, the policeman made famous in a series of mystery novels by John Sandford.

Along with Frank Darabont, the director of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,” La Salle produced “The Salton Sea” (starring Val Kilmer). Recently, La Salle made his feature directing debut with the independent film “Crazy as Hell,” in which he starred and also produced.

In his free time, La Salle enjoys shooting pool, basketball and working out (he used to compete in martial arts). His birthday is July 23.

Goran Visnjic
Dr. Luka Kovac

Goran Visnjic joined the cast of NBC’s “ER” in 1999, playing the role of Dr. Luka Kovac, a Croatian doctor who immigrated to the United States after the violent deaths of his wife and children.

Visnjic grew up in Sibenik, Croatia, a port town on the Adriatic Sea, where he decided at an early age that he wanted to be an actor. He first performed in local theater groups and then entered the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. He gained popularity in Croatia when, at the age of 21, he was cast as Hamlet in the prestigious Dubrovnik Summer Festival’s staging of Shakespeare’s play. The production received rave reviews, with Visnjic’s own performance earning him three national Best Actor awards, including an Orlando (the Croatian equivalent of a Tony).

Visnjic’s additional theater credits include “Les Fourberies de Scapin,” “L’Ecole des Femmes,” “Miss Julie,” “Ivanov,” “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Le Baruffe Chiozotte.”

During his recent summer hiatus, Visnjic completed the independent film “The Deep End” directed by Scott McGhee, in which he starred opposite Tilda Swinton. He appeared with Heather Graham in Miramax’ 2000 film “Committed,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and will star in the upcoming independent film “Doctor Sleep.”

Among Visnjic’s other film credits are “Practical Magic,” in which he starred alongside Nicole Kidman, and “The Peacemaker” also with Kidman and former “ER” star George Clooney.

Visnjic also starred in three Croatian features, and made his American motion-picture debut in the critically acclaimed drama, “Welcome to Sarajevo,” directed by Michael Winterbottom.

In his leisure time, Visnjic enjoys fencing, swimming and diving. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Ivana, and his birthday is September 9.

Noah Wyle
Dr. John Carter

For his role as Dr. John Carter on “ER,” Noah Wyle has received five Emmy Award nominations, as well as three Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. He won the 2001 TV Guide Award for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

Though the Dr. Carter that viewers first met in 1994 was inexperienced and often overwhelmed by the furious pace in the ER, Wyle reflects that the character’s development mirrors his own acting career: “When the series first started, I was extremely nervous and bumbling and I was playing a character who was nervous and bumbling,” Wyle explains. “The second and third years, I got far more comfortable on the set. Now the character has matured and caught up to me and we’re sort of going through the same life issues. I would be his patient today.”

Wyle, one of six brothers and sisters, was born and raised in Hollywood, California. He developed a genuine interest in acting after his junior year in high school, when he participated in a theater arts program at Northwestern University. After graduation from high school, he found a seedy apartment on Hollywood Boulevard and began studying with acting teacher Larry Moss.

Wyle scored his first professional role in the NBC miniseries “Blind Faith” and followed that with his first feature film, “Crooked Hearts,” in which he played a son in a dysfunctional family. In 1990, he worked in another feature, “There Goes My Baby.”

After appearing in several local plays in Los Angeles, he was cast in the box-office hit “A Few Good Men.” He also appeared in the feature “Swing Kids” as a leader in the Hitler Youth and in “The Myth of Fingerprints” with Roy Scheider and Blythe Danner. Wyle starred as Steve Jobs in the cable movie “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” and as the President’s interpreter in last year’s live television production of “Fail Safe.”

Wyle is the creative producer of his own Los Angeles theater company, the Blank Theater Company, which stages an annual young playwrights festival. He also recently acquired Second Stage Theater in Hollywood, where the company has mounted numerous successful productions.

Wyle devotes much of his free time to the international non-profit organization Doctors of the World. He enjoys basketball, traveling, photography and going to the movies. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, makeup artist Tracey Warbin. His birthday is June 4.

Let me know if the bios are too long.