Mike Vogel

Michael James Vogel (born July 17, 1979) is an American actor. Vogel began acting in 2001 and has appeared in several films and series, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Grind, Poseidon, Blue Valentine, The Help, Bates Motel, Cloverfield, Under the Dome and The Case for Christ. He starred as the lead in the NBC military drama series The Brave for the 2017–18 season.

Vogel was born in Abington Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, to Kathy and Jim Vogel, and was raised in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania. He is of German descent. Both of his grandfathers fought in World War II; one was a tank commander who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and the other was a Seabee in the Navy. Vogel has two younger siblings: a brother, Daniel Aaron, and a sister, Kristin. He attended William Tennent High School, where he was on the freshman wrestling team.

He also attended Cairn University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania in 1998. During the early 2000s, he frequently traveled to New York City in order to audition for acting roles and modeling slots.

In 1993, he competed on Nickelodeon GUTS with Christy "Blast" Gast and Cam "The Ice Man" Burke, and finished with the silver medal. He tied with the other players for first place on Over the Top and also won the Aggro Crag event, coming from third place to take second overall. He was known as Mike "Flea" Vogel and was dressed in blue.

Vogel began modeling jeans for Levi Strauss & Company. He was subsequently cast in the television series Grounded for Life, appearing in a recurring role between 2001 and 2004.

His first film role was in the skateboarding-themed Grind, which was released on August 15, 2003. The film's co-stars included Adam Brody and Jennifer Morrison. Vogel's next role was in the made-for-television remake of Wuthering Heights, which premiered on MTV in September 2003. In the film, Vogel played Heath opposite Erika Christensen's Kate. Vogel's last 2003 role was in the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was released in October and had high box office performance.

In 2005, after Grounded for Life was canceled, Vogel appeared in four film roles. First, he played Eric Richman, the romantic interest of Blake Lively's character in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which had a June release. His next role was the lead in the low-budget film, Supercross, which was theatrically released in August. Vogel filmed his role in Havoc, a dark, R-rated drama also starring Anne Hathaway, in 2003, but the film was not released until November 2005. It bypassed theaters and was released directly-to-video. Vogel's final 2005 role was in Rumor Has It..., starring Jennifer Aniston, in which he had a supporting role as the son of Kevin Costner's character.

Vogel's first 2006 role was in the disaster film Poseidon, a remake of the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure; he plays the fiancé of Emmy Rossum's character. The film, which had a budget of $160m, opened on May 12 and grossed $181,674,817 at the international box office. Vogel was originally offered the role of Angel in X-Men: The Last Stand, but backed out to appear in Poseidon. The same year, he appeared in Caffeine, a romantic comedy and signed to appear in a horror movie called Open Graves, shot in Spain.