Biography
Following an early career that mainly included small parts on
Empty Nest,
Murphy Brown, and other assorted sitcoms, Craig Bierko made a number of unsuccessful stabs at stardom in feature films with leading-man roles in the poorly received comedies
Sour Grapes,
The Suburbans, and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. He also starred opposite
Gretchen Mol in 1999's sci-fi dud
The Thirteenth Floor. In 2005, Bierko's career began to pick up steam when he bulked up to play boxer
Max Baer in
Ron Howard's
Cinderella Man. Playing opposite acting heavyweights
Russell Crowe and
Paul Giamatti, Bierko held his own and received high marks from critics. He parlayed the success of the performance into an extended arc on ABC's
Boston Legal, and in 2007 was cast as the lead on Fox's
The Rules for Starting Over, a romantic sitcom about a divorced man's reluctant attempts at entering the dating scene. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide