Nicknamed "Billy", he was born
William E. Wirth on June 23, 1962 in New York City, in the
United States. He was the son of Morris A. Wirth an American who was of
Russian and
Jewish background, who worked as a lawyer, while his mother Jean Wirth was a visual artist. His mother Jean, who was born in the state of
Iowa, is of
Anglo-American and
Native American heritage. Wirth was a student at
Collegiate School (New York), where he was a classmate of musician
John Hermann, and attended
Brown University where he was discovered by fashion model photographer
Bruce Weber, and soon began a modeling career. He modeled for American and European fashion magazines such as Seventeen, GQ, Interview, Teen magazines and took part in
fashion show events in the 1980s. Wirth originally worked as a fashion model until he gave up on fashion and turned to Hollywood acting. Wirth moved to Los Angeles, California in the mid 1980s to pursue an acting career, which began with a role in the 1985 feature film,
Seven Minutes in Heaven. His performance as Dwayne in
The Lost Boys followed, and he landed a starring role in the 1988 film
War Party. (left), Wirth (bottom right) and a classmate in 1975 Wirth continued modeling combining it with acting, until he walked away from the fashion industry in the early 1990s, to dedicate his time to full-time acting. In the 1990s he appeared in both film and television, appearing in
Abel Ferrara's 1993 film
Body Snatchers as well as
Sex and the City and
CSI. He took part in the global-hit television game show
American Gladiators, competing during the series' first season in 1989 and advancing to the first-half semi-finals before failing to win the title. He also appeared in the official
Electric Crown music video by the American
heavy metal band,
Testament in 1992. He also starred in
Charmed as the warlock, Matthew Tate. Since 1999, besides acting in films, he has been writing, directing, and producing independent films. His most notable film directing was
MacArthur Park in 2001. ==Filmography==