The forceful, darkly attractive Trese (pronounced Tracy) made a memorable debut as a volatile, swaggering punk in Nick Gomez's independent feature "Laws of Gravity" (1992). He portrayed Jon, a short-fused, impulsive petty crook, wanted by the cops, who becomes involved in a fencing scam that turns fatal.

Trese graduated from the State University of New York at Purchase, where he first met Gomez and his classmates included actress Parker Posey. He had begun his career as a child performer, appearing in a minor role in a 1979 New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Othello", starring Raul