As charming lab tech-turned-field-investigator Greg Sanders on the hit series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (CBS, 2000- ), actor Eric Szmanda zoomed from relative obscurity to weekly face time on one of the most popular television series in America – if not the entire globe. That the performer has made the transition and retained his affable Midwestern personality said much for his future in the business.

Born July 24, 1975 in Milwaukee, WI, and raised with two brothers in nearby Mukwonago, Szmanda got a small taste of the performing life from his great-uncle, Ray Szmanda, who achieved