At the age of 16, Johnny Whitworth won YM MAGAZINE's initial "Young and Modern Man" contest in 1991. Within two years, the Charleston native had begun his showbiz career making a guest appearance in the pilot of the short-lived ABC sitcom "Phenom". After landing a recurring role as a boyfriend of Julia Salinger (Neve Campbell) on Fox's "Party of 5" (1994), Whitworth made his feature film debut as a youth who works at McDonald's in the comedy "Bye Bye, Love" (1995) and that same year brought charm to his role as a would-be artist working at a record store in "Empire Records". Reportedly, the actor turned down a number of roles, attempting to avoid typecasting as the boyfriend or the heartthrob. He chose a grittier role as a brooding teenager who becomes orphaned in Martin Donovan's muddled "Someone Is Waiting" (1997). Whitworth fared better with a breakthrough performance as a leukemia victim whose condition could have been avoided in Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of John Grisham's "The Rainmaker" (1997).