Handsome, charismatic and emotionally expressive, Tate acted in L.A. community theater before making his TV debut on an episode of CBS' 1985 revival of "The Twilight Zone". Other TV credits followed on series including "21 Jump Street", "Matlock" and "The Wonder Years". Tate appeared in Oprah Winfrey's high-profile miniseries "The Women of Brewster Place" (ABC, 1989) before landing a succession of stints as a TV series regular, notably as Andre, a young man impatient for independence, on the ambitious comedy-drama "South Central" (Fox, 1994).

Tate gained considerable attention the year before