What can you tell me about Gabriel Mann from Revenge?
–Kara Gribanov, Brighton Beach, N.Y.
Mann, 40, was a fashion model who made the transition to acting. He has appeared in numerous films, the best known being The Life of David Gale and The Bourne Supremacy.
The Middlebury, Vt.-born actor has also done voice-over work for the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Planet of the Apes video game. Despite a long list of credits that includes four episodes of Mad Men, Mann tells the story that he was only a few weeks from throwing in the towel on his acting career when he landed the role of technology billionaire Nolan Ross on Revenge. Unlike his character–and his sister Alexandra Mann, who graduated Brown University with a degree in computer science–he wasn't a big tech guy, but that is changing.
"I am much more tech-savvy now," he admits. "Not necessarily because of Nolan, but just because it has been so much fun following the organic process as the series goes along on the Internet, so I have sort of self-educated. There is nothing I want to hack into."
And when it comes to real-life revenge, Mann thinks it is an awful idea. "I don't think it turns out well in the end. I think if you just sit back for long enough, karma comes and grabs you and if you start pushing it along, it has a way of flipping back and biting back at you."
