GREGORY ITZIN

Gregory Itzin stars as President Charles Logan on FOX’s hotter-than-ever “24.” Itzin has spent a lifetime playing politicians and royalty and this role is certainly the culmination of his award-winning career. People love to hate his seemingly indecisive character and wanted to shake him until he made up his mind for the last 1 1⁄2 seasons while others love to draw comparisons to real-life counterparts. The April 3rd episode revealed that he was actually the evil, sinister president we never imagined. All that bumbling and stumbling was just an act.

Itzin has starred on previous series and recurred on many more. He’s acted opposite Johnny Depp, Angelia Jolie and Meryl Streep in films. Itzin has received numerous awards for his theatre work, highlighted by Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his work in the Pulitzer Prize winning play, “The Kentucky Cycle.”

Playing President Logan on “24,” with Jean Smart as his first lady, should earn Itzin an Emmy nomination. You literally saw his character struggle with monumental decisions in every episode. Try as he might to be the courageous leader of the free world, Logan’s own short fuse often left the character making the short-sighted and easy choice, usually with disastrous results.

Who knew it was all just the outer layer?

In real life, Itzin has been happily married for 27 years and has a son and a daughter (who now hosts “24” viewing parties while away at college). He loves to play golf (much like a real-life former president) and to fix things around the house (instead of building houses, like another former chief executive) when he has the time. He also teaches acting and Shakespeare. Ironic that Itzin has always loved Shakespeare, who often wrote about flawed politicians and royalty struggling with their own inner beasts and doubts.