Seen on the screen

Michael Emerson

SERIES: "Lost," 10 p.m. today, ABC.

THE LATEST: Emerson plays Ben Linus (first known as Henry Gale), the leader of the frightening and mysterious Others, on the drama, which continues its third season. The show's ratings have dropped considerably from last season, with recent episodes hitting series lows of 14.5 million and 12.8 million viewers. The show -- which aired at 8 p.m. in its debut season -- was moved from 9 to 10 p.m. to get it out of the way of Fox's "American Idol" and CBS' "Criminal Minds," but fewer total viewers are watching during the 10 p.m. time slot than earlier hours.

FROM HIS LIPS: "Generations of serial killers have taught us that it's the meek fellow next door with the spectacles that you've kind of got to watch out for," said Emerson, who won an Emmy in 2001 for playing a confessed murderer on "The Practice." "My instinct was always to give little away, to put the focus on others and sort of not be there. And, somehow, the more I disappear, the more people worry about me."

DID YOU KNOW? Emerson studied theater and art at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and moved to New York to begin an unsuccessful acting career. He worked for a while at a Pottery Barn in Manhattan and became an illustrator, contributing to The New York Times, among other publications. By 1980, he left New York for Jacksonville, Fla., where he started doing community theater. He worked his way up to regional theater, playing Equity houses around the South. After a year of fine-tuning at the University of Alabama's Master of Fine Arts program, he returned to New York and landed the lead role in Moises Kaufman's ''Gross Indecency," about the trials of Oscar Wilde. Emerson's career took off with roles on Broadway ("The Iceman Cometh") and a string of small, mostly villainous film and TV parts. When his run on "Lost" ends, Emerson says, he wants to return to New York. "The stage is what will save me," he said, asked if he feared being typecast as creepy villains. "The plays I do -- Shakespeare, Ibsen, O'Neill -- let me play other types. And that will sort of clear the palate."

LIFE OFF-SCREEN: Emerson, 52, was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is married to actress Carrie Preston, with whom he appeared in the movie "Straight-Jacket."

FIND HIM ON DVD IN: Season two of "Lost," as well as minor roles in "Straight-Jacket," "Saw," "For Love of the Game" and "Playing by Heart."

From: The New York Times, the Associated Press, Imdb.Com, Amazon.Com