William Mapother

William Reibert Mapother, Jr. (; born April 17, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ethan Rom on the television series "Lost".
Early life.
Mapother was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the son of Louisa (née Riehm) and William Reibert Mapother, Sr. He is of English, Irish, and mostly German ancestry.
He is a first cousin of actor Tom Cruise, whose real name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. Mapother has appeared in five movies starring Cruise. He had tiny roles in "Minority Report" and "Vanilla Sky", and supporting roles in "", "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Magnolia". Mapother has two sisters, Katherine and Amy. His father was a lawyer and judge in Louisville, between 1967 and 1970. His father died on June 22, 2006.
Mapother graduated from the University of Notre Dame. He majored in English. Then, he taught high school in East Los Angeles for three years before becoming an actor.
Career.
Mapother has become widely known as a character actor. He sometimes plays scary or otherwise dark characters. He played an important role in Todd Field's "In the Bedroom". Mapother is more widely known as Ethan Rom in the TV show "Lost". The character was killed early in the first season. Since then, however, he has appeared in seven episodes mainly through flashbacks, once due to time travel and another in an alternate timeline. In total, he appeared in eleven episodes of "Lost".
Mapother has also had major roles in several independent movies, such as "The Lather Effect", "Moola", "Hurt" and "Another Earth". Mapother starred in "The Burrowers" as a Native American fighter who joins a posse to help find missing white settlers, only to discover that the hunters have become the hunted.
In September 2007, he was elected to a three-year term on the National Board of Directors for the Screen Actors Guild.