Though a preternaturally gifted actor by any standard, Gabriel Macht endured years of underutilization by Hollywood. He officially debuted as a child actor at the age of 8 with a small role in director Larry Peerce's critically maligned, family-friendly romance Why Would I Lie? (1980), but remained offscreen until his late twenties, when he reemerged as a film star with supporting roles in the romantic comedies The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998) and 101 Ways (The Things a Girl Will Do to Keep Her Volvo) (2000), and a regular turn as Mark Gabriel on television's psychological thriller series The Others (2000).
Macht then bided his time for several years in action yarns unworthy of his abilities, including Joel Schumacher's Bad Company (2002) and Roger Donaldson's The Recruit (2003). The course of Macht's career, however, changed with 2004's John Travolta alcoholism drama A Love Song for Bobby Long, which afforded the thespian third billing after Travolta and Scarlett Johansson. In it, Macht delivered a searing portrayal of Lawson Pines, an alcoholic writer in the American south. He followed it up with a key supporting role in Robert de Niro's critically acclaimed historical saga The Good Shepherd (2006), and tackled the lead in director Frank Miller's The Spirit (2008), a supernaturally charged action saga about a masked crime fighter. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide. 