Ian Ziering (born March 30, 1964) is an American actor best known for playing Steve Sanders on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210.
Ian (pronounced EYE-an) was born in Newark, New Jersey to Mickie and Paul Ziering. He grew up in West Orange, New Jersey and has two brothers, Jeff and Barry, both of whom are more than 10 years older. His father jokes: "Ian is the best mistake I ever made." Ziering graduated in 1982 from West Orange High School.
Ian's mother died 9 years ago , and he has talked openly about how close he was to his mother.
Ian was a celebrity dancer on Season 4 of ABC's American version of Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Cheryl Burke, who won the competition in Season 2 with partner Drew Lachey and also Season 3 with partner Emmitt Smith. Ian made it to the semi-final round of Season 4, and received a perfect score (three 10s) from the judges for one of his two dances in the semi-finals, but it was not enough to reach the finals; he and Cheryl were eliminated during the results show the next day, May 15, 2007.
In 2006, Ian produced, directed and starred in the short film, Man vs. Monday, which won the Audience Choice Award at the 2006 Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival. Also in 2006, Ian won the Best Actor Award at the 2006 Monaco Film Festival for his portrayal of "Francis" in the independent film, Stripped Down.
Ian has also appeared in the television series JAG, What I Like About You, The Doctors as Erich Aldrich and Guiding Light as Cameron Stewart.
On June 18, 2007, Variety reported that Ziering had auditioned the previous week for the opportunity to succeed Bob Barker as host of The Price Is Right. The job ultimately went to Drew Carey.
He is divorced from Nikki Schieler Ziering. The two had wed in 1997, and Ian filed for divorce in 2002, citing irreconcilable differences .
Ian's official website and MySpace page feature several original "webisodes" (short videos).
Ian Ziering began working in television and radio commercials when he was 12 years old. Besides "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990), his television work includes the daytime drama "Guiding Light, The" (1952) and two specials, _Flour Babies (1990) (TV)_ and _Terrible Things My Mother Told Me (1988) (TV)_. He is also the voice of Vinnie in the syndicated cartoon "Biker Mice from Mars" (1993) and one of the voices on the animated series "Mighty Ducks" (1996). On Broadway, Ziering performed as Nils in the musical version of I Remember Mama. He also starred as John in the national tour of Peter Pan. In 1981, Ziering made his feature film debut in Endless Love (1981). Ziering starred in the feature films Flash Flame and Savate (1997), and starred in the television movie Women of Spring Break, The (1995) (TV) (aka "Daytona Blues"). He most recently completed the independent feature _Stripped Down (2004)_. Ziering's next project is Domino (2005), from director Tony Scott (I) and New Line Cinema. Ziering, a native of West Orange, New Jersey, resides in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of William Paterson College in Wayne, New Jersey.
