Michael Emerson

Actors Michael Emerson arrives at the "Lost" Series Finale Party on May 23, 2010 in Los Angeles. Emerson is nominated for a 2010 Primetime Emmy in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category for his work on "Lost." It's his fourth consecutive nomination in the category for that role. Emerson won the award in 2009.

Michael Emerson and wife Carrie Preston arrive at HBO's "True Blood" Season 3 premiere on June 8, 2010, in Hollywood, Calif.

Michael Emerson plays Ben Linus, member and one-time leader of The Others, on the ABC television series "Lost." The show's many twists and turns came to an end in 2010, after six seasons.

He looks decidedly less dangerous when out in public, such as at this cocktail party in New York after a Broadway opening...

...or in this picture in New York with his wife, actress Carrie Preston (who plays his mother on "Lost"). Born and raised in Iowa, Emerson spent years after college working as an illustrator, taking odd jobs and teaching before finally enrolling in a masters program in acting.

He broke through in 1997, when cast as Oscar Wilde in Moises Kauman's Off-Broadway play, "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde," which became a massive hit. From there, he went on to New York stage productions of classic plays by Eugene O'Neill, Ibsen, Moliere. Here he is attending the opening night of "Festen" on Broadway, featuring his wife.

The classic and comedic roles tapered off after he won an Emmy in 2001 for playing a confessed serial killer in "The Practice."

He was cast as a vicious character named Zep Hindle in a 2004 horror flick named "Saw," which became a monster hit. At a screening of the movie, pictured here, he participated in a parody of a gruesome torture by his character: He held a gun to the head of one of his victims while using a stethoscope to listen to her heart.

When Emerson was first hired in 2006 for "Lost," (here with co-star Matthew Fox) the plan was to have him appear for a few episodes. His character was named Henry Gale.

But the creators of the show decided that his character would make a good villain, and so Henry Gale was unmasked as Ben Linus, creepy Other, and Michael Emerson became a series regular and an Emmy winner. Asked recently what draws him to creepy characters, he answered with a question of his own: why are audiences drawn to these characters? "I don't know what the scary element is. I don't know if it's something in me."