Blonde Marisa Coughlan started her acting career with guest appearances on television programs lending her sad-eyed innocent looks to episodes of "The Magnificent Seven," "High Society," "Diagnosis: Murder" (all CBS), "Weird Science" (syndicated) and "Step by Step" (ABC). She also had featured turns in "Fist of the North Star" (1996) and the telefilms "Our Son, the Matchmaker" (CBS, 1996) and "Sleepwalker Killing: From the Files of 'Unsolved Mysteries'" (NBC, 1997). Coughlan made her television series regular debut playing a graduate student in the short-lived Kevin Williamson's drama "Wasteland" (ABC, 1999), a "Dawson's Creek" for the older set, chronicling the exploits of a group of twentysomethings in New York. Starring opposite already recognizable names Brad Rowe, Rebecca Gayheart and Eddie Mills, Coughlan would reach her largest audience to date on this Miramax/Williamson production.