“I was relentless about getting this part,” says Shawn Hatosy of his role as Clyde, the Tyler’s second son who becomes the town’s patrolman rather than a waterman like his dad.

“I’m from Maryland originally. My agent sent me the script to ‘Swimmers’ and said to me, ‘You’re really going to like this.’ They know I have a real soft spot for anything that has to do with Maryland.

“After I read it, I was like, ‘Look, I want this part. I really dig this part. What do I have to do to not mess it up?!’” Aware that the production would be auditioning actors the following week, Hatosy launched into action. First, he called “Swimmers” producer Melanie Backer and persuaded her to accompany him to a screening of his latest film, “Dallas 362.” Then he told her, “You’ve got to make this happen!,” he relates with a laugh. Backer, who was already a Hatosy fan from his work in “Outside Providence” immediately arranged a meeting with “Swimmers” writer-director Doug Sadler. Several hours later, Hatosy had the role.

But his quest to co-star in “Swimmers,” Hatosy says, was driven by more than the fact the story takes place in Maryland or that the film would shoot there.

“It just really affected me. The story and the way Doug wrote it – from the perspective of the little girl – just found its’ way into me. And I love the character of Clyde. I could just tell it was going to be a good movie. It had this sort of poetic thing going on – and I knew with those words and the landscape of Maryland it would turn out great. And it did.”

A week after their initial meeting, Hatosy was the one reading with various actresses vying for the role of Merrill – the exotic stranger who Clyde finds wandering the bottom of an empty pool and soon falls in love with.

Born and raised in Frederick, outside Baltimore and Washington DC, Hatosy literally fell into acting at the age of 10, when a play at a nearby high school needed kids and he talked his mother into driving him over. He got the part – which led to a few commercials.

Following graduation, acting became his only career option, he says. Hatosy scored a guest lead role in Barry Levinson’s TV “Homicide” series, then a small role in Jodi Foster’s “Home for the Holidays.” His first big break came as one of Kevin Kline’s students in the film, “In and Out.”

After a half dozen more small roles, Hatosy headed to Hollywood and immediately landed his first lead in a film – in Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s “Outside Providence,” directed by Michael Corrente.

Regarded as one of the indy world’s rising stars, he has appeared in over two dozen feature films, including “The Faculty,” “Simpatico,” “Anywhere But Here,” “Borstal Boy,” “A Guy Thing,” “John Q,” “11:14,” “Dallas 362,” (2003 CineVegas Critics Award) and “The Cooler” (Sundance 2003).

On television Hatosy starred in the Showtime original movie, “Soldier’s Girl” (nominated for a Golden Globe in 2004); the HBO film, “Witness Protection” (a 2000 Emmy nominee); TNT’s “The Winning Season”; and A&E’s “Faith of My Fathers” as Senator John McCain.

He stars in Nick Cassavette’s “Alpha Dog,” with Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis – which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Last fall, he wrapped “Nobel Son,” an independent feature with Danny DeVito and Alan Rickman, and completed the feature film, "Factory Girl," with Sienna Miller, Hayden Christianson and Guy Pearce in January.

Transitioning from screen to stage, Hatosy made his debut starring as Billy the Kid in the La Jolla Playhouse production of “The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.” Hatosy has also starred in the Paul Weitz Off-Broadway comedy “Roulette” opposite Anna Paquin, and most recently in the three-character play, “Orphans,” at the Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles opposite Al Pacino.