Marsden has top billing in The Best of Me, the latest epic love story from Nicholas Sparks, whom he worked with on The Notebook. In that 2004 tear-jerker, Marsden played second fiddle to Ryan Gosling.

James Paul Marsden was born on September 18, 1973 in Stillwater, Okla., to James Luther and Kathleen Marsden. His father was a professor of animal sciences while his mother was a nutritionist. The ...