Handsome, sandy-haired actor Jay R. Ferguson has seen frequent ups and downs in his relatively short career, starting when he was auspiciously cast as Ponyboy, the idealistic, sweet-faced lead of "The Outsiders", a 1990 Fox series based on the hit S.E. Hinton novel and film of the same name. Despite the almost legendary status of its source material, "The Outsiders" didn't make it past thirteen episodes. Luckily for Ferguson, another job was already lined up and the young actor joined the cast of CBS' "Evening Shade" as the son of Burt Reynolds' football coach. A regular on the series from 1990-1993 and a recurring player from 1993-1994, Ferguson worked steadily and amassed a stable of fans, many of whom had initially noticed the performer in the teen magazine publicity blitz that met the debut of "The Outsiders".
Following his television success, Ferguson found his career was a bit more hit or miss. He made his feature debut in the disjoined but hard-hitting and popular "Higher Learning" (1995), John Singleton's look at racial relations on a college campus. He was next featured in the 1995 Fox TV-movie "The Price of Love", a somewhat fluffy but heartfelt drama about hustlers in Los Angeles. Appearing in only a handful or roles in the mid- to late 90s, Ferguson began to be better known for the company he kept than the work he did when he began appearing in gossip pages as a frequent member of Leonardo DiCaprio's band of young revelers. Roles in the forgettable indie thriller "Campfire Tales" (1998), the well-intentioned but little-seen romance "Girl" (1999), the critically lambasted "The In Crowd" (2000) and the direct-to-cable crime caper "Blue Ridge Falls" (Cinemax, 2000) failed to register on the public interest meter.
Having grown into his looks and his talents, Ferguson reemerged as a regular on The WB's suspense series "Glory Days" (2002- ) making the most of his featured role with a good measure of wry humor. He starred on the series as Rudy Dunlop, the young sheriff of a quaint waterfront town in Washington crawling with unexplained crimes. Matters were complicated when his former best friend Mike Dolan (Eddie Cahill), a novelist whose thinly-veiled portrayal of the town and its inhabitants (including a hard-working young cop who is secretly gay), returned. Dolan quickly established himself as the mystery author/detective about town a la Jessica Fletcher, often stepping on the feet of Sheriff Rudy (who was, despite the novel's implications, said to be straight). Still, unspoken cues between he and Mike were rife with homoerotic subtext, adding dimension and depth of character that was more than capably handled by the charming and skillful Ferguson.