Colin Hanks makes his professional acting debut with "Roswell". Hanks grew up in Sacramento, and attended Loyola Marymount University, a liberal arts school in Westchester, Calif, where he began acting, appearing in school productions such as "Noises Off!"

In addition to "Roswell" Hanks has also completed production in the upcoming feature "Whatever it Takes", a high school version of "Cyrano de Bergerac," in which he plays a quirky character named Cosmo.

In one eventful weekend, Hanks landed the role in "I'll Be You" on Friday and started work on the film the next morning- the same day he received a call from executive producer Jason Katims, announcing that "Roswell" had been picked up by the WB.

Hanks is 21 and currently lives in Los Angeles. His father is academy award winning actor, Tom Hanks.

From the WB Roswell Press packet

The Character of Alex Whitman

Alex Whitman is perhaps the least known character on Roswell, but he has played a major part in recent story lines as he helped and protected Liz, Maria, and all the other major characters for reasons which were not revealed to him. Alex is a long time friend of Liz and Maria, and his friendship with them was severely tested when they chose not to reveal Max, Michael and Isabel’s secret to them, while asking him to do things that bordered on the illegal. Alex is extremely intelligent, but also sensitive, and he’s completely loyal to Liz and Maria, and I personally felt bad when Liz and Maria excluded Alex from their secret, much to Alex’s deep hurt and concern.

I thought that Alex showed a lot of courage in agreeing to donate blood for Max without really knowing the reason why, and I also marveled at how he used his skills to expose the evil Ms. Topolsky. I really admired Alex for the way he stood up to Liz at school, and how he faced down Sheriff Valenti when Valenti tried to coerce him and Liz into revealing what they knew about Max Evans by imprisoning them. I was really touched to see how Alex genuinely cares for Isabel, as was revealed when she entered his dream. I look forward to seeing Alex’s character developed further as an intelligent and resourceful friend and ally to all the characters.