Why Sean Yeager From CSI Looks So Familiar
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was one of the most popular shows of the 2000s and early 2010s — arguably way more popular than you think. The series ran for 15 seasons and aired its final episode in 2015 (though it spawned spin-offs like "CSI: Miami," "CSI: Cyber," and the currently-running "CSI: Las Vegas"). It starred various actors, including Ted Danson ("The Good Place"), Laurence Fishburne ("John Wick"), and Elisabeth Shue ("Cobra Kai") — though well-known actors sometimes played even its smallest characters. This was true in the case of the recurring character Sean Yeager.
Sean first appeared in Season 14, Episode 6, "Pressed Pawns," which saw the show's cast investigating the death of an unhoused man who had recently had an incredible streak of good luck at a local casino. Sean is introduced as a day-shift CSI whose main character trait is being on the cusp of attaining Level 3 status. Though he helps Morgan Brody (Elisabeth Harnois) solve the crime, he declines to take any credit for it, further prolonging his career goals but earning her respect. He appears in two other episodes during the show's 14th season.
Sean is played by Matthew Davis, an actor with roots in an early 2000s cult classic who made a name for himself through several prominent shows on The CW.
Legally Blonde, 2001
One of Matthew Davis' earliest roles is also one of his most well-known. In the 2001 cult-classic legal comedy "Legally Blonde," the actor starred as one of the central love interests. The story follows Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), a savvy but lovestruck fashion student from Los Angeles who manages to gain acceptance into Harvard's notoriously prestigious law school through sheer will, charisma, and natural talent, simply so that she can have a chance to win back her ex-boyfriend, Warner Huntington III. Warner is played by Davis, who was just in his early 20s. "No one had any idea how huge it was going to be," Davis told News.com.au in 2017. "All I knew was it had Reese Witherspoon in it — and I was a huge fan — but no one had any idea of the phenomenon it was going to become."
"People are like 'Oh my God, you're Warner, the a**hole from 'Legally Blonde,' he continued finding fans' reactions "funny" and "charming." In the film, Warner initially leaves Elle because he believes she's not smart or serious enough to be a suitable partner. Instead, he almost immediately gets engaged to their careerist classmate Vivian, who Selma Blair played. Davis stated he had a small crush on her while filming, even though she was dating actor Jason Schwartzman. "She was the funniest person on set," he told News.com.au "I love a very dry, dark sense of humor, so she had me in stitches the whole time ... She was the bees' knees."
The Vampire Diaries, 2009-2017
Since 2009, Matthew Davis has been a part of the sprawling "The Vampire Diaries" universe. The original series of the same name ran for nearly ten years on The CW and followed the lives and loves of modern-day vampires. Davis joined the core cast during the show's first season, playing the vampire hunter Alaric Saltzman. If you're hoping to begin watching the series for the first time, this is your official spoiler warning for Alaric's storyline.
Davis left the show after the show's third season in 2012, as the character of Alaric had been killed — luckily, The CW had a new series for Davis to lead, which he began working on directly following his exit. "It was sad," the actor said in an interview with Collider. "['The Vampire Diaries' cast] became so close with each other. We were like a family. So, anytime anybody leaves, it's heartbreaking."
Of course, death being impermanent, he was resurrected during the sixth season and returned to his series-regular status for the remainder of the show's run. Davis has also appeared in the show's spin-off series "The Originals" and "Legacies," the latter of which saw Davis in a leading role once more and ended in 2022.
Cult, 2013
At the beginning of the 2000s, just after Matthew Davis starred in "Legally Blonde," a different Matthew was gearing up for one of his first leading roles in a major TV series. The actor was Matt Bomer, who would go on to star in numerous shows, including the DC Comics/HBO Max series "Doom Patrol" — the show was called "Cult," and it was set to air on the now-defunct television network The WB (via Vulture). After the network was transformed in The CW, however, executives scrapped the project.
"Cult" was revived and retooled several years later in 2012, with Davis now set to star as an investigative reporter trying to uncover a cult with roots in a mysterious television show (Davis joined the series immediately after leaving "The Vampire Diaries"). "The show is really about controlling people remotely," Davis told The Hollywood Reporter, "what happens when that controller has an agenda — how he writes messages into a show that begins to manipulate people, influencing them in different ways than they are aware of. It's really about control through media and who's controlling it."
The series was quickly canceled after just one season on the air, with the show apparently not finding the audience it was due.