Frank John Hughes

Has been a practicing Buddhist since 1990 and took precepts into the Kwan Um School (a Korean Buddhist lineage) in 2003.

In 1999, his intense dedication to his craft caused him to gain 58 pounds to prepare to play a man with Down's Syndrome. The film was postponed and in the interim, he was cast in "Band of Brothers" (2001) where he had two months to lose the weight in order to play a 17-year-old Wild Bill Guarnere. He went through a brutal routine of fasting and running 6-8 miles a day. Just before filming, a doctor told him that he had done seriously damage to his adrenal system.