Cable procedurals are famous for their ripped-from-the-headlines plots, but when USA debuted White Collar, starring Matt Bomer as a white-collar criminal-turned-sleuth, in the wake of Madoff, well…. “That was completely fortuitous!” Bomer laughs. “We did the pilot, and shortly thereafter the Madoff thing went down. I just thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is really out there in the zeitgeist right now.’”

As Neal Caffrey, an ex-con whose sentence is commuted in exchange for helping the FBI put away other criminals, Bomer has the sort of reckless charm not often associated with the stern, sad-eyed federal agent. “I watched The Hustler, The Sting, and To Catch a Thief,” he says of his research into the role. “But I also tried to throw in a little bit of Ferris Bueller and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours.” Bueller with a badge? “I like characters with flaws, who have shadow,” Bomer explains.

He was a high-school football player in small-town Spring, Texas — Friday Night Lights country — an hour outside of Houston, when the acting bug first bit. “I started acting professionally when I was 17. I quit the team and did a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Alley Theatre in Houston. I used to drive down at the end of the school day, do the show, do my homework during intermission and drive an hour back to Spring to go to school the next day.” The footballers didn’t object. “I think they understood that this was what I wanted to do with my life,” he says. Of course, he goes on with a smile, “If I had been the All-State quarterback, they would have had some objections to my playing the young collector in Streetcar.”

Matthew wears a blazer and pants by Calvin Klein Collection and shirt by Converse by John Varvatos.

Source: Papermag (thanks gypsy_sunday for the tip!)

Also, please keep voting for Neal until Wednesday afternoon!

Neal currently has 67% of the votes and Burton has 32% of the votes. Keep VOTING until Wednesday!

I added 21 captures from “Guiding Light” Episode: 7/4/02.

I added 63 captures from “Guiding Light” Episode: 7/16/02.

I added 102 captures from “Guiding Light” Episode: 6/28/02.

I added 63 captures from “Guiding Light” Episode: 7/2/02.

Wow: We now have 17,000+ images in the gallery!

I paid to get these exclusive stills, so please link back to us if posting any of them elsewhere.

Great job everyone! Neal beat Barney by 5% in round 1! Thank you for voting! Read what was said:

Barney Stinson vs. Neal Caffrey: I stupidly assumed that since “White Collar” was a new show, Neal should be seeded lower. So I had no problem putting him up against “How I Met Your Mother’s” Barney. Wow was that dumb. With 23,295 votes, that was the most popular race. Score one to Caffrey.

Time to vote for Neal again! If you keep deleting your cookies, you should be able to vote more than once.

White Collar Comes Clean: An Evening with the Cast and Creative Team

When: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 [7:00 pm PT]
Where: Los Angeles, California

In Person
Matthew Bomer, “Neal Caffrey”
Tim DeKay, “Peter Burke”
Willie Garson, “Mozzie”
Tiffani Thiessen, “Elizabeth Burke”
Sharif Atkins, “Jones”

What if The Fugitive’s Dr. Richard Kimble and Lt. Gerard had called a truce and teamed up? USA Network’s White Collar, having just concluded a sparkling rookie season, posits a similar scenario, as charming criminal mastermind Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) turns informer for his longtime nemesis, FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), in order to avoid a return trip to the pokey. Join the cast and creative team as they look back on season one and ahead to season two, scheduled to launch this summer.

You can buy tickets here.

PS: Wish I could attend! I won’t be in California until early May and cannot afford to fly there twice.

Matt Bomer, star of USA’s “White Collar,” and Ari Graynor are in negotiations to join Anna Faris in the romantic comedy “What’s Your Number?”

Mark Mylod is directing “Number,” which is being produced by Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of Contrafilm. The project initially was set up at Columbia, but in a rare move, the studio allowed it to migrate to Regency under the provision it get made within a certain time frame.

“Number” centers on a woman (Faris) who treks through her sexual past to find Mr. Right, exploring the idea of sexual quotas and whether such numbers matter. Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan wrote the script based on Karyn Bosnak’s book.

Bomer will portray Faris’ dream guy, and Graynor will play her sister, whose wedding serves as a backdrop to much of the proceedings. The movie, which also counts Chris Evans in its cast, shoots this spring. The movie’s makers are hoping to populate the cast with high-profile cameos.

Bomer, repped by ICM and 3 Arts Entertainment, began his career in TV before segueing to features with such pics as “Flightplan” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.” He boomeranged back to TV, starring in ABC thriller “Traveler” and appearing on NBC’s “Chuck” before his star-making turn on “Collar.” “Number” is his first feature since 2006′s “Chainsaw.”

Graynor, repped by UTA and Principal Entertainment, broke out in “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” She most recently was seen in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut “Whip It” and next appears in “Betty Anne Waters” with Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Great job everyone! Neal currently has 59% of the votes and Barney has 40% of the votes. Keep VOTING!

I added 47 captures from “Guiding Light” Episode: 5/31/02.

I added 31 captures from “Guiding Light” Episode: 6/27/02.

Click on the image below to be redirected to the website where you can vote for Neal.

Barney currently has 50% of the votes and Neal has 49% of the votes.

Also, if you delete your cookies, you can vote for him again.

Voting for Round 1 ends on Friday (3/26/10).