Tyler Hoechlin's first love was baseball, which he started playing at the age of 7 and even wound up playing in college. He managed to juggle baseball and acting for quite a while, as he played throughout the beginning of his acting career, which kicked off professionally with his role in the film "Family Tree" (1999). The young actor's breakthrough came when he starred as the son of mob enforcer Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) in Sam Mendes' 1930s period crime drama "Road to Perdition" (2002). Hoechlin's nuanced performance as Michael Sullivan Jr. led directly to his addition to the main cast of family drama "7th Heaven" (WB 1996-2006, CW 2006-2007) in 2003. Following his time on "7th Heaven," Hoechlin guest-starred on a few other TV shows, including procedural drama "CSI: Miami" (CBS 2002-2012), sports comedy "My Boys" (TBS 2006-2010), and comic-tinged mystery "Castle" (ABC 2009-16). He also appeared in several films, including "Solstice" (2008) and the Owen Wilson comedy "Hall Pass" (2011). In 2011, he returned to series television full time, portraying Derek Hale on the drama "Teen Wolf" (MTV 2011- ).