Already a favorite on the indie circuit, Eric Mabius reached a wider audience starring in the Dimension Films sequel "The Crow: Salvation" (1999), playing the title ghostly justice seeker opposite Kirsten Dunstin the third entry of the comic-book-based series of thrillers. Initially, he gained notice as the cute but dim guitar player who unwittingly steals Dawn Weiner's heart in "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (1995), Todd Solondz's exploration of the horrors of middle school. As selfish slacker Steve Rodgers, the tall, dark-haired actor with striking eyes and pouty lips turned in an exceptional supporting performance playing one of the least cruel people Dawn encounters. He next appeared as a musician in 1996's indie hit "I Shot Andy Warhol", the same year he portrayed an out of control Amish teen whose lovesick anger pushes him to arson, burning a number of barns in his community, in "Harvest of Fire", a CBS "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production. Mabius continued to capably play violent troubled teens for his next few projects, including a turn as a destructive Satan worshipper in 1997's "Black Circle Boys". That same year, he was featured in the acclaimed independent film "Lawn Dogs" as an elitist brute out to get Sam Rockwell's easygoing landscaper. Playing a similarly disturbed role on the small screen, he guest starred on a 1997 episode of "Chicago Hope" as a patient whose belligerent attitude is found to be due to a rare genetic disorder. In 1998's "Around the Fire", Mabius played a likable rogue who turns privileged Devon Sawaon to drugs and the latter-day hippie lifestyle. At 1999's Sundance Film Festival, Mabius was featured in two films, the serial-killer thriller "The Minus Man", alongside Owen Wilson Janeane Garofalo and musicians Dwight Yoakam and Sheryl Crow, and Gregg Araki's "Splendor". In the latter, Mabius played the earnest Ernest, a successful and responsible director-producer, in a production that marked Araki's most conventional film to date, and also signaled a change in the direction of Mabius' career. With a couple of years and some remarkable performances now under his belt, the actor was entrusted with roles that didn't fit within his previous tormented teens specialty. Mabius' breakthrough performance in "The Crow: Salvation" was preceded by a small role as a closeted gay football player opposite Joshua Jackson's flamboyant Blaine Tuttle in the campy "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" adaptation "Cruel Intentions" (also 1999).