John Edward Cariani (born July 23, 1969) is an American actor and playwright. Cariani is best known as the forensic expert Julian Beck in Law & Order. On stage, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his role as Motel the Tailor in the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, and he wrote the play Almost, Maine, a very popular play to produce in American schools. He starred on Broadway in the Tony Award winning musicals Something Rotten! and The Band's Visit. Early life Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, Cariani was eight when his family moved to Presque Isle, Maine. He attended Presque Isle High School where he was active in the music and theater programs. After graduating in 1987, he attended Amherst College, where he was a member of the Zumbyes, Amherst's oldest a-cappella group, and the Glee Club. After graduating from Amherst College in 1991 with a B.A. in history, he studied acting and directing at now defunct StageWest in Springfield, Massachusetts. He then moved to New York at age 27 to pursue acting. Career Cariani spent his early years in New York working with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and acting in Off-Broadway plays, television commercials, and films. His first break came in 1999 when he was cast in the Off-Broadway play It's My Party (and I'll Die if I Want To), starring F. Murray Abraham and Joyce Van Patten. Cariani broke into film and TV in 2000 when he was cast in the independent film,Scotland, PA, opposite Christopher Walken and guest-starred on the TV series Ed In 2001, he landed his first major film role opposite Robert De Niro in the Warner Brothers' film Showtime (2002) In 2002, he joined the cast of Law & Order, playing the role of forensic expert Julian Beck from 2002–2007. Since then, he has appeared in several TV shows, films, plays and musicals, both on and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters across the country. Playwriting As playwright, Cariani is best known for his first play, Almost, Maine, which was developed at the Cape Cod Theatre Project in 2002. It premiered at Portland Stage Company (in Portland, Maine) in 2004. Almost, Maine opened Off-Broadway in 2006 and was featured in Smith and Kraus' New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2006." The play was published by Dramatists Play Service in 2007 and has since become one of the most popular plays in