to find his place in life after discovering that he is an extraterrestrial in origin and uses his powers to help those in danger. Clark's season-one problems include his inability to share his secret and his desire for a normal life. After months of scouting, Welling was cast as Clark. David Nutter had to convince Welling's manager that the role would not hurt the actor's film career in order to get Welling to read the pilot script. After reading the script, Welling agreed to audition for the role of Clark Kent. Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, the girl next door. Grieving the loss of her parents, she has empathy for everyone and feels connected to Clark. Kreuk was the first to be cast, after Nutter saw an audition tape the actress had sent. Although she left the series after the seventh season, she returned for five episodes in season eight as a special guest star. Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, a billionaire's son sent to Smallville to run the local fertilizer plant. After Clark saves his life, they become fast friends. As the series progresses, Lex's friendship with Clark crumbles until they consider themselves enemies. The role was difficult to cast; Michael Rosenbaum auditioned twice and, feeling that he did not take his first audition seriously enough, outlined a two-and-a-half-page scene indicating where to be funny, charismatic or menacing. His second audition went so well that he was hired. Rosenbaum left the show after seven seasons, reprising his role for the series finale. Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordman, Lana's boyfriend in season one, who becomes mean to Clark and Lana's budding friendship and bullies him. He reconciles with Clark before joining the Marines and going to Afghanistan. Although Whitney was written out of the show in the first-season finale, he made a special appearance in the season-two episode "Visage" (where it is disclosed that he was killed in action) and was also a guest star in the season-four episode "Façade" (during a flashback to Clark's freshman year of high school). Johnson, who auditioned for Lex and Clark before he was cast as Whitney, was pleased that the writers gave his character a hero's exit. Sam Jones III as Pete Ross, another best friend of Clark and the first person to whom Clark voluntarily tells his secret. Although he is in love with Chloe, he does not admit it because of