abstract:Eric Thal (born August 10, 1965) is an American film and stage actor, perhaps best known for his film roles as Ariel, opposite Melanie Griffith in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us; Sam Nivens, Donald Sutherland's son, in The Puppet Masters; Samson, opposite Elizabeth Hurley, in Samson and Delilah; Meade Howell, the fiance of Halle Berry's character Shelby Coles, in The Wedding; and Rick in Six Degrees of Separation.