• 2001 – Began his professional screen career with a small role on So Little Time and performed under his birth name, David Anders Holt, in a Los Angeles production of The Diary of Anne Frank.
• 2002 – Broke through as British-accented operative Julian Sark on Alias; the initially recurring part expanded, and Anders became a series regular the following season.
• 2005 – Returned to his stage roots by starring in the original rock musical Beautiful at the New York International Fringe Festival.
• 2007 – Made a major post-Alias transition by joining Heroes as Takezo Kensei, later revealed as the immortal Adam Monroe, establishing another prominent genre-television role.
• 2010 – Entered The Vampire Diaries as John Gilbert, beginning a recurring run that further cemented his reputation for morally complicated characters in supernatural dramas.
• 2011 – Joined Once Upon a Time in the recurring dual role of Storybrooke physician Dr. Whale and Victor Frankenstein.
• 2015 – Began his longest main-cast television role as charismatic antagonist Blaine DeBeers on iZombie, remaining with the series through its 2019 conclusion.