At ten-years old, I watched Laurence Olivier play a boisterous French fur trapper in The 49th Parallel. Just weeks later, I saw him as an intense but contained Roman Senator in Spartacus. Upon seeing his name in the credits, I was amazed that it was the same actor.
Soon after, upon viewing Kubrick’s, Dr. Strangelove, I was equally astonished to learn that one person, Peter Sellers, had played the disparate characters of the American President, an RAF Captain and a German Rocket Scientist. I was deeply intrigued as to how they could conjure up such movie magic.
Photo Credit: Anthony Robert Grasso
From then on, this fascination sparked my interest in studying the craft of acting. I took a bit of a detour, however, playing soccer and baseball throughout high school and college. I played on the Collegiate Soccer National Championship Team and although I never played with New York Mets, I did play Center Field at The Mets Fantasy Baseball Camp.
I was completely unfamiliar with the craft and business of acting and it was a real journey just to find classes that taught something of actual value, truly a rocky road. But once in New York City, I studied with Tim Phillips, Peter Miner, Ted Sluberiski and Anthony Grasso, among others, and had the opportunity to play many of the great roles of Shakespeare along the way.
I've made every mistake in the book, and some not even written, but learned a great deal, getting a good bead on how to calibrate my performances for stage, TV and Film, and the different genres inherent therein. I'm looking forward to further exploring this challenging and extraordinary path.