NAME DROPPING It is said that credibility, for the acting teacher, comes from what his students accomplish. I disagree. I believe a teachers credibility comes from what his teachers accomplished. In my case it was Robert Carnegie, Jeff Goldblum, and Sanford Meisner. Theyve done well. Below is a truncated list of the people with whom Ive worked. This is the caliber of acting toward which we assent in our classes. JEFF GOLDBLUM, a founding member and teacher at Playhouse West, and star of dozens of pictures including Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, Independence Day, The Big Chill, The Fly, Nashville, and Annie Hall, etc. I worked with Jeff for 9 years, first as a student and later as a teaching partner. ASHLEY JUDD, star of numerous films: The Women, Bug, Come Early Morning, Twisted, De-Lovely, Frida, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, High Crimes, Double Jeopardy, Kiss The Girls, Eye of the Beholder, Where the Heart Is, A Time To Kill, Heat, and Smoke, etc. I know Ashley, a little, we were in a couple of plays together. JAMES FRANCO (studied over 9 years at Playhouse West!), Golden Globe Winner (Best Actor) for starring in TNT’s James Dean, star of 127 Hours (Oscar Nomination), Spiderman (1,2 & 3), Pineapple Express, Milk, Flyboys, Annapolis, The Great Raid, Tristan & Isolde, Good Time Max, Sonny, City By The Sea (with Robert DeNiro), and star of TV series, Freaks and Geeks. I was in attendance for most of the classes in which James was a student for 5 years, he and I did 2 or 3 plays together. SCOTT CAAN, feature films: Ocean’s Thirteen, The Dog Problem, Broken Rules, Lonely Hearts, Friends With Money, Ocean’s Twelve, Into the Blue, In Enemy Hands, Dallas 362, Sonny, Ocean’s Eleven, Novacaine, American Outlaws, Gone In Sixty Seconds, Enemy of the State, Varsity Blues, Boiler Room, etc. Star of series “Hawaii Five-O”. Scott was a student and remains a good friend. JIM PARRACK, star of series “True Blood”; co-star of series “Supernatural”, “Criminal Minds”, “Raines”, “NCIS”, “Close to Home”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “CSI”, “ER”, “Monk”. Film credits include Battle: Los Angeles, Annapolis. Jimmy and I were in a play together for years. MARK PELLEGRINO, star and co-star of numerous features including The Number 23 (with Jim Carrey), Capote, National Treasure, Twisted, Elle Parker, Moving Allan, The Hunted, Mulholland Drive, A Murder of Crows, Say It Isn’t So, Drowning Mona, The Big Lebowski, Lethal Weapon 3, HBO’s The Cherokee Kid, Clubland, etc. Numerous TV credits include “The Closer”, “Being Human”, “Lost”, “Dexter”, “Supernatural”, “C.S.I.”, “Without A Trace”, “N.Y.P.D. Blue”, “X-Files”, “Northern Exposure”, “Hunter”, “The Commish”, “ER”, etc. Mr. Pellegrino and I were in numerous plays together and were teaching partners for many years. HEATHER MORRIS, star of TV series “Glee”, features “Ice Age 4: Continental Drift”, “Spring Breakers”, “Post”, “Fired Up!”, guest star on “How I Met Your Mother”, etc. I did one play with Heather. SHAWNEE SMITH, star of TV series “Anger Management”, also “Becker”, “The Tom Show”, “Arsenio”, “A Brand New Life”; numerous feature credits, including, Saw, Saw II, Saw III, The Almost Guys, The Island, Breakfast of Champions, Twice Upon A Time, The Party Crashers, Armageddon, Men, Bombshell, Leaving Las Vegas”, etc. I was in one play with Shawnee. CHARISMA CARPENTER, star of TV series “The Lying Game, “, starred in “Veronica Mars”, “Charmed”, “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”, “Angel” and “Malibu Shores”, star of MOW See Jane Date, and the feature The Groomsmen. Has guest starred on numerous series including “LAX”, “Miss Match”, “Boy Meets World”, and “Baywatch.” Charisma and I were in the same play for years. NIA PEEPLES, star of numerous TV series and MOWs, including “Walker Texas Ranger”, “Fame”, “Crisis Center”, “Return To Lonesome Dove”, etc. Star of films, The Riff, Half Past Dead, Blues Brothers 2000, I Don’t Buy Kisses Anymore, North Shore, etc. I watched Nia when she was in class and worked on one film with her in which she was the director. MICHAEL DELORENZO, star of the TV series New York Undercover, Resurrection Blvd., Head of the Class. Numerous feature films, including Contradictions of the Heart, Nice Guys, A Few Good Men, Gun Shy, Mi Familia, Count On Me, Diggstown, Judgment Night, Alive, etc. I knew Michael, a little, just from being in the same school. WOLFGANG BODISON, well known for his breakout debut in “A Few Good Men” with Jack Nicholson. A veteran of features including, “Joe Somebody”, “Most Wanted”, “Freeway”, “Akeelah and the Bee”, TV appearances include “N.C.I.S”, “C.S.I NY”, “Cane”, “Family Law”, etc. Wolfy and I were in the same play together for years. ROGER FAN Co-starred with James Franco in Annapolis. Roger Fan has been impressing audiences with his range and versatility since his remarkable one-two punch at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. While co-starring as the charismatic and manipulative Daric Loo in Justin Lins breakout indie feature Better Luck Tomorrow, Fan also starred in, co-produced, and co-wrote the racy 17-minute short subject, The Quest For Length, one of the surprise hits of the festival. Roger was one of my students. KRISTEN MINTER, star/co-star of numerous films including Friends With Money, Pissed, There Goes My Baby, Cool As Ice, Home Alone, Myopia, The Bread, My Sweet, Tick Tock, Diamond Men, American Virgin, etc. Number TV credits, including regular (Randi) on TV series “ER.” Minter and I were in a couple of plays together and one or two movies. MARK THOMPSON, one-half of popular “Mark & Brian” radio program, wrote/starred in Mother Ghost, also appeared in S1m0ne, The Princess Diaries, Deterrence, etc., numerous TV guest star roles include “24″, “Reba”, “X-Files”, “Dharma & Greg”, etc. I was in the room for many or most of Marks classes so I saw much of his training. OLEG TAKTAROV, co-star of features, National Treasure, Bad Boys II, Red Serpent, 15 Minutes, Rollerball, Absolute Force, Air Force One, Counter Measures, Total Force, etc. Star of TV movie 44 Minutes, The North Hollywood Shoot-Out, TV guest star on “Alias”, “24″, “JAG”, etc. Oleg will tell you that I was his teacher. SEAN WHALEN, co-star of numerous feature films including Twister, Jury Duty, Batman Returns, Charlie’s Angels, Deep Shock, Never Been Kissed, Suicide Kings, Men In Black, That Thing You Do, The Cable Guys, Waterworld, The People Under The Stairs, etc. Sean was a friend and fellow actor in a couple of plays. E.G. DAILY, star of numerous animated series, “Rugrats” (Tommy), “Powerpuff Girls” (Buttercup), “Quack Pack”, “Aladdin”, “Problem Child”, etc., numerous feature credits, The Country Bears, Babe: Pig in the City, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Dutch, Lorenzo’s Oil, etc. Elizabeth was in school at the same time I was studying and was a founding member of the Acting Company CHRISTINE CAVANAUGH, starred as the voice of Babe. Co-starred of films, Jerry Maguire, Soulmates, etc., guest star on TV series, “”E.R”, “Friends”, “Cheers”,”X-Files”, “Bob Newhart”, “Wings”, “Empty Nest,” etc. Voice over star of many Emmy-winning cartoons and movies for Disney and Nickelodeon, such as “Chucky” in “Rug Rats”, “Dark-Winged Duck”, “Dexters Laboratory”, etc. Chris is family. We did many plays and a couple of movies together. KENNY MOSKOW, TV guest star on “Mad About You”, “Providence”, “Dave’s World”, “High Incident”, etc., star of pilot “Veronica’s Video.” Features include The Day After Tomorrow, Heartland, P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, Sliver, Men, and The Lost World, Jurassic Park 2; over 150 commercials, most notable campaigns include, “Got Milk”, Polaroid, Michelob, American Express, McDonalds, Toyota and DiGorno Pizza. Kenny and I were in 2 or 3 plays together. TUESDAY KNIGHT, star of films The Theory of the Leisure Class, Mistress with Robert DeNiro, Nightmare on Elm Street 4, co-star of Icemaker, Daddy and Them, Brother, The Perfect Mother (TV), The Cottonwood, Hindsight, The Fan, Cover Story, etc., star of TV series “2000 Malibu Road”, etc. I know Tuesday a little from class. DALTON JAMES, starred with Robert Urich on TV series “Crossroads”, recurring co-star on TV series “Beverly Hills: 90210″ and”Passions”, along with other MOWs and episodics. Star of feature films Are You a Serial Killer, My Father The Hero, Held Up, Beach House, etc. Dalton and I worked on a play together. PAMELA DILLMAN, co-star of Bye, Bye Love, Going Under, Early Bird Special, Simon Says, TV series “Psych 101″, guest star on “Seinfeld”, “Sabrina”, “The Nanny”, etc. Broadway shows include Aren’t We All (Rex Harrison, Claudette Colbert), and Two Into One (Tony Randall). Pamela and I worked on a few plays together and we taught many of the same classes. HENRY BARRIAL, director/writer of features Heartland, Some Body (2001 Sundance competition), and the award-winning short The Lonelys (Best Short: Latino Film Festival, Cleveland Film Festival), also numerous acting credits on TV and commercials. Henry was a student in the classes I taught. MATT CASADO, Showtime & Hispanic Film Festival award-winner, writer/director/star of feature Monsters, writer and star of Ronnie. Matt was a student in my classes. BRIAN LALLY, star of feature Dunsmore, co-star/supporting roles in numerous features including L.A. Confidential, My Family (Mi Familia), Ronnie, Love and Loathing at the Ass Lamp Lounge, You Can’t Buy Love, You’re Killing Me, King of the Open Mic’s, Fashionably L.A., etc. Brian is among the best friends Ive ever had. He and I have done many plays and movies together. He will be quick to tell you that hes the better actor. LEZLIE DEANE, star of features To Protect and Serve, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Midnight Ride, Movie Madness, etc., numerous guest star on TV series, including, “Pacific Blue”, “Jake and the Fatman”, “Father Dowling Mysteries”, “Dynasty”, “Hunter”, etc. Lezlie was in a couple of plays with me and I think she remembers my name. GRAHAM ELWOOD, comedian and host of TV’s “Cram” and “Strip Poker”, feature credits include Some Kinda Joke, Hey, Anthony, wrote/directed/starred award-winning short Hello, Junkie! (Best Short, Lincolnshire Film Festival, London). Graham was a student in my classes and from time to time has come around to lecture or guest teach my classes.. VAL LAUREN, features include Fighting Words, Dallas 362, The Gray In Between, Landspeed, Backflash, etc., numerous TV guest stars include “24″, “Felicity”, “The Huntress”, “Walker, Texas Ranger”, “Jesse”, “The Huntress”, “Dangerous Minds”, etc. Val and I worked together for years. ERIC EDWARDS, star of Stage Time, co-star of features Sgt. Bilko with Steve Martin, Beverly Hillbillies, Senior Trip, Blade, etc. The only person to have survived the Beginning work with me --- we were students in the same class. Eric is now a senior instructor at Playhouse West and director of the Award-Winning Welcome Home, Soldier. L.A.s longest running drama (23 years). MOLLY GROSS, star of MOW Deep Family Secrets, and feature Slaves To The Underground, co-star of feature Scream 2. Molly was one of my students. Let me say that I am more proud than I can express of the successes these people earned. I had little or nothing to do with any of their successes but for many I played a key role in their training. Its what they did with their training that is impressive. The list of people who did nothing with their training reaches into the thousands but they will ALL say that it was the most important and valuable period in their lives.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 20:26:17 +0000