Los Angeles, CA—Aside from
being a licensed investigator and an investigative TV news producer, I’m an
actor and a member of SAG-AFTRA since 1997.
I watched the late Phillip
Seymour Hoffman play his very diverse roles with absolute envy. Hoffman walked away with an Oscar for playing
Truman Capote. Capote was a flaming Gay
toad with a real gift for writing that was very comfortable with his bizarre
persona.
Hoffman by all accounts was a
straight guy with a longtime girlfriend with three children. He simply had a gift to make any character he
played really believable.
Hoffman became his characters, bringing real life to the words written in a film script. That took tremendous discipline that was very
inconsistent with his apparent drug addiction.
My first acting coach at
Arizona State University made it clear to me that if I was afraid to look
foolish or strange before an audience I’d be better off not acting. I thought of how I really only wanted to
play the roles of the cool guys! Boy was
she ever right! I simply had to let go
of any ego.
When you’re an actor it’s the
casting directors decide what you are going to play. Most often when you get picked for a role
it’s not the one you auditioned for!
I never once turned down a
role. I got some strange ones
indeed. I played roles such as the
testosterone challenged Bob “Bitch Tits” in a stage production of Fight
Club. The rocker Meatloaf played that
part in the film.
I played a scary sodomizer,
Zed in Pulp Fiction again on stage. The
great line in this film everyone remembers is, when Bruce Willis says, “Zed is
Dead.”
Last but not least, I was
asked to help develop a very Conservative political and comedic TV talk show
host. However I was required to do this
in drag! It was a Sarah Palen type gun
loving “lady” named Zelda McCorville. This was
before Palen became the Republican candidate for Vice President.
Zelda was somehow resurrected later for
two independent films. Zelda’s TV talk show
however never made air. I was actually
having fun in this ridicules and insane role!
The best-published reviews I
ever got were for my Fight Club role.
I learned one thing about
playing these parts, the audience really notices you! They remember the Zany characters long after
others are forgotten.
I don’t know what my next
role will be but I’m prepared for anything!
Bring it on please, I need the money!
Watch here as Zelda goes to
the Gun Range!
