About Me

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“All true artists, bear within themselves a deeply rooted and often unconscious desire for transformation.” –Michael Chekov

I can testify to this truth, in large part, because my life from my earliest memories has been chronicled in film. I was not the typically cute kid, the adorable little boy playing baseball, the adolescent on his way to becoming captain of the swim team; however, my parents resolved to catalog every moment of my awkward smile, my bottle-bottom glasses, my chubby cheeks, and my obsession with buttercream cake. Although I am the only one in my family precariously close to legally blind, my mother undeniably was incapable of seeing my reality and, instead, encouraged me to shed my apprehensions at 8-years-old and audition for the role of Kenickie in the Elementary Thespians rendition of ​Grease​. In a white t-shirt, greased-back hair, and a comb surreptitiously tucked in my back pocket, I fell in LOVE–not with the cute girl playing the lead female role “Sandra Dee”, no she was not for me. I was enchanted by the stage, the lights, the improvisation that replaced forgotten lines (and the ones I thought needed pizzazz), the costume failures, and the notes I was not anatomically capable of singing. What good fortune? Serendipitously, I had discovered my passion–"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves"–William Shakespeare

I was definitely not supposed to be an actor. How? Since I could walk, I was referred to as “fat“–albeit my perception was ‘fun-sized’. Unfortunately, body type functions as a form of type-casting, automatically placing me in a situation where I was only taken seriously for comedic roles. I’m not saying that comedy is not in my arsenal, however, I knew I could shed this preconceived outcome if I was given the opportunity.

“We must overcome the notion that we must be regular...it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.”–Uta Hagen

Over the years since my inception performance I brought life to Willy Wonka, Lord Farquad in Shrek, Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof and have been cast in films that starred Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson, Mark Walhberg, and John Leguizamo. By the ninth grade, I was invited to Broadway Cares ‘Improv Jam’ in recognition of the district’s best, and subsequently awarded several Critics Choice Awards–with my mother filming every hallmark moment and I was still fat. What is most ironic is that I didn’t know–I mean I knew I couldn’t see (making eyeglasses a permanent prop) and I was donning extra-large sweatpants to rehearsals, but I never conceded to the stereotype. Instead, to me, I was a strappingly good looking, intelligent and witty young man inextricably trapped in the prosthetic fat suit designed to make the most chiseled performer appear husky. 

Not especially relevant to this monologue, I changed schools my sophomore year to join an International Baccalaureate Program and proudly represent Thespian Troupe 0391. Unpredictable would translate to unprecedented; I was scared, my feelings were normal. When I walked into my first theatre class with all new actors I was whisked away on the wind that transported Dorothy. I traded fear for laughter, I denied silence and exchanged in ideas, we were a family of strangers sharing a love for the art of conveyance. It was here the oracle of Delphi would whisper gently in my ear–time to shed the shackles that bind you. 

In eight months I shed 47 pounds and mastered revolutionary contact lenses to transform into Gomez, proud husband and dedicated lover of Morticia, in the Addams Family. It was standing on the stage professing my love in song as if possessed by the sirens that seduced Odysseus, happiness overwhelmed me. In my mind a cacophony was crescendoing, “...there’s a million things I haven’t done, But just you wait, just you wait.”–Hamilton