Thirty-three years in, still doing the reps.
SAG-AFTRA actor based in Austin, Texas. Trained in Chicago, training in L.A. — working.
Because knowing how to do it and still doing it aren’t the same thing.
Hated writing this — bios always feel a little braggy. But according to his mom, skipping it meant no cartoons. So here it is:
Started at Chicago’s Improv Olympic in 1993, training alongside a room of improvisors who’d go on to found Upright Citizens Brigade. Spent a little over two years working under Del Close himself in the top-level class — didn’t leave when he technically finished it, kept paying to retake it.
Auditioned for Second City’s conservatory program in Chicago — invited in on the strength of that audition and what they’d already seen him do. Loved it enough to take a server job and work the kitchen there, just to be in the building every night.
Still training now, at The Acting Center — one of five L.A. acting schools Backstage recommends for screen actors, where students book at roughly five times the national average. The gap between good and the best lives in reps nobody’s watching, and the day you stop is usually the day you decided you know everything — and that’s a bad day.
Spent twenty-three years working as a professional actor in Los Angeles before choosing Austin, Texas to build Pratfall Pictures — a production company built the modern way: traditional auditions, self-produced work, and whatever else actually moves the needle, all pointed at the same goal.
Now I get to watch cartoons.
Now I get to watch cartoons.
Funniest Actor in a Comedy, L.A. Comedy Awards (2012) · Writer/Director/Star, The Dick & Jane Show — official selection, The New Media Film Festival
A few things worth knowing
The first joke I ever wrote: “For Father's Day, I took my dad out — which really pissed off the warden.”
My first improv scene for Del Close: I played the Sears Tower, silent while the other buildings took the stage around me — until I turned to a shorter, stockier guy and said, “Hey Hancock — you're short and fat!” Scene over.
Every episode of The Dick & Jane Show was a first draft, usually written a day or two before the shoot — no money, no time, a real rag-tag operation. Oddly enough, we somehow still made it into festivals and won an award. That's what a great cast will get you.
I was offered the new romantic interest for Neve Campbell's character on Party of Five — the show got cancelled the next day.
My personal favorite improv scene I did: two guys sitting side by side, legs hanging off the edge of the stage, both looking deeply uncomfortable — no words, just silence, until I said, “Could you please pass the toilet paper?”
See it, don’t just read about it
The reels and the roles both back this up.