So how did the first big job go?
I didn't have the vaguest idea what I was doing. I had never seen Seinfeld. And it was a sitcom which is a totally different kind of animal. Not only did I not know what I was doing technically, I didn't even know what the part was, really. When I went in to audition, the director said to [creator] Larry David, "Do you want to explain the part to him?"
And he said, "No let's just see what he does."
And whatever I did was funnier than the redheaded guy who was also up for the part. Literally, that's how much sense it made, and how just luck of the draw it was.

And I get to the set and I figured, "Well they'll explain it to me now." Nobody did. They were way too busy with other things to talk to me. And I just pulled something out of my ass and it was fine and I went on... and the next day I went back to my job serving hamburgers and fries at Johnny Rocket's going, "Don't you people realize, I was on Seinfeld last night?!"

And I was back there for, you know... a long time.

There's this myth that says all one has to do is get an agent and they're on easy street, but that's just the beginning, really. What are the actor's responsibilities in a relationship with an agent?
I don't know. I wish I knew. Nowadays it seems like you've got to have a manager to get an agent but still it's like, "What does my manager do, and what does my agent do?"

In theory the quick reasoning is that your agent has 200 clients and the manager has 15 and they're both submitting you, though the manager's not supposed to. A friend of mine puts it this way: you need a bad cop for your bad cop. Because your agent is supposed to represent you, but then you need a manager to make sure that your agent is representing you. It's kind of silly.

I don't have an answer for the agent question. I'm like, "What am I supposed to do?" I don't want to call and bug him, you can try to get the breakdowns on the sly somehow. I did that for a while, but that would make me really angry. Because I would see these things that I felt I was right for, but I wasn't getting auditions for. So I'd call and mention this part and I still couldn't get an audition. I finally just had to stop getting the breakdowns because it was making me crazy. I'm now just sort of putting my faith in the people that are there, my agent, my manager, and trusting that they're looking out for me... I don't know. I'm just sort of trusting that they're doing their job and they get me in where they can.

So what do you do while waiting for the phone to ring?
The last couple years I've tried to look at what is within my power. Getting myself auditions is not within my power, basically. There are a lot of actors who do that. They get the breakdowns and act as their own agents, basically. There are a lot of people who make up their own little management companies "representing" themselves under a fake name. But I've never wanted to do that, I've never wanted to put my energy there. So, I try not to worry that much about getting the auditions.

What is within my power is what I do when I get to the auditions. I am always trying to do something to get better and to stay sharp. So when I do get the call I'll be ready for it. I've been sort of a journeyman actor the last couple years and it's been great, but I'm trying to get to the next level in my career, as well as my work. And I'm working with my acting coach so that when my big career opportunity comes I'm a capable enough actor to meet it. If that career opportunity ever comes. It may never come.

I think for a lot of actors, for a lot of really great actors you can look at their career and you can trace back the moment where it turned for them. I watched Gandhi a while back and Daniel Day-Lewis had three lines in that. And I love that! I love watching old movies and you see really famous actors playing bit parts. It just gives me so much hope. Because, out here, you can't go to the grocery store without seeing some beautiful 23 year-old underwear model who's a movie star. And it's so much about looks and all those trappings and you think... I mean, I'm going to be 34 next week. And every now and then it creeps in that I may never be a movie star, you know? I may never be the super star. And I probably won't be.

So how do you measure your progress? What's the next step?
The fact that I've been able to buy a house, that was a really big step. Three years ago this seemed like a totally unrealistic goal, like there was no way in hell I would be able to buy a house in L.A. And I got lucky. I got a job that has been a recurring role on a TV show for five seasons.

I've always said that I've been lucky. I mean, intensely lucky, especially at the beginning. Like I said, I started with three lines on Seinfeld, and they laughed at me more than they laughed at the other guy. And if I hadn't gotten that job, god knows how long it would have taken me to get my SAG card... and what would have become of me? It's just been a series of lucky breaks after lucky breaks after lucky breaks.

This is the recurring theme of every one I've been talking to. People say, "Oh I'm just a lucky bastard", but clearly there's more to it.
Okay... to be honest? When those lucky moments appear, I believe I have the talent to back it up. Whether or not you get the opportunity is luck. My job is to do everything I possibly can, as often as I can, to ready myself for whenever luck comes.

Luck isn't luck if you're not ready for it.

They say it's not what you know, but who you know. Do you find that to be true?
When I was first starting out everyone was talking about networking, you gotta do this, you gotta do that... and I never understood what they were talking about. I guess I tried doing it, you go to the bars, you go to parties, industry functions and stuff and I always thought it was such crap. So much of this town is just built on bullshit, that I've always wanted the work to speak for itself. And ultimately, it's going to come down to that. It's going to come down to the work, and professionalism, and what you do on-set and how you behave and how you conduct yourself. There's a lot of spoiled actors out here. There's a lot of spoiled directors, and producers... some bad personalities.

I've always felt every audition is an opportunity for the next audition. Every job is an opportunity for the next job.

Do you continue to come across the same people in your work?
Yes. For example, these guys, John Sakmar and Kerry Lenhart, they were writer/producers on SeaQuest. And one day I ran into them walking down Gower and they said, "Hey, we think we're going to do this pilot at Fox and we want to write a part for you."
And I'm like, "Yeah right, that'd be great."

Sure enough three weeks later I get a call to audition and it was my first job as a series regular, a show called Medicine Ball. And they've gone on to throw me a bone in every show they do. Every six months I would get a call from them saying they were writing a part for me and Judging Amy was one of those roles. It was supposed to be three episodes and I've done 46 episodes of it now. My wife and I joke that I'd be nothing without them. I owe a good 75 percent of my career to those two guys.

What are the characteristics that keep you working?
It's drive. I really really love what I do and for me, this work... there isn't anything else. I've always been really driven. I think that is the most important aspect of my success... it comes down how much I like it. On that note, though, I have friends who are very successful and don't love it. They don't love it and I don't understand why they do it because it's such a hard life. I really think it has to be one of those things where doing it is the only option. If you can do anything else, I've always thought you should go do it because this is potentially too hard a life.

When you're working, do you do anything to prepare for when you might not be working?
I've gotten out of debt. I've been trying to prepare in that regard. My daughter is 16 months old, I'm trying to put money away for school. Just this year I started taking those baby steps towards adulthood financial crap. But this plan... it could all change [snap] like that. It's sort of a gambler's life in a way. If you can get that one big break, you're going to be set for life. Or it could never come. But because I have a family to worry about now, I try to be a little more smart about bank accounts and stuff.

Have you ever done anything nutso courageous in pursuit of a job?
Like Sean Young traipsing around in a cat suit? No.

Why do you take an acting class?
It's more than just an acting class for me. It's a creative community. Everyone in the class is dead, dead serious about what they're doing. I find that's very necessary for me because it's really easy to sit around and bitch and moan and drink too much and smoke too much, and complain about why the auditions aren't coming. But it's a very different thing to go and be ready for when they do come.

I mainly got into class because I felt I was too big, too theatrical... I thought my style was not camera friendly or whatever. And I stayed in class because I really liked being around these people who are hungry. I guess that's it, just being around people who are hungry for it. I think you always need to surround yourself with that because misery loves company and it's great to sit around and bitch, but that doesn't do you any good.

-K.W.

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