Born in Granite City, Illinois and then moved to Flint, Michigan with the family – had to I was one or two at the time. Life was all snow, cinnamon toast, Batman, Captain Kangaroo and Bozo the clown.
Family moved to Orangeburg, SC where my father was a DJ at WDIX and my mother worked at a textile factory. This was around the same time as the Orangeburg massacre in 1968. Life was not all warm and fuzzy like a visit to Mr. Green Jeans. Mostly what I remember is becoming aware of racial tensions and social inequalities and then there were the unrelated neighborhood kick ball games always destined to go awry. Thank God for wonderful teachers like Mrs. Buckman and Mrs. Fredricks who planted the seeds of the possibility of a better world and of course thank God for my mother who bandaged me up after each scrap and plied my wounds with mecurichrome and who lectured me “It’s not what other people do, but what you do that counts.”
A few years later my family moved to the Charleston SC area where my father worked first for the local WCBS station and then as a transmitter operator for SCETV
Started acting at age 15. Got a job at a local taco stand to pay for acting classes at the Dock Street Theater in downtown Charleston.
Attended the College of Charleston and majored in Theater and Philosophy. During my junior year I was an exchange student to Kansai Gaidai – Went to Japan with less than $300 in pocket to last for a year – fortunately I found a job teaching English.
In the late 80’s I left Charleston on a Grey Hound Bus and headed to New York City. I’ve been here ever since.
Family moved to Orangeburg, SC where my father was a DJ at WDIX and my mother worked at a textile factory. This was around the same time as the Orangeburg massacre in 1968. Life was not all warm and fuzzy like a visit to Mr. Green Jeans. Mostly what I remember is becoming aware of racial tensions and social inequalities and then there were the unrelated neighborhood kick ball games always destined to go awry. Thank God for wonderful teachers like Mrs. Buckman and Mrs. Fredricks who planted the seeds of the possibility of a better world and of course thank God for my mother who bandaged me up after each scrap and plied my wounds with mecurichrome and who lectured me “It’s not what other people do, but what you do that counts.”
A few years later my family moved to the Charleston SC area where my father worked first for the local WCBS station and then as a transmitter operator for SCETV
Started acting at age 15. Got a job at a local taco stand to pay for acting classes at the Dock Street Theater in downtown Charleston.
Attended the College of Charleston and majored in Theater and Philosophy. During my junior year I was an exchange student to Kansai Gaidai – Went to Japan with less than $300 in pocket to last for a year – fortunately I found a job teaching English.
In the late 80’s I left Charleston on a Grey Hound Bus and headed to New York City. I’ve been here ever since.