Page 90 - Demo

90 || CELEBRITY MAGAZINE || MAY-JUNE 2017positions of ultimate power. But, when you get to the top of the political mountain, what do you do with it? As it relates to our current political climate, I would use the three shows you mentioned in the very beginning as a metaphor. Washington is currently displaying the plot of House of Cards, attempting to be like Madam Secretary, but unfortunately the cast of characters are straight out of Veep. Now you figure that one out (he smiles and winks)How do you describe working by the side of Awardwinning producer and actor Kevin Spacey?That%u2019s easy; it%u2019s amazing and a privilege. I have played some kind of role on the show ever since episode one season one. So, I have spent countless hours being able to observe a master at work. I have been able, through close observation, to assimilate some of his technique of the craft and place it into my acting toolbox awaiting the opportunity to call upon it. If you could play any other character in this show, who would it be?The very one that I play, Frank Underwood%u2019s Secret Service. But the agents are to be seen, but not seen. I%u2019ll share a little insight into the process of casting for a principal role. In season three there was an opportunity for one of the Underwood Secret Service Agents to have significant dialog in an episode or two. So I along with 20+ agents on the Secret Service roster auditioned for that opportunity. We all went to Kimberly Skyrme Casting, in Baltimore. They then passed the winners to New York HOC Casting Office. The winners from there are sent to Netflix and Netflix then reviews and forwards their picks to Kevin Spacey. Since Kevin Spacey is one of the Executive producers of the show he reviews all such auditions. Finally, Kevin forwards his selections to the guest director. Four levels of vetting before the director even gets a chance to see it. I received a call saying that I was the director%u2019s pick. Now here comes the House of Cards kind of plot twist... A few hours later I got another call from the casting office that during %u201cscript re-write%u201d meeting, they noticed that the principal character of Secret Service agent Edward Meechum didn%u2019t have any lines in the episode. So they made the decision to give my dialog to him, given he is a principal character. I was disappointed, but thrilled to have made it as far as I did. What I found most humorous was the first scene in which I would have had dialog, I was actually standing near Agent Mechumm when he delivered %u201cmy lines.%u201d I went up to Nathan and humorously shadow boxed him and said, %u201cYou stole my lines!%u201d We both had a good laugh.What events and life experiences motivated you to start in acting? Did you have the support from your family?I always knew I would have some involvement with the entertainment industry. I was too busy allowing my career as a Federal Civil Servant get in the way of all of the fun stuff. If I can play any role in making someone smile or feel good no matter how brief, then I get satisfaction from that. But, what motivated me to start acting, two things. A persistent supervisor at work that would bug me to get involved in acting or modeling. On one occasion, the supervisor suggested I submit a picture to a show that was shooting locally in Maryland and I did. Two days later I got a call from the production company to show up on set the following week.