DSF: Tell us about yourself.
CH: I am from Lower Marion, PA just outside of Philadelphia. I went to a high school called St. Joe's Prep in northern Philadelphia and graduated from Penn State in 2001. I come from a family of five, with two great parents. I am the middle child of five kids, with two older brothers, a younger brother and a young sister. I love my family. They are my biggest support system. I live in New York City in lower Manhattan right near Ground Zero, and have lived here about a year and a half after spending about five years in Hermosa Beach, California after college.
DSF: What made you decide to go to Penn State and what was your major?
CH: I majored in Public Relations at Penn State. I almost did Musical Theater, but I didn't want to spend four years with only ten other students, which is how small the program is there. It was an easy choice for me, because I knew I really didn't have any interest in business.
I went there primarily because of my brother. He and I were best friends, and it wasn't too far from home, it was cheap and it was in- state, plus a couple friends of mine from high school wanted to go there as well. I looked at college as a nice educational experience, but I also knew ultimately that I would end up in California right after college. So, as a result, I don't think I valued the education I got there as much as I should have thinking back on it. I went there knowing that I wanted to be an actor.
DSF: Who were instrumental in you making the decision to join Delta Sig when you got to campus?
CH: My brother Bill, who was two years above me, was also a member of Delta Sigma Phi, which was one of the main reasons I joined to begin with. My roommate, Paul Garity, also ended up joining the chapter. We both liked the brothers. Bill Pezza was a great guy to talk to during rush, Chris Huck, and all of the big guys who still really push for the house today were also reasons. We had a pledge class of 16, and 8 or 9 of us are still really tight.
DSF: Moving on to your career, you said you went to California right after you graduated. Tell us about that.
CH: I went out for a week, and never came home. I had one contact out there that I had never met. She was a casting director, and in the world of show business, a casting director is a really good person to know. She was casting a show for CBS called The Guardian when I went out there. I had taught her niece and nephew in acting camp in Philadelphia, and their mother (i.e. her sister) said "if you ever go out to California, here is my sister's contact information. Give her a call and she'll have lunch with you." She was literally my only contact when I went out there for the week. I had two cousins who let me sleep on their couch, and the lunch turned into an audition, which turned into a call back, which turned into an agent within three days. So I was really lucky, although I didn't realize it at the time.
Now, as I hear friends talk about struggling to get agents, I realize how lucky I got. The casting director told me that I was really good and that I shouldn't leave because there was a chance to get an agent, and so I called my Mom and she sent my bags and that's the end of that story.
DSF: Talk a little more about what happened later that year.
CH: I flew back because my Dad was getting re-married in September, and I was actually supposed to fly back on a flight direct from Philly to LA on September 11. At 7:45, I realized I wasn't going anywhere, so I ended up driving cross country with my two older brothers instead.
DSF: What drew you to acting in the first place?
CH: I fell in love with it in sixth grade. They were holding auditions at my school for Cinderella, and a part of me as an athlete was wondering whether my friends were going to make fun of me. But, there was something that was very enticing about it. So, I went on the audition, and I got the part of the Prince. I think it was my way to get my piece of the spotlight as the middle child. I was always looking to get attention. I thought to myself, "I have this whole theater of people looking at me, this is pretty cool. I can get some kind of recognition out of this." Then it turned into an absolute passion. I just loved theater. I thought it was my calling instantly. By eighth grade, I knew that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life, which was both a blessing and a curse. It's not an easy field to get by in, and at the same time, I can't picture myself doing anything else but that.
DSF: Looking at your IMDB page, you have done a lot of great shows. Was your first role on The Guardian?
CH: The Guardian, and the day after I booked that show, I got a five line part on a Lifetime show called Strong Medicine literally back to back, which made me actually get automatic SAG status (Screen Actors Guild.) It fell into my lap and I got so lucky. Granted, there is skill involved when you book a part, I don't want to diminish that, but it completely worked out. I believe that the Executive Producer, or his brother, actually went to Penn State, so there was a neat connection there.
DSF: You've been on some major shows, most of which are one episode parts. What is that like coming into a show with actors who have been together for a while?
CH: Most of them were one episode. American Dreams, which was on NBC, was a three episode part where I played a Vietnam soldier. The soap opera was my first, other than American Dreams, with multiple episodes.
Coming into the shows for an episode is so common for the cast members that it is nothing new. There's not a single show that I went on that the cast was either rude, or thought that they were better than me. They took me in with open arms, because they realize that without guest stars and co-stars there wouldn't be a show. Plus, they all went through the same stuff. With rare exceptions, it wasn't like they just popped up and got major recurring parts. You have to earn your way in, and earning your way means getting as many guest stars as you can. The actors welcome you in, and you do your work and just keep plugging away.
DSF: Let's talk about your big recurring role on As the World Turns, where you played Cole Norbeck. Tell us about the character and what it was like working on such a long story arc – 26 episodes.
CH: The character is the scum of society. He tries to sell his own kid for money. He is abusive to his girlfriend. You put everything you can think of into this character and you've got it. In all of the episodes I did, there was not a single redeeming quality in this guy. At first, I kind of fought that because I wasn't used to playing such a bad person. And then I realized that to embrace it was actually a lot of fun. You get to play this really bad ass guy for as many months as it is, and you do it with a grin on your face and you have fun. I tried to give the character as many levels as I could without losing the integrity of the part. Granted, it's a soap opera. I'll be honest, there's a saying "life's a soap opera" and they say that for a reason. The story lines are absurd. I would get the scripts and look over them with my girlfriend, and we would crack up at what my character would do next. I had fun with it. I had a blast, and it was the first time when I really felt like I could call myself a working actor. It felt great. I got a taste of it, and then it goes away. You have to go back to the grind, go back to auditions. The writer's strike came and auditions just disappeared, and I had to find new ways to make income like being a bartender. Inevitably, down the road I just want to be able to say that I am a working actor – to get paid to do what I love.
Right now, I have three jobs. I bartend, am a personal trainer, and am a struggling actor. Obviously, I'd like to get rid of struggling and just make being an actor my only job, but I just have to be realistic. Even when I was on the soap opera, I had another job. I learned my lesson that you can't get a part and bank that they are just going to keep rolling in. You have to almost anticipate that your career will have dry spells all the time. In the end, I have become a much better business person. I still look at it as my passion, but it's also a business. You can't take anything personally. If you don't get the job, you don't get the job. It doesn't mean you weren't good enough. It could mean that you were too tall, your hair was too long, your eyes were too blue, whatever it is. It is out of your hands. The more you learn to leave an audition and never think about it again, the better you are as an actor.
DSF:What kinds of roles have you gotten in your career?
CH: In California, I always played the boy next door. That's the part I kept getting, or the jock because I am 6 feet tall which is considered tall in this field. I came to New York, and all of a sudden I am constantly getting the bad guy roles. I got the bad guy with an off-Broadway play. I was the bad guy in the soap opera. Clearly what happened was LA gave me some edge that most east coast actors just don't have. Once I learned that and embraced it, I now walk into these auditions with a little more of an edge to myself, and it seems to work. At the same time, I also know that I can play a good guy.
DSF: What are the best parts of the industry that you've found?
CH: Doing what you love is amazing. Last year, I got to go to Bulgaria for five weeks to shoot a film on Earnest Hemingway. It was amazing. I got to fly somewhere to do what I love, was paid to go to Bulgaria, and was paid to be Earnest Hemingway for five weeks, and was surrounded by people who love what they do. Everybody, from the guy who holds the microphone to the guy who holds the camera, they aren't doing it for the money. They are doing it because they love what they do. In that setting, you're surrounded by people who love what they do. I hear from friends who are in 9-5 jobs who are surrounded by people who are miserable. My experience has been just the opposite as a working actor. Everyone loves what they are doing, is a tight knit family, and are trying to make a piece of art for people to enjoy. There's something really special about that.
It's like playing on a sports team. You play 162 games in baseball, and you don't make the playoffs, but I'll tell you what, they probably had a good season and felt great. Of course, you want to win that World Series, but… It's a team setting and you love what you do. That's the bottom line.
DSF: What would winning the World Series be for you in your career?
CH: If you say winning the World Series, that's winning an Academy Award. I might as well set my sights high, right? Getting to the playoffs for me would be a consistently working actor. You get a regular part on a tv show or you're doing two-three films per year, you're doing pretty well for yourself. I still want to be able to be a film actor. That is amazing, since you travel for 5-6 weeks to shoot the film, and you come back and audition for your next part. That's really where I see myself going.
DSF: As a member of SAG, you had mentioned that the auditions dried up when the writers went on strike. How did that affect you specifically, and what are your thoughts on their strike?
CH: It impacted me a lot because you have to realize that the strike happened almost exactly when I was done on the soap opera. As I was leaving the soap opera, I would have had momentum as an actor. My agent could have called people and said "he just finished this, you have to see him." We couldn't do that at all, because there was nothing out there. So, it was awful timing in that sense.
But, now that the strike is over, we can still use that. They brought me back on for two episodes, and you can say that he's been on a show for six months. Auditions aren't flying in right now, but they are happening more frequently.
I think this whole year is going to be a little off, because there is a potential for an actors strike in June. Again, it's because of all of the stuff on the internet. We have to protect ourselves. People are watching episodes of As the World Turns online, and everything else, and there are no residuals for that. A lot of actors make their money through residuals. I'm still getting paychecks for Freaky Friday, which was four years ago. I only had a one scene part in that, and I laugh every time I get a check. Sometimes I get a check for $0.73, sometimes it's $6, other times, it's $500. Any time your image or your voice is heard, you have to be compensated for it. The internet is kinda taking advantage of it. I support what the writers did. It just came at an inopportune time for me personally.
DSF: What is it like for you to live a life where you might have to go to California, or Bulgaria for extended periods of time with little notice?
CH: I love it. Fortunately, I have a girlfriend who supports it. I love to travel and that's one of the reasons I fell in love with film and tv. They could send you up to Canada for five weeks to do a film. I love to see the way cultures are different. Bulgaria was extremely tough for the first 8 or so days. It was culture shock and I lost about 8 pounds because they have no artificial flavoring in their food there. No one spoke English, so I had to have a translator with me at all times. By the fourth or fifth week, I was able to understand the language a little better, and how the culture works a little better. Who else can they say they went to Bulgaria for five weeks to shoot a film? I am very lucky to be able to say that. Send me wherever you want to shoot something, and I am still doing what I love.
DSF: What are your hobbies that you do in your spare time?
CH: I am a avid marathon runner, actually, which is how I got into personal training. I am doing Boston in early April with my oldest brother. We're trying to do a marathon in every state believe it or not. It kinda supports my travel habit. We have done 12 states now, we were in New Orleans a month ago where we did the Mardi Gras marathon. He qualified for the Boston, and I had already been qualified, and we're getting to do it in April. I like to go to the movies, and watch tv in my spare time. If you don't know what the actors who are working are doing, I don't think you can actually say that you're doing your job. I hear a lot of actors say that they don't go to movies or watch tv, and I think how can they know what they're hiring for then?
DSF: What is some advice that you would give to prospective actors trying to break into the business?
CH: The best advice I would give any actor who considers this is to know how to market yourself, which does two things. It forces you to look at it as a business, and it forces you to kind of stereotype yourself. You can't walk up to a room and think that you can be an everyman. A lot of people come out of high school theater, where you are playing a 40-year old guy who has one leg. You play these parts in high school that are written for older men and women. You get to California or New York and you are auditioning for much more specific parts. If they're asking for a 5'8" African American male to play a part, I can't get that part. If they are asking for a 20-30 year old male, mischievous, intelligent, you have to know what words your agent can sell you as. You have to know what people who look at your picture see you as. Do they see you as the good guy or do they see you as the bad guy? Do they see you as the hot stud or the boyfriend? What do they see you as, because that in turn is going to help you sell yourself.
For more information on Chris, check out his web site at www.chrisheuisler.com, or go to www.imdb.com and search Chris Heuisler.
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