What I'm doing TODAY..

"Mrs. Harris" with Sir Ben Kingsley:

Thursday Feb. 26th, 2004 I had the privilege of working with Sir Ben Kingsley in the HBO Feature "Mrs. Harris."  The scene is a dream sequence in the locker room of a private golf club for the very wealthy.  They hired a few of us as principle dancers to do some choreographed moves around Sir Ben's character.  All of us had towels around our waists and we were shirtless.  Our part of the film took place in 1966 and so 'makeup' made my tattoo disappear and 'hair' shaved my goatee and mustache off.  Also starring in the film, to be released in 2005, is Annette Bening.     

       



Wild Bill's Wild West Extravaganza:

Blue Cowboy
Corrie Sachs and I

December 31st, 2003, I finished a five and a half year stint playing Wild Bill in "Wild Bill's Wild West Extravaganza" at the 850 seat dinner theatre in Buena Park, California. And I loved it! The show was great and I work with some wonderful people. There were three variety acts, four beautiful dancers, myself as Wild Bill and my co-star Miss Annie.  Miss Annie and I hosted the show, sang, danced and pretty much tied everything together.  

Unfortunately, the theatre never recovered from the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York.  We lost most of our international audience and never really got it up and running like we needed to to stay open.  I'm surprised we lasted as long as we did.  It was a great run and I was very thankful for the job. 


"FatBoy Slim's 'Praise You' Video":


Norman Cook aka FatBoy Slim

                  Torrance Community Dancers

I had the opportunity to be part of a music video that is now part of history.  I auditioned for the job like any other job and never expected the video to be the world phenomenon that it became.  I was seen in the video worldwide (including MTV here in the states) as an actor and  principle dancer in FatBoy Slim's music video "Praise You", directed by Spike Jonze.  Because of the video's popularity, I also performed "Praise You" with FatBoy Slim live at the MTV Music Awards in New York on 9/9/99 and we walked away with three of the four awards the video was nominated for.  Then during the 2001 MTV Music Video Awards, “Praise You” was named the number one video of all time by the MTV viewers.  

To see this music video and a 30 minute documentary on us, the Torrance Community Dancers, get the DVD "Works of Director Spike Jonze." 

For the full story, Click HERE


Other Feature Films:

I recently worked on two feature films, "Lay It Down" and "Time Changer."  I was one of the leads in "Lay It Down" which has been airing on television nationwide and was released on Video/DVD worldwide.  I have a great scene in "Time Changer" which was released in theatres October 25th, 2002.  Recently, I did another feature playing a real bad ass.  I love these kinds of parts.  I had to learn to smoke for this character and I slap a child, throwing her to the ground. Mean... mean...mean!  But I love playing these parts. And in my most recent film I played a phony psychic that gets contacted by a real spirit. It's a very funny part of the movie.




"Time Changer"


"Lay It Down"
(photos by Ana Gatchell)

"Lay It Down"


"The District":

 

I had a co-starring role, playing a construction worker, on the CBS hit series "The District" starring Craig T. Nelson.  The show takes place in Washington D.C. and except for exterior shots is filmed out here in Los Angeles.  As always I had a great time and everyone was very nice.

Craig T. Nelson of The District



"Suddenly Susan" with Brooke Shields:

 

A while back, I worked with Brooke Shields on an episode of "Suddenly Susan." They hired a group of us, as principle dancers, for a big dance scene. The episode goes back in time to a 1906 saloon. In the scene Brooke's character sings a song and then a big dance number takes place. I worked on the show for a full week, three days rehearsing the dance number and two nights filming. It was a lot of fun and a real pleasure working with Brooke. She was such a sweetheart. I also had the opportunity to meet her husband at the time, Andre Aggasi the tennis champion, who was very nice as well. The episode aired shortly after we taped it, but you may catch it in reruns.

For the full story on working with Brooke, Click  HERE

 Brooke and I

 


"America's Most Wanted" & "Arrest and Trial":

 

On "America's Most Wanted" I played a guy named Scott Roberts, a good guy.  Then I did two episodes of "Arrest and Trial," hosted by Brian Dennehey.  I played prosecuting attorney Jim Stern on "Mothers Day Murder" and then KKK Activist Frank Silva on "Burning of Crosses."  You can catch these shows in reruns. 


"Passions" & other Soaps:
 

The most recent soap I worked on was "Passions."  My character was a high roller in a very high class gambling joint.  I had six scenes with most of my dialogue with a new character named Fox.  It was his first day working as a new star in the show.  In the past, I also had a recurring role on "The Bold and the Beautiful," and appeared on "Sunset Beach" and "The Days of Our Lives."



On-Camera Hosting:
 

I've been getting a lot more work as an On-Camera Host.  I'm currently co-hosting a television show called, "Snapshot: Long Beach," a half hour show that we do out on location as well as in the studio.  This show has won a number of awards.  I also just hosted a 15-minute film for the medical insurance company Kaiser Permanente that has also won many awards.  This film goes out to non members in hopes they'll join.