I was born in New York, but raised in Detroit. It was there that the performance bug took a hold of me while in high school performing the role of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. After graduation I headed to Wayne State University, where I completed my BFA in theater. While attending Wayne State I worked varied jobs, but my first professional job was with The Young Detroiters, which promoted the city of Detroit. We performed for Barry Gordy, national conventions, and Mayor Coleman Young, who presented us with the key to the city. Soon after, I took a job touring with the New York Prince Street Players, performing theater for young audiences.
I moved to New York. And not long after I got the show Evita at the Elmsford Dinner Theater (now The Westchester Broadway Theater). It was there that I got my Equity card. Following this, I did a few small productions in the New York area, then got my first Off-Broadway show called Have I Got A Girl For You: The Frankenstein Musical. Then one day I got one of my most exciting breaks: the opportunity to join the Vienna company of Cats playing Rum Tum Tugger, directed by Gillian Lynne with Andrew Lloyd Weber overseeing the production. We performed the entire production in German, then re-learned the show in English for our two week run in Moscow. I stayed with the show for 20 months, then felt it was time to return to New York.
After returning, I went back to Michigan to perform at Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theater, as Dracula in Possessed: The Dracula Musical. After returning from that show, I received a phone call from Tara Rubin asking me if, after eight callbacks, I was still interested in Les Miserables - which of course I was! I unpacked my bags, washed my clothes, and left three days later to join the first national tour as Montparnasse. I traveled with the show for 20 months, heading back to New York after the tour closed in Chicago. I was a vacation swing for the Broadway production for a short time when I got City of Angels as Lieutenant Munoz for The Weston Playhouse in Vermont. Upon returning, I got the news that I was hired to originate my first role on Broadway in Cyrano: The Musical.
After Cyrano closed, I made my way out to the West Coast to pursue film and television. I was immediately cast in Models, Inc. and Diagnosis Murder, Pacific Palisades, and Beverly Hills, 90210. In between my film and TV work, I continued to work in Los Angeles theater for South Bay CLO, Reprise, San Gabriel Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, AMT San Jose, The Falcon Theater, Kavali Theater, and The Welk Resort, amongst others. In 2001, the last season of Ally McBeal, I was cast as a police officer in an episode with Jon Bon Jovi. This turned out to be one of my last TV jobs, as I would soon leave for close to three years on the road with one of my favorite performers, Carl Anderson, on the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. I performed as a Priest and a Guard, and after 20 months was promoted to the role of King Herod, which I did for another 8 months as well as understudying the role of Pontius Pilate. Upon returning, I worked at Reprise in LA again, performing – for the second time – Lt. Munoz in City of Angels. Later that same year, I worked with the highly respected L.A.- based group Culture Clash in their original play Water and Power at the Mark Taper Forum. I also played Zach in A Chorus Line and The King in The King and I. I was then cast in the National tour of Camelot starring Michael York and Rachel York, which I toured with for the next 8 months.