When I was born, the doctor pulled my dad aside and said, "he's not going to be like the other kids" - what he meant exactly was a mystery to my parents, but in the end he was right. Thanks to the support of my parents, I eventually found myself bitten by the "theater bug and by thirteen was performing in youth programs and semi-professional theaters. At fifteen I entered the Orange County High School of the Arts. At sixteen, I acquired an agent and began landing television commercials and small TV guest spots. However, my proudest achievements during high school were excelling at academics and co-founding the Los Alamitos Gay-Straight Alliance.
By my senior year, I knew I wanted to pursue both a rigorous education and a career in the performing arts, so I attended University of California, Los Angeles's Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program. Here, I was able to continue my performing career (more TV, commercials and theater) while earning a bachelor’s degree at the top of my class. I also starred in a number of shows at UCLA, my favourites including Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Sondheim's Company. After graduating from UCLA, I was accepted into the UCLA graduate program in Theater and Performance Studies. I was awarded a Masters degree while simultaneously staring in Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun where I received a Backstage West Garland for Best Actor. I then accepted a position teaching at Orange County High School of the Arts and continued to work professionally as an actor, including a three month stint down at the Welk Resort in San Diego in Hello Dolly.
In 2004, my partner, Eric Anderson, and I relocated to New York City where he taught and I pursued performing opportunities, worked on a documentary film about downtown performers and wrote theatre reviews for offoffonline.com. In 2005 we moved to Bath, England to accept teaching positions – Eric at University of Bath, and myself at Bath Spa University. However, I was soon diagnosed with stage IV rhabdomyosarcoma – a very rare and deadly form of cancer. After fifteen months of intensive chemotherapy, radiation and numerous surgeries, the cancer went into remission. Once recovered, I entered the PhD program at University of London, Royal Holloway with three years of research funding.
Surviving the prognosis of only a 5-10% chance of living beyond five years has change my perspective on many things. I am deeply grateful to be one of the few survivors of adult metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. Eric and I now treat each day as a gift (after all, it is called the present!). Additionally, in an attempt to secure and celebrate equal rights for same-sex couples, we have a curious hobby of getting married in different places and adding to our Marriage Hall of Fame.
