 | By seventeen I knew I wanted to pursue both a rigorous education and a career in the performing arts. I attended the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. 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 included working with the famous author and playwright Ray Bradbury on Fahrenheit 451 and earning praise from George Furth and critic Rob Kent for my performance in 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, for which 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 at the Welk Resort in San Diego in Hello Dolly. In 2005 my partner, Eric Anderson, and I relocated to Bath, England but I was soon diagnosed with stage IV rhabdomyosarcoma – a very rare and often deadly form of cancer. After fifteen months of intensive chemotherapy, radiation and numerous surgeries, the cancer went into remission. Following this, I entered the PhD program at University of London, Royal Holloway with three years of research funding. I am deeply grateful to be one of the few survivors of adult metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. I have reached the important five year mark and Eric and I treat each day as a gift (after all, it is called the present!). |
