15-year-old likes young roles
David Mendenhall said one of the secrets to his success is his youthful appearance. And although the 15-year-old actor is happy playing 12-year-olds, he said he’d eventually like to play older teens.
Category: Interviews
Newscaster job helped fuel Rocket’s film career
Charles Rocket launched his acting career in a different way than most of his peers. While colleagues were paying their dues in local theater and moonlighting as waiters, Rocket was appearing on the nightly news as a reporter.
Successful trial run kept `L.A. Law’ star in acting
If he had listened to his parents, Jimmy Smits would be teaching astronomy to Brooklyn high school students. Instead, Smits is earning his income as a lawyer. Smits, 31, appears as Victor Sifuentes, one of the attorneys on “L.A. Law.” NBC’s hit series about a fictional Los Angeles law firm airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on WMAQ-Channel 5.
Rebecca Schaeffer — patient actress skips soap for bubbly `Sister Sam’ role
While many would-be actresses would jump at the chance of nabbing a three-year contract on a television soap opera, Rebecca Schaeffer passed it up. “If I give you the real reason why I didn’t take it, I’m going to sound so cocky,” Schaeffer said during a break from working on her role in “My Sister Sam,” a CBS sitcom that airs at 7:30 p.m. Mondays on
WBBM-Channel 2. “But I got offered a role on `Loving’ within a couple of months after I had moved to New York. So I thought, if I got this so quickly, I might want to hold out for something that I really wanted to do.”
Georgia Satellites extend orbit to city
Four Southern rockers called the Georgia Satellites have been lost in space during their current concert tour. “The crowds haven’t been what they should be, especially for having two good rock ‘n’ roll bands out together,” said guitarist Dan Baird in a phone interview from an Elektra Records office in Los Angeles.
Patrick Francis Bishop wants recognition
A lot of people are fooled by his name. Patrick Francis Bishop sounds about as American as you can get. But the Eurasian star of “General Hospital” considers himself more Asian than Caucasian. “I think it’s the same for most kids of mixed marriages,” Bishop said. “If a person’s half black and half white, society tends to think of him or her as black.”
England’s General Public keeps the beat going strong
Blame it on the babies. That’s what General Public’s Ranking Roger (a.k.a. Roger Charlery) said when asked why the group took two years to release its second album. Both Roger and Dave Wakeling, the British nucleus of the band, became fathers for the second time during the recording of “Hand to Mouth,” the followup to 1984’s “. . . All the Rage.”
David & David emphasize lyrics
“I know to some people we sound like a magician act,” said singer David Baerwald. “But we decided on our name quite simply. David (Ricketts) and I were rehearsing, and people would just talk to us as if we were one person. It’d be, `What do you think about that, David and David?’ It was kind of funny at first, but then we just ended up liking the sound of it. We couldn’t think of a better name that described us, so well, so we stuck with it.”
Until December pushes image
“Our music is live sex,” said Adam Sherburne, singer and guitarist for the San Francisco-based trio Until December. “We look good, sound great and put on fun shows for the audience. We’re your atypical all-American band out for a good time.”
Dolph Lundgren muscles his way to movie stardom
Before he hit it big last year as the Russian boxer in “Rocky IV,” Dolph Lundgren was best known as the boyfriend of singer/actress Grace Jones. Today, the Swedish actor doesn’t have a steady girlfriend. He’s too busy starring in “Masters of the Universe” for Cannon Films.