The assistant called me in and introduced me to the agent in charge of casting for Every Other Night. He looked me over, asked me to read, shook my hand, and out I went. That was it. The whole thing was over in less than five minutes, and I was left to wait in agony for The Phone Call.

It arrived the next morning: callbacks at nine on Friday. Went back, read again, thank you very much, we’ll call you if we want you, and another agonizing wait.

The call I’d always dreamed about arrived the following week. I was in. My first professional acting job!

Unfortunately, it was a short-lived program that was doomed from day one by bad writing and worse casting. I would try to preserve my dignity by telling you that I was the only one there who had any idea what he was doing, but the truth is I was as clueless as everyone else.

Now, the whole point of all this is that Every Other Night happened to air on the night Dale Montgomery from Montgomery Casting was home with the flu and channel surfing to kill time before bed. Had he not been sick, he would have been out at a benefit dinner with his wife and might never have seen me on the show. And had he not seen it, he never would have put a name with a face when I read for a part that had opened up on the award-winning police drama, Deep Cover. The twelve minutes he saw me on television were just enough to give me an edge over the other thirty-six men auditioning for the part of Gabe Morrison, and as a result, I got the part.

So that’s how I got the job that really launched my career. By “launch” I mean that I actually had a steady job, my own place, and a gorgeous girlfriend, a fellow actress from DC. See, in Hollywood, it’s not just the job that defines you; it’s the life you live along with it. Once I had all the trappings of success, I was a success. Twisted.

My schedule was pretty structured once shooting began that December. Get up early, rehearse or tape all day, come home, rehearse some more on my own, work out, get together with Madeline, the girlfriend, go home, go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Throw in the occasional interview or publicity deal, and that was my life for about two years.