Harvard Students Puttin' On Glitz

So, you want to be in showbiz.

All of your friends are carousing with consulting firms, and you are working on your Academy Award acceptance speech.

It is true that the Office of Career Services (OCS) is flooded with future investment bankers, lawyers and academics--not Oscar-winning hopefuls. Gail Gilmore, associate director of OCS, notes that only about 150 patrons visited the office last year expressly for guidance about careers in the arts.

And although Gilmore provides resume advising to budding artists and performers, she recommends that "if you see yourself doing anything else, do it."

Is there no place for the ambitious star of stage or screen at hardhearted Harvard?

There is, and the professionals in the House offer advice and anecdotes to give you a taste of your future in the footlights.

The Neon Lights Are Bright

While other 15-year-olds were juggling soccer practice and chemistry homework, Jedidiah S. Cohen '99 was starring in a Broadway musical.

Cohen spent four months as Dickon in the New York production of "The Secret Garden," later reprising his role on the national tour during his junior year in high school. Now he's an astronomy and astrophysics concentrator in Adams House.

"[Astronomy] is an interest of mine--but it doesn't have anything to do with my career," Cohen says.

Although the former child star wants to return to the stage after graduation, Cohen says Harvard was a necessary stop on the road back to Broadway.

"I thought about going to a vocal conservatory, and I thought about going to an acting conservatory," Cohen says. "But I decided that I really wanted to be a well-rounded person before I was an actor."

While Harvard does not boast a dramaconcentration, the "Cambridge connection" may nothurt one's chances in the long run. Cohen saysperformers are doubly impressive when they canshowcase their talent in the theater and intutorial.

"I find it much more interesting when you lookat these really famous actors who are Harvardalums," Cohen says. "Look at Mira Sorvino['89-'90]. She graduated summa cum laude in EastAsian Studies and now is this wonderfully talentedactress who shows up and they say 'So, you went toHarvard--that's great. And you graduated summa.Wow. In East Asian Studies. Wow. There's a lotmore to you than being an actor. You're a reallyincredible person who happens to have this talentand is making a fair amount of money."

Scott Weinger '98, best known around Harvardfor his roles as the voice of Disney's "Aladdin"and as D.J. Tanner's boyfriend on "Full House,"says his ties to Harvard have helped his career insome ways.

"Last year I had an interesting meeting withsome TV producers. It started out as a generalmeeting, I told them a little about my [MoralReasoning 22] 'Justice' class, and the meetingended with us arguing about Rawls," Weinger says."Now they want to develop a show for me."

But acting is not just about finesse--it's abusiness. Being in Cambridge means operatingremotely from home base and dealing with the factthat you're not where the action is.

"Being so far away from [Los Angeles] andunavailable for projects has certainly been a painfor my agent," Weinger says. "[But] I know thatcasting people and movie studios get pretty sickof seeing these lightweight young actors withnothing going on in their minds."

Jason S. Chaffin '00-'01, who has performed inprofessional productions in regional theaters forseveral years (he recently won the New JerseyTheatre Critics Award for Best Featured Actor in"The Who's Tommy"), is fully conscious ofHarvard's sparse drama offerings. Chaffin is alsoquick to note that if a student is looking forfour years of formal theater training, a certainIvy League school in New Haven has a ratherprestigious drama program.

"But going to Yale is too high a price,"Chaffin--a psychology concentrator--says. "I'drather get a non-acting degree from Harvard and goto classes in the summer than go to a schoolexclusively for drama. Not that it would be awaste of time but...casting directors areinundated with [actors with Bachelor and Master ofFine Arts degrees]," he says.

Still, the liberal-arts quest forwell-roundedness can mean sacrificing formalresume-building.

Cohen notes that it is nearly impossible tomaintain a career while at Harvard.

"You're stuck in a very academically rigorousprogram where you have to devote a lot of time toyour studies, and it's tough," Cohen says.

But college can be a time for honing basicskills through vocal, dramatic or dance work.Cohen spent two years as a tenor and a featuredsoloist in the all-male a cappella group, theHarvard Krokodiloes, and says the experience hashelped him prepare for re-entry into the theaterworld after commencement.

"Singing with the Kroks for two years kept meperforming, made me very comfortable on stage, andgot my voice into the best shape it's ever beenin," Cohen says.

For Chaffin, it's been participation in campusproductions that has sated his desire to be in thespotlight.

Two weeks ago, the first-year spent 10 hours aday rehearsing for two shows simultaneously. "It'salways a blast meeting new people and sharing thestage," he says, "and, yes, Harvard shows willhelp my resume."

Although Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC)productions can offer limited exposure to bothroles and professional contacts, campus theater isa student activity--not Broadway.

"It's important to have connections," Chaffinsays, "but given that Harvard will produceexponentially more Freuds than Lloyd-Webbers, it'smore important to use acting in college as afriend-making opportunity."

According to these students, it's when youstart acting outside of college that life startsgetting complicated.

On The Road Again

These days you might see Irene S. Ng '97 inCabot Library, studying furiously for hermid-April MCAT exam.

But not for long.

Ng--star of Nickelodeon's "The Mystery Files ofShelby Wu"--will be on the road again soon,packing up and moving to Montreal for five monthsof week-long, 12-hour-a-day tapings for theteen-detective show.

The aspiring Harvard Medical School student isalso one of Boston Magazine's 50 most intriguingwomen and one of Ms. Foundation's most positiverole models for young women with, among others,Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and talkshow host Oprah Winfrey. With so many professionalcommit-A-5SHOWBIZCouresty of Marisa EcheverriaSPEECHLESS: JASON R. MILLS '99 andMARISA N. ECHEVERRIA '00 starred inHarvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre's "Little Shop ofHorrors," credits that can only help theirresumes.

While Harvard does not boast a dramaconcentration, the "Cambridge connection" may nothurt one's chances in the long run. Cohen saysperformers are doubly impressive when they canshowcase their talent in the theater and intutorial.

"I find it much more interesting when you lookat these really famous actors who are Harvardalums," Cohen says. "Look at Mira Sorvino['89-'90]. She graduated summa cum laude in EastAsian Studies and now is this wonderfully talentedactress who shows up and they say 'So, you went toHarvard--that's great. And you graduated summa.Wow. In East Asian Studies. Wow. There's a lotmore to you than being an actor. You're a reallyincredible person who happens to have this talentand is making a fair amount of money."

Scott Weinger '98, best known around Harvardfor his roles as the voice of Disney's "Aladdin"and as D.J. Tanner's boyfriend on "Full House,"says his ties to Harvard have helped his career insome ways.

"Last year I had an interesting meeting withsome TV producers. It started out as a generalmeeting, I told them a little about my [MoralReasoning 22] 'Justice' class, and the meetingended with us arguing about Rawls," Weinger says."Now they want to develop a show for me."

But acting is not just about finesse--it's abusiness. Being in Cambridge means operatingremotely from home base and dealing with the factthat you're not where the action is.

"Being so far away from [Los Angeles] andunavailable for projects has certainly been a painfor my agent," Weinger says. "[But] I know thatcasting people and movie studios get pretty sickof seeing these lightweight young actors withnothing going on in their minds."

Jason S. Chaffin '00-'01, who has performed inprofessional productions in regional theaters forseveral years (he recently won the New JerseyTheatre Critics Award for Best Featured Actor in"The Who's Tommy"), is fully conscious ofHarvard's sparse drama offerings. Chaffin is alsoquick to note that if a student is looking forfour years of formal theater training, a certainIvy League school in New Haven has a ratherprestigious drama program.

"But going to Yale is too high a price,"Chaffin--a psychology concentrator--says. "I'drather get a non-acting degree from Harvard and goto classes in the summer than go to a schoolexclusively for drama. Not that it would be awaste of time but...casting directors areinundated with [actors with Bachelor and Master ofFine Arts degrees]," he says.

Still, the liberal-arts quest forwell-roundedness can mean sacrificing formalresume-building.

Cohen notes that it is nearly impossible tomaintain a career while at Harvard.

"You're stuck in a very academically rigorousprogram where you have to devote a lot of time toyour studies, and it's tough," Cohen says.

But college can be a time for honing basicskills through vocal, dramatic or dance work.Cohen spent two years as a tenor and a featuredsoloist in the all-male a cappella group, theHarvard Krokodiloes, and says the experience hashelped him prepare for re-entry into the theaterworld after commencement.

"Singing with the Kroks for two years kept meperforming, made me very comfortable on stage, andgot my voice into the best shape it's ever beenin," Cohen says.

For Chaffin, it's been participation in campusproductions that has sated his desire to be in thespotlight.

Two weeks ago, the first-year spent 10 hours aday rehearsing for two shows simultaneously. "It'salways a blast meeting new people and sharing thestage," he says, "and, yes, Harvard shows willhelp my resume."

Although Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC)productions can offer limited exposure to bothroles and professional contacts, campus theater isa student activity--not Broadway.

"It's important to have connections," Chaffinsays, "but given that Harvard will produceexponentially more Freuds than Lloyd-Webbers, it'smore important to use acting in college as afriend-making opportunity."

According to these students, it's when youstart acting outside of college that life startsgetting complicated.

On The Road Again

These days you might see Irene S. Ng '97 inCabot Library, studying furiously for hermid-April MCAT exam.

But not for long.

Ng--star of Nickelodeon's "The Mystery Files ofShelby Wu"--will be on the road again soon,packing up and moving to Montreal for five monthsof week-long, 12-hour-a-day tapings for theteen-detective show.

The aspiring Harvard Medical School student isalso one of Boston Magazine's 50 most intriguingwomen and one of Ms. Foundation's most positiverole models for young women with, among others,Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and talkshow host Oprah Winfrey. With so many professionalcommit-A-5SHOWBIZCouresty of Marisa EcheverriaSPEECHLESS: JASON R. MILLS '99 andMARISA N. ECHEVERRIA '00 starred inHarvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre's "Little Shop ofHorrors," credits that can only help theirresumes.