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"Hidden Palms" star stick to his own rules |
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Written by Luaine Lee, MCT
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Monday, 11 June 2007 |
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 Taylor Handley, who plays the mysterious Johnny Miller on the CW's "Hidden Palms," learned two important life lessons early on. Starting as a child actor, he observed other kids in the field who stumbled into adulthood.
"Save your money and keep going to acting class," he says in the deserted lounge of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here.
In spite of successful turns on "Dawson's Creek" and "The O.C." and the feature film, "September Dawn," Handley has clung to those rules. He still drives the Dodge Durango he had when he moved to Los Angeles from his home in Santa Barbara, Calif., four years ago. And he still takes acting workshops on weekends.
Though neither of his parents was in the field, he first thought about acting when he was 6 years old.
"I think it was when I was playing one of the wolves in a 'Jungle Book' play. I got to run around like a chicken with my head cut off - howling. I said, 'This is fun. If I could probably do this for a living I could have an interesting life,'" he says.
"I've been always mesmerized by it, the screen as well. My dad taking me even to the R-rated movies when I was younger, but I loved it. I loved seeing the action, the drama. I remember seeing 'Magnolia' when I was 10 or 12 and I remember seeing the artistic side come out in movies. That was what I was drawn to."
Handley performed in school plays until he slipped into his teens. "When I was 13 I looked at my dad and said, 'Hey, man, when are we going to get this thing started?' So I had a friend, and his mother became my manager and took me down to an agency. And the third audition I ever did I booked 'Jack Frost,' which was a Warner Bros. film. From there it just kinda snowballed," he shrugs.
For five years his parents drove the 90 miles from Santa Barbara to L.A. for Taylor's auditions, rehearsals and performances. His dad worked with a clothing company and then ran a vitamin business, his mother "had an accounting thing going," so their schedules were flexible, says Handley who has twin half-brothers, 16 years his senior.
Finally when he was 18, Handley decided to take matters into his own hands. "I graduated from high school and checked myself into Santa Monica City College and moved down there after high school and lived by myself," he says.
"I did a couple classes, worked a few jobs, and here I am. It was difficult because my friends were still in my hometown and hanging out and going to parties. But I always thought in the back of my mind, 'There's always going to be time to play. If I don't work now, I'm just going to be working harder later.' So I kept going strong through the whole thing."
Handley wasn't fooling. He's been studying with a drama coaches since he was 13. 'I think going to school and learning the business is good, but I think if you really want to learn the movie industry you have to work on a set. You just have to be there," says Handley, who's dressed in a plaid, cotton shirt, jeans and clunky motorcycle boots.
In spite of appearances on such shows as "Cold Case," "CSI: Miami" and "NYPD Blue," there was a nine-month period when Handley, 23, didn't work at all.
("(It was) the transition from 17 to 19 when the business kind of treated me rotten," he volunteers. "I'd book something and then something would come up. I would not get the job - there's just a lot of bull (stuff) that comes in between it."
Shaking his head, he says, "My life hasn't been too hard. When I moved and lived by myself in Santa Monica I'd drive home every weekend. My home was only an hour and 10 minutes away. I became comfortable with myself."
Capturing the role of Oliver Trask on six episodes of "The O.C." boosted his visibility, Handley thinks. "At the time I was on it, it was a really popular show."
He managed to snag the part the usual way, he says. "My agent gets my audition, I have to go in there and get it and then after that if they want to go further, then it's a joint effort between my team and I to make it work. The thing you have to know about auditions is once you do it, you just have to let it go 'cause it's out of your hands. You do the best you can and it happens. You get the job, go to work. If it doesn't happen, 'OK, what's next?'"
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Rebecca DeMornay is costarring as the surfer mom in HBO's new drama, "John From Cincinnati." DeMornay has played a variety of roles, from hot chick in "Risky Business" to the comely Hannah Rose on "The Practice." But she's never really played herself, she says. "All of them, there's some element of Rebecca, but none of them really. I think a role like me is hard to find. You'd have to find a girl who ... went on a plane to England alone when she was 5, then wound up in the Austrian Alps for seven years. And it's hard to find that girl."
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NBC is bringing back "Last Comic Standing" on Wednesday with a twist. This time the contest will include international comics, and scouting these new zanies are three comedians: Kathleen Madigan, ANT and Alonzo Bodden, who was himself a winner on the show. The series sports a new host, too, in the guise of comedian Bill Bellamy. "Bill makes us the bad guys," grumbles Bodden. "Whenever a comic walks out, Bill just says, 'You know, I would have put you on the show. I would have picked you, but they're tough.'"
Bodden says he has only one criterion for the wannabe comics. "I don't mind tasteless, but I shut them down for unfunny. I mean, you say whatever you want as long as it's funny. Back when we did the show, what Dan (Cutforth, the executive producer) told us was, 'No sponsor jokes.' He was, like, 'You can make fun of black people, but don't make fun of Cadillac.'"
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The first season of Kathy Griffin's show, "My Life on the D-List," arrives on DVD this week, just in time for her return to Bravo with a new season. Griffin claims she's still on the D-List despite an Emmy nomination and critical acclaim. She served time as second banana with Brooke Shields on the sitcom "Suddenly Susan," and credits the experience with teaching some valuable lessons. "I learned so much from people I work with," she says.
"I learned a lot from Brooke Shields, working with her every day. She's so internationally famous and is so gracious and handles it so well. I used to watch her very closely. Also I learned from friends in the business who haven't had an easy time. I had friends who are drug addicts and alcoholics and have a hard time just dealing with those demons. I look at that and say, 'OK, if I ever get an opportunity like Dave Chapelle, I don't want to flip out.'" | Only registered users can write comments.
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