This interest in movies is not an out-of-the-blue pipe dream. For many years he has been friends with and says he has learned much from such actor pals as David Schwimmer. He credits the local director, teacher and actress Joyce Piven with "giving me the basics" and he has for some time been taking acting lessons with Doug McDade, a longtime ensemble member of Shattered Globe Theatre. He has become familiar with performing in front of cameras during frequent appearances on the "Today" show and as a weekly contributor to WLS-TV's breezy morning offering, "Windy City Live." Thanks to Schwimmer, he had cameos on "Friends" and later, on his own, got small parts in other shows and films. He had larger roles in the locally filmed Fox series "Empire" and in the CBS drama "Criminal Minds." He is ever auditioning.