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Ryerson Magazine, Spring 1999
From Ryerson's Theatre School to Hollywood:
four TV stars talk about the road less travelled
David James Elliott is cruising along the palm tree lined Hollywood Boulevard in a spiffy convertible. In some parts, the
street is downright scruffy. Then you pass restored old movie palaces, grand
dames like the El Capitan, the Egyptian and Mann's Chinese Theatre where tourists
flock like geese to take pictures of celebrity handprints in concrete.
Life couldn't be better for Elliott, star of the CBS action drama JAG. In fact, he exclaims, "I'm totally blown away by Hollywood. I still can't believe I'm here!"
While Elliott admits this is still the "boulevard of broken dreams" where more people crash and burn than succeed, he sees plenty of opportunity for success. As he drives past the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, just south of the landmark Capitol Records building and its rooftop spire, he adds, "Once you get past the awe, you realize there are lots of talented people but also those without any imagination at all." Still, Elliott admits he is taken by the history of it all, the movie stars, the Hollywood Walk of Fame ...
It's a long way from Ryerson's Theatre School,
but for Elliott and several fellow alumni who've made it in Hollywood, that
is where they caught the acting bug.
[omitted section on Eric McCormack (Will & Grace, Marc Gomes (The Crow), and Maurice Godin (Working).]
... Eric McCormack: McCormack often runs into fellow Canadians Elliott and Godin. "As Canadians, we blend in unless you tell them," he said. "A lot of positive aspects come from being Canadian - our professionalism. .. we know theatre. We tend to go in a lot more prepared. ...
Elliott offered these final thoughts on Hollywood: "It's incredibly polluted. It can be extremely dangerous. There are a lot of really rich people - and a lot of people in serious debt, too." He added, "It's got everything and I dig it."
David James Elliott (Acting '82)
David James Elliott spent the late 1970's as a frontman for a number of punk bands at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. But when the bands kept breaking up and he got fed up living in grungy boarding houses, he abandoned that dream and auditioned for the Theatre School.
"I'd never acted before but I was told it was the best (school) in the country," he recalled. "By some miracle I got in. They told me I was a natural. That I had no bad habits - all the better to mould me."
Today, Elliott plays Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb on JAG, a television drama that has cracked the prestigious Neilsen Top Ten list. As a bonafide dramatic television star, Elliott openly credits his Ryerson schooling.
"I got a real rounded education from theatre history, dance, phonetics, dialect, singing," explained Elliott. "I was taught there is no one way to act. Here are all the tools, try everything. Unlike here where people take some scene study classes, get an audition and call themselves actors." He emphasizes that it's "so essential to own your ability", so he continues to study even today.
After Ryerson, the young actor apprenticed at the Stratford Festival for two years where he won the Most Promising Actor Award. But he wanted to "stay hungry and get out into the real world" so he left and became involved in various stage productions, leading to a starring role in CBC's Street Legal.
That, in turn, led to Hollywood where he got some first-hand experience with the vagaries of the "biz". He signed a development deal with Disney, who said they loved him and wanted to create a series around the young Canadian. All went well until he met the head honchos who told him he was too young for the part they had created for him.
Undaunted, he landed guest-starring roles on Doogie Howser and China Beach. He had recurring roles in Knots Landing and Melrose Place, which ultimately led to JAG. Going into his fifth season this fall, Elliott, who plays a lawyer and officer in the Navy's JAG corps, says, "We have a winning team - good writers, great producers. And it's never one particular thing, so it's a fun thing to do."
Elliott is now married with a daughter, who he says changed his life by taking the focus off him. "These are very exciting times for me and my family," he said.
For the aspiring actor, he offers the following suggestion: "Make sure it's what you want to do more than anything else because it ain't easy. Then go after it with everything you got and never say die. Nietzsche once wrote: "He who continually struggles upward, him can we save." For me, I was never going to go away once I came here."
- - Ashley Jude Collie
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