IN THE BEGINNING...
Where to start...Well, it all began back on February 1, 1977, when I was born in Chicago. My family and I didn't stay there too long and soon moved down to South Florida. My parents said the reason we moved was that I kept getting sick from the cold.
We eventually settled down in Cooper City, Florida, a small city not too far form Ft. Lauderdale. Just to give you an idea of what type of town it was, there would often be people riding around on horses to get from point A to point B. It was also the neighboring town to Davie, a city which had an ordinance that mandated that every fast food restaurant down one street be have old western-style decor. Seriously...The McDonald's had a corral to park your horse behind it and every Saturday night there was rodeo and/or boxing! Mickey Rourke was a prize-fighter one weekend if I recall correctly.
As a little child, I quickly learned to love television. My first memories growing up were watching game shows like "Whew!," "Match Game," "The Price is Right," "Password Plus," and "Wheel of Fortune" starring Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford. I'd often watch these shows with my mom when she was home from work or with my Filipino grandmother who didn't speak a word of English. She'd often refer to "The Joker's Wild" as "the show with the guy who gave out money" when she wanted to watch the show.
And thus began my love of game shows and really all things television. I grew up on a steady diet of sitcoms, adventure shows, and game shows. If I wasn't watching "Card Sharks," I'd be watching "Diff'rent Strokes." If I wasn't learning about "Real People," I'd be watching the adventures of "Whiz Kids" or "Automan."
At around age six, my parents started me on accordion and piano lessons, and soon music became my second passion. For about five years or so, I'd compete in music festivals during the summer. One year, the competitions were in Nashville and the school I took accordion lessons from did a performance outside the Grand Ole Opry. So picture me in a band full of accordion players performing the "Batman" theme on the outskirts of Opryland and you can see the madness I had to deal with!
Music became a big factor in school as well. From 1st grade until 12th, I went to the University School of Nova Southeastern University, a private school in Davie, Florida. When I wasn't hitting the books, I was hitting the ivories for our performing arts divsion. I accompanied the school chorus and played piano for school productions of shows like "Godspell," "A Chorus Line," and "Hair (with some minor modifications to make it high-school friendly)."
One other love of mine that I discovered was writing comedy. In high school, I wrote and performed class skits and even dabbled in the world of stand-up. (Nothing like your first drunk heckler!) I got my first taste of TV production, as producer of our video production club's sketch comedy show.
In 1995, I made it through the trials of puberty and graduated high school. Life then moved to some colder pastures..Click here to find out more...
Where to start...Well, it all began back on February 1, 1977, when I was born in Chicago. My family and I didn't stay there too long and soon moved down to South Florida. My parents said the reason we moved was that I kept getting sick from the cold.
We eventually settled down in Cooper City, Florida, a small city not too far form Ft. Lauderdale. Just to give you an idea of what type of town it was, there would often be people riding around on horses to get from point A to point B. It was also the neighboring town to Davie, a city which had an ordinance that mandated that every fast food restaurant down one street be have old western-style decor. Seriously...The McDonald's had a corral to park your horse behind it and every Saturday night there was rodeo and/or boxing! Mickey Rourke was a prize-fighter one weekend if I recall correctly.
As a little child, I quickly learned to love television. My first memories growing up were watching game shows like "Whew!," "Match Game," "The Price is Right," "Password Plus," and "Wheel of Fortune" starring Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford. I'd often watch these shows with my mom when she was home from work or with my Filipino grandmother who didn't speak a word of English. She'd often refer to "The Joker's Wild" as "the show with the guy who gave out money" when she wanted to watch the show.
And thus began my love of game shows and really all things television. I grew up on a steady diet of sitcoms, adventure shows, and game shows. If I wasn't watching "Card Sharks," I'd be watching "Diff'rent Strokes." If I wasn't learning about "Real People," I'd be watching the adventures of "Whiz Kids" or "Automan."
At around age six, my parents started me on accordion and piano lessons, and soon music became my second passion. For about five years or so, I'd compete in music festivals during the summer. One year, the competitions were in Nashville and the school I took accordion lessons from did a performance outside the Grand Ole Opry. So picture me in a band full of accordion players performing the "Batman" theme on the outskirts of Opryland and you can see the madness I had to deal with!
Music became a big factor in school as well. From 1st grade until 12th, I went to the University School of Nova Southeastern University, a private school in Davie, Florida. When I wasn't hitting the books, I was hitting the ivories for our performing arts divsion. I accompanied the school chorus and played piano for school productions of shows like "Godspell," "A Chorus Line," and "Hair (with some minor modifications to make it high-school friendly)."
One other love of mine that I discovered was writing comedy. In high school, I wrote and performed class skits and even dabbled in the world of stand-up. (Nothing like your first drunk heckler!) I got my first taste of TV production, as producer of our video production club's sketch comedy show.
In 1995, I made it through the trials of puberty and graduated high school. Life then moved to some colder pastures..Click here to find out more...