MichaelHarney

Love lesbians. The role that I play is not the person I am.

Well, first of all, it was 36 years ago that I began acting. It happened by accident. I was going to be a social worker, and because i was drinking a lot in those days, I wound up in a program that was mostly theory, which was book learning, and I spent 2 years doing a lot of volunteer work in civil rights and prison reform, so when I got to University to do my last 2 years and found that i was involved in a course of theory, I was so bored I took an elective acting class, cuz my dad was a performer in the Navy, he was an impersonator, dancer, and tenor (he had a great voice). And I had done a play in high school. So I took this elective, and met a guy by the name of Professor John Barrett, who was actually a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, and then when he found out - they didn't tell them what they were working on in those days, I guess he designed the device that helped to detonate the explosive part of the bomb when it hit a certain height from the ground - when he found out what he was doing, he had a breakdown, and became an artist after that. And worked at the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts. He did theater and dance companies throughout Europe. When I met him, he was in retirement, teaching at the university I was at. He took me under his wing, I remember the first thing I did was Cyrano De Bergerac, and that was... I was gone, man! I was like flying around that stage, I felt so free.

It took me about 10, 15 years to recreate that internal. But he took me under his wing, I did 7 shows back to back in my last 2 years of college, and when I went to New York, I had made the decision, and you know - like I said, i did over 100 plays in New York for nothing. I directed my students, I taught for 8 years, I learned from the ground up the work. And I did consider that it was a tough job, I always had 2, sometimes 3 jobs, I drove cabs, limousines, I dug ditches, I painted houses in my 20's, I worked as a temp in different jobs, I was a security guard one year at night during the graveyard shift... so I could be available during the day, and then once my son was born, I created a job in my home where I set up on the news both local and national for the early morning shows, so I could be with him during the day and make meetings for my work... that was all during the years things were tough.

And my parents helped me, I had people that helped me over the years - David Milch helped me a lot - I had people that believed in me, and wanted to keep going.

It was difficult. It was difficult in terms of my decision. I did think of becoming a priest - I wanted to become a Jesuit at that time, I was still very close to many Jesuits at that time, I considered them my friends and at the heart of my life in many respects - and I just decided I was taking spiritual direction at Fordham university from a man by the name of Father Walter Chicek S.J. and by doing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius with him, I realized after 1.5 years that I really wanted to have a family.

Now, with my son, it's so clear to me that that's what I was supposed to do, have a marriage and have a child.

But I did go in and interview with a novice master at Fr. Chicek's suggestion - after talking about my checkered past, he said "After what you've told me, there's no way I could let you in!"

I was devastated, and went to Fr. Chicek, and when I told them they rejected me, he laughed so hard his head flipped over his chair, and he said "If you want to get in, I'll get you in." Because we were having very authentic experiences of prayer together.

But the right thing happened. They were right. Everything is as it should be. But the Jesuits are very close to my heart. They made a tremendous impact on me.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'll take that under advisement.

Probably Lea DeLaria, aka Big Boo. She's a stand-up comic, ya know.

Hahaha. I love actors. I trained actors for 8 years in New York, after studying my craft for about 7 years, and anyone that's really willing to devote themselves to the artistic process to learn the art of acting I have a great respect for.