My father was an actor and stage producer in Chicago. He provided aspiring actors the opportunity to earn their equity cards. One of these was David Mamet. I acted in high school and community theater stage productions growing up. The lead in several of these was Mandy Patinkin who would go on to work professionally in stage and film.
My real passion was music and I studied at the University of Illinois and American Conservatory of Music. I paid for my schooling leading a progressive rock band, McLuhan. We only survived long enough to produce one short lived album, The Monster Bride, that was noteworthy for two things. The cover art was nominated for a Grammy, and the producer and sound engineer was Bruce Swedien. who went on to record acts like Toto and Michael Jackson's Thriller album with Quncy Jones.
I moved to LA and became active in community theater through my wife. We formed a small production group and staged short plays. I attended acting classes during this time that taught me the basics of character intent, subtext, and body language.
I got involved with a small production team making a short video, The Memory Bank, that gave me a chance to do the film score. I had taken master classes with the composer Bill Conti and hoped it could lead to a career in film music.