Few people are aware that I’ve been on camera since I was 11 months old. My first live performance was at age 7 and the show amazed and amused the audience. By age 9, I directed my first play and fell in love with directing, causing me to spend more time behind the scenes.

However, I still acted in a few productions like Toby Tyler and Peter Pan for two successful runs. Calamity Jane launched my singing and dancing abilities and Godspell allowed me to spend some time behind the scenes when I wasn’t performing on stage.

Once at college, I found myself crossing back and forth between acting in television shows for the Wisconsin Television Network (WTN) and directing for ABC and CBS affiliate stations. I starred in a variety special for WTN, made numerous appearances as a fill in anchor at WLSU-TV and appeared in my first feature “Foolin’ Around.”

After experiencing work on a feature, I shifted behind the camera and spent far more time as a cinematographer and director. I racked up hundreds of credits over the years, but realized that staying in touch with acting made me a better director. So I got back into acting to improve my directing, and the next picture I directed gifted me with three awards for best directing.

One of the films I acted in got enough of a buzz going that I landed a small part in “The Dark Knight” as an extra, where I was able to meet Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister. I learned a lot about filmmaking in my brief few minutes with them and I had a great time acting in the six short scenes that took 14 hours to shoot.

Maia Films, who took on a challenge by the IFC Media Lab to make a short film under very specific requirements and time constraints, made the film that launched my opportunity to be in “The Dark Knight.” I played a sniper in the film titled 3-1-2, where my character was hired to do a job, but found himself in a battle for his own life. Here is the short film.