Let's start off with the basics, shall we? My pronouns are he/him/his and I'm an actor, singer, musician and proud gay man from Bloomington, Illinois. Well, to be exact, I grew up in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. They're sister cities. So I guess you could say I grew up... Next to Normal ;) Anyway, Bloomington was an ideal place to grow up - just big enough that you still see new faces each day, but small enough to get across town in twenty minutes flat.  Not to mention it was the birthplace of Steak 'n Shake in 1934 (our one claim to fame). And, oh! I almost forgot. We have a Minor League Baseball team called... the Normal CornBelters. And before you ask, yes, my backyard IS a cornfield. Not my choice.  However, I currently live in St. Louis while I finish up my BFA at The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. Amid this panoramic and a fast approaching graduation, my future plans are not at all set in stone. We'll see where the wind takes me, I guess. My mother and two siblings, Ryan and Victoria, all live back in Bloomington, so every chance I get to go home and see them, I take. Our family is an odd one for sure, but its mine and I wouldn't trade them for anything. 

             I've always had a fascination and love for music. I would say it's in my DNA. My mother was a singer, not professionally, but participated in church choirs and sang us to sleep every night with her rendition of "You Are My Sunshine." Then there's my dad, who taught himself the guitar as a teen and never stopped. He played better than anyone I had ever heard. That seems like an overstatement at this point in my life, but you can imagine how inspiring it was to listen to him play as a child. Naturally, I picked up the piano around age 9 and stuck with it until my Junior year of highschool. I still like to play regularly, but I've moved on to the guitar these days. I'm nowhere near as good as my father, but I take pride in teaching myself just like he did all those years ago.

             It really wasn't until my Freshman year of highschool that I started taking an interest in theatre. I had auditioned for maybe one or two musicals in my hometown as a kid but nothing more. Once I discovered my love for the theatre, there was nothing that could keep me from it. I spent my days in class until 3:30 and then would head straight for the auditorium for rehearsals until 7. And I loved it, still do. Every spare hour of mine, I would be at the theatre rehearsing, building the sets, taking inventory of props, or just sitting and talking with my directors/teachers. These were the most formative moments of my teenage years. These were the moments that I look back on and realize I was starting on a path that would continue for the rest of my life.  It was during those rehearsals when I learned who I was - an entertainer.