Broadway bound
When Josh Radnor '96 was plucked to temporarily replace Jason Biggs in the starring role of The Graduate on Broadway, he called his mother with the good news. "Have you signed a contract?" she asked.
The reluctance of Radnor's mother to rejoice in his good fortune might be because she, like her son, realizes the uncertainties that come with the profession of acting and the tumultuous world of show biz.
"It's a very powerless profession," says Radnor. "I'm at the mercy of fate, agents, and luck. You have to develop a Zen attitude about the whole thing."
Radnor didn't sign a contract until the show was in production, but nonetheless it was a tremendous experience for the twenty-eight-year-old native of Columbus, Ohio, who began his acting career in high school musicals like Oklahoma! and Cabaret. Radnor knew that he'd found his calling the first time he stepped on stage. "I thought, Oh my God, I think I need to do this," he says. "It felt inevitable."
Radnor came to Kenyon, majored in drama, and lit up the stage, winning the Paul Newman Trophy for acting in the play Sight Unseen. After graduation, he earned an M.F.A. in acting from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
His "big break" came early in 2002 when he was cast as Dylan Hirsch in the short-lived television series The Court, starring Sally Field. The show was pulled after only three episodes were aired, but Radnor's June 11 through August 18 run on Broadway was soon to follow. Landing the role of Benjamin Braddock required three auditions, in addition to a tape he submitted. But in the end, it was Sally Field's recommendation to The Graduate's leading lady, Kathleen Turner, that may have sealed the deal.
"It's amazing how one job builds on another. I don't think The Graduate would have happened if it weren't for The Court. The TV series felt prematurely aborted in a public sense, but I felt as if I had done all of the work I was contracted to do," he says of his six-episode agreement. "A week later I landed the part on Broadway, so I didn't have time to mourn the cancellation of The Court."
The vast differences between TV, film, and the stage were revealed to Radnor when he landed a small part as a tour guide in Not Another Teen Movie last year. More than ten million viewers tuned into the premiere episode of The Court, but it was considered a failure in the ratings. In contrast, about 85,000 people saw his performance in The Graduate, a show that's a box office hit.
"In signing autographs after the show, I was amazed at how many of the kids had seen Not Another Teen Movie," says Radnor. "It's amazing to ponder how far-reaching film and TV can be."
Acting opposite Turner and Alicia Silverstone, who stars as Elaine Robinson in The Graduate, did more for Radnor than pad his resume. Radnor became a vegetarian after Silverstone recommended The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins. As a result, Radnor is learning to cook.
In the tradition of his Kenyon roots, (his father, Alan Radnor '67, attended Kenyon, along with his sister, Joanna Radnor '00) the actor writes short stories. But he's quick to point out that he doesn't plan to translate his hobby into screenwriting. It just doesn't hold the appeal of acting. "I'm perversely attracted to it," he says. "Sometimes I feel like there's something wrong with me, but I want the white-hot attention that comes from the spotlight."
--Shawn Presley
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