A Tony Award nomination, recognition as one of People’s ‘100 Sexiest of 2000,’ a starring role in a major motion picture and cameos on ‘Sex in the City’ and ‘Ally McBeal’ – you might think these achievements would go straight to any actor’s head.
With Craig Bierko, they don’t.
Instead, Bierko, a former Boston University School of Public Communication student, seems focused and realistic about his successes.
‘You do something to give you recognition, to have latitude to make creative decisions. You do stuff you can live with. I don’t want to do [Vin Diesel film] XXX each time out of the box,’ Bierko said in an interview last week. ‘I’d be happy just to work, but to have the freedom to do something indulgent means more.’
Bierko, who is almost 40, is an actor who proclaims his love for his trade. He admits he lived a wild Hollywood lifestyle for some time, and he said he appreciates that in retrospect. But today, a calmer and more introspective Bierko lives in New York City, where he has honed his attention and talent on Broadway – and on staying true to himself.
A NEW NAME
Born and raised in Rye Brook, N.Y., Bierko lived in a town where everyone knew everyone. His high school classmates, who had also been his kindergarten classmates, were all going to the best colleges and universities.
‘Everyone was on their way to the business world,’ Bierko said. ‘They were all going to be doctors and lawyers and accountants.’
Bierko wanted to be an actor. But influenced by his peers, he opted not to go to Hollywood and came to Boston instead.
‘It’s difficult making the leap [into acting],’ Bierko said. ‘So my big, bright idea was getting into broadcast journalism – you know, get into the environment, get in front of the camera. Oh yeah! Great idea!’
He then caem to SPC, which would eventually evolve into the College of Communication.
At BU, he wasn’t acting, and he ‘immediately knew I was in the wrong place.’
Hoping to leave BU and apply to Northwestern University in Chicago, he asked Murray Yeager, then-dean of SPC, for a recommendation. Bierko remembered Yeager as a ‘colorful, strict, articulate and overbearing man who terrified him.’
‘Yeager looked at me for a long time without saying a word,’ Bierko recounted. ‘Finally, he agreed to write the letter, but told me not to read it.’
Bierko laughed, recalling how wary he was of letting this petrifying man write what could be a nasty recommendation.
‘I steamed the letter open, and it was the most glowing, kind, supportive letter,’ Bierko said. ‘I never got to thank him, and I’ll always be very grateful to him.’
KEY ROLES
At Northwestern, Bierko honed his acting skills in plays, musicals and operettas. Dominic Missimi, director of Northwestern’s Certificate Program in Musical Theatre, described Bierko as a tremendously gifted theater student.
‘He demonstrated from the beginning a keen sense of comedy,’ Missimi said. ‘He’s incredibly personable, very funny and improvisational.’
While at Northwestern, Bierko also played the leading role in Missimi’s musical ‘How the Children Stop the Wars.’ Freshman David Schwimmer, now known as Ross from ‘Friends,’ played a donkey’s rear-end in the musical.
‘There’s some fame in that musical,’ Missimi said.
Years later, in 2000, Bierko went back to his musical theater roots and starred as Professor Harold Hill in the second revival of ‘The Music Man,’ one of Broadway’s most popular musicals, which initially ran in 1957 and was revived shortly in 1980. Bierko was commended for that performance – at the time, many said his portrayal surpassed Robert Preston’s original performance. Bierko humbly deflected that praise.
Missimi took a group of students to see Bierko in ‘The Music Man’ two years ago. After the show, Bierko went to dinner with Missimi and his students, where a small speech turned into a 15-minute comedy routine.
‘We all felt he would be a stand-up comedian,’ Missimi said.
‘Robert Preston was fantastic and left an indelible mark,’ he said, revealing he was ‘scared out of my mind’ to play the role.
During the play’s yearlong run, Bierko said he avoided theater reviews and didn’t pay attention to the press. Because of this, his Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Musical and his spot in People’s ‘100 Sexiest of 2000’ list came in as a blur.
GETTING GOOFY
Bierko likes to ‘shake it up.’ His acting career is accompanied by a budding screenwriting career – he collaborates with ‘Star Wars’ celebrity Carrie Fisher. In his most prominent film role, Bierko played alongside Gretchen Mol as the star of The Thirteenth Floor, a stylish science-fiction film. His most recent performance was in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, a David Spade slapstick and parody.
Although Bierko said he wants to sample all genres, he admits to preferring comedy over drama. He said jokingly that he loves playing sleazy characters like the one he plays in Dickie Roberts, a role he said he took to instantly after reading the script.
Bierko described Spade as a genuine actor who loves his profession and loves clowning, which Bierko took as a sign that Spade’s ego is in check.
‘He knows what his comedic voice is,’ Bierko said. ‘He does comedy pretty well, and really shows that character of ‘snide punk.’ He makes me laugh.’
Though Dickie Roberts was his most successful film outing, Bierko said he had the most fun with Sour Grapes, directed by Larry David, creator of the TV shows ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’
‘It wasn’t successful, people pissed on it,’ Bierko said of Sour Grapes. But, he said audience reaction didn’t make or break that filmmaking experience. ‘We knew when we were making the film that 10 people would like it. It was life-changing. I’m happy doing this stuff.’
In an effort to keep himself happy and keep life interesting, Bierko said he keeps changing direction. This, he said, is why he started writing screenplays and performing on Broadway, though he was offered a part in a new NBC television series. It is refreshing, he added, to be away from the ‘pimps and hos’ of Hollywood.
‘It’s not healthy to just be an actor,’ Bierko said. ‘If I bought into the bull, it would have had an unhealthy effect on me. I mean, you have to think about what we do: we pretend to be other people.’
Thinking about it, he laughed.
‘That’s really kind of silly.’
THE SECRETS OF SELF CONTROL
In ‘The Music Man,’ Harold Hill is a con man who creeps into the town of River City, Iowa with plans to steal the townspeople’s money. Instead, the town embraces him so fervently that by the end he is accepted as one of its own.
In some ways, Bierko is the Harold Hill of the entertainment industry. With unbridled confidence, Bierko has taken on film, television and Broadway, and has won over audiences in each before turning to something new.
Bierko attributes this to his longing for change and his ability to control himself when confusion sets. He strives to stay true to himself, he said.
‘Nine times out of 10, it’s what you do to yourself,’ Bierko said of people who get burnt out or swept away by Hollywood life. ‘My biggest recommendation to someone entering the arts is to do a lot of reading about how the human mind works.’
Playing the role of philosopher, Bierko said many actors buy into preconceptions, which ultimately ruins them.
‘Most [Hollywood people] think by three or four years, that they’re going to get their break,’ he said. ‘Well, when you’re in the middle of three or four years, you’re not going to know whether you will sell a script for a million dollars.’
Many actors fall into a psychological trap, he added.
‘I know multimillionaire celebrities who are miserable now,’ he warned. ‘People destroy themselves time and time again. The only people who make it are those who are mentally strong.’
The key for budding actors, according to Bierko, is to believe that they can be as successful as they want.
‘There’s no part of me that says, ‘This is never going to happen.”