Profile on Nicholas Purcell from the Concord (NH) Monitor. He played one of the boys in the pool hall in "Seeds."
www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/FRONTPAGE/711050344Acting up outside of class
Young actor juggles schoolwork, auditions
By RAY DUCKLER
Monitor staff
November 05. 2007 12:10AM
Duvene Purcell answered the phone at her kitchen table and soon booked two train tickets from Boston to New York City.
The TV drama Law & Order Criminal Intent wanted her son, Concord High senior Nicholas Purcell, back for another audition, at 5:10 p.m. the next day. And this time it was a supporting role, not a bit part.
Nicholas never flinched.
"It used to be like, 'Sweet, I got called for an audition,' " Nicholas said. "But that was when my agent was lower on the agent chain, not as high up, so I wouldn't get auditions that often."
Now he does. For commercials. For TV dramas. For movies. Hang out at his house for any length of time and there's a good chance his agent or co-manager will call by 6:30 p.m. with another opportunity. There were three calls on this day.
No, he's not a huge deal, not yet. Fans don't camp out near his house, waiting for a glimpse, although girls are text-messaging him more often. And you probably wouldn't recognize him downtown.
But Nicholas appears to be on his way. He hopes to make it big, like Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp, his favorite actors.
He's slender, with long sideburns and an easy smile that matches his demeanor in a crowd or in front of a camera.
Perhaps you saw him on Law & Order, talking to Detective Logan, played by Chris Noth, during a murder investigation in a downtown New York pool hall. The scene lasted two or three minutes. Or maybe you saw him sitting with his TV family, enjoying one of those Campbell Soup recipes on the side of the can, a chicken-noodle casserole.
"It tasted good," Nicholas said.
He started with roles at his local church and small theaters in Concord and Pittsfield. He played a grungy orphan in Oliver. He played Peter Pan.
"When I did theater I was in front of 300 or 500 people," Nicholas said. "When you find yourself in tights in front of 400 people, you can't really be self conscious about yourself. It just comes down to that."
He worked his way up, paying dues, learning the ropes, getting noticed. He moved up what he calls the "agent chain," eventually landing with Cunningham, Escott, Slevin and Doherty, an agency that represents top teen actors, as well as Burt Reynolds and Malcolm McDowell.
"We're starting to get a little excited," said Nicholas's father, Matthew. "We used to get so excited when we got a call back for a commercial. Now it's all melding together."
Nicholas now juggles his time between Concord High, where he'll graduate early in January, and auditions in New York and Los Angeles. He sometimes hits New York two or three times per week, studying his script on the train. He goes to L.A. once a year for two months or so, auditioning for television pilots and other projects. Tutors help him through school, and Concord High teachers have been patient, allowing him to make up work.
He doesn't tell schoolmates when he lands a part or has a TV appearance on the horizon, saying he doesn't want to appear snooty. Still, he's taken some verbal abuse from kids who know what he does.
He tells his closest buddies and says his friends are happy for him. Others, those he doesn't know, see him on TV and get the bug, the star-struck bug.
"My three or four best friends appreciate it and think it's really cool," Nicholas said. "They get excited for me. There have been some kids who've come up to me in school and said, 'Hey, you were on Law & Order last night, did you know that?' "
It was a big break. The episode has aired five times and will be repeated Nov. 28 at 10 p.m. on USA. He liked Noth and says he no longer is intimidated by famous people.
"(Noth) was fun to work with," Nicholas said. "He came across as a really nice guy, really social. He's the breaker of the ice." He also liked Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon in Fever Pitch. He played a fan inside and outside Fenway Park in that one.
He a background street punk in Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, released last month, about a kidnapping case in Boston.
His Campbell's Soup commercial could earn him $50,000 for one day's work, depending on residual payments. His father showed the commercial on the family's 46-inch screen.
Mom cooks dinner, smiling at her daughter to her right while the younger son does homework to mom's left. Nicholas is in the background, dropping his backpack on the counter.
Next, the family, sitting at the kitchen table, enjoys an mm mm good casserole, made with cream of mushroom soup, noodles, beans and chicken.
What we don't see is the water sprayed on the casserole to keep it looking moist under the hot lights. Or the buckets provided for the actors to spit out the food once they've gotten sick of it or too full after 20 takes. Or the clean plates and silverware brought onto the set after each take.
"It's a whole day for a 30-second commercial," Nicholas said.
He hopes to land a part, his biggest to date, as a Deadhead in the upcoming film, Losing Jerry, about the late Jerry Garcia, his band the Grateful Dead and their loyal fans. It looks as if he'll get it.
On this day he received a call to audition for Law & Order and As the World Turns, a soap opera.
A phone call also came from The Onion, a satirical newspaper, which wanted Nicholas for some sort of story.
"You have to be nerdy," his mother said.
"Sweet," Nicholas said. "I can be nerdy."