(Continued)

Do you prefer one medium over another?

No, I don't really have a preference for film or TV. I just have a preference for creating interesting characters. And that's what my goal continues to be. I have some exciting things about to happen in the next three months that I'm really looking forward to.

Going back to college. You were on a soccer scholarship, but unable to pursue acting. What did you end up studying in school?

Pre-med. I was a sports medicine major. I was in the training room all the time. And with soccer and injuries, I knew I was going to be there a lot. So I thought I might as well learn more about my body. But it really helped in my future because when I did theater in Philadelphia and Seattle and L.A., I worked selling medical equipment to make money during the day. It was a huge help for me to have that knowledge and to be able to hold down a good job while I got my acting career started.

After graduating, is that when you transitioned to community theater?

Yes, and I moved right back into downtown Philadelphia, which was close to home. I grew up only about 20 minutes outside in a little town called Delanco. And so I started doing theater there and went from there to Seattle. I did lots of theater in Seattle and still worked for the medical supply company. And then I moved to Los Angeles. And slowly weaned myself off the one thing until I was able to get into film and TV stuff. And commercials. A lot of commercials paid the bills early on.

What made you choose acting over sports medicine?

For me personally, soccer had taken up so much of my life?in a good way. But whenever you really excel at anything, it takes its toll because you really commit a lot of time to it. And I committed a lot of time to soccer. I was fortunate to become very good at it, but I was just ready to move on. And that's why I didn't want to become a soccer coach; I didn't want to play professionally. I wanted to fulfill some other things that I've wanted to do in my life.

I've always been the kind of guy who's clear about having only one life because you never know when tomorrow is going to change and things are going to change. I know it's kind of a morbid thought, but I always said if I died early, I wanted to be doing what I wanted to be doing. I didn't want to be grinding 9 to 5 at something I didn't want to do. I wanted to be grinding doing something I was very passionate about. And in my case, it was acting. Something I knew I wanted to do ever since I was 5.

You knew you wanted to act at the age of 5?

Yes, well, I used to have a speech impediment when I was young. And I couldn't pronounce my 'R's.' So they cast me as the big bad wolf in this little school play and whenever I would say anything with an 'R' in it, the house would just die laughing. They would laugh and laugh. And I mistakenly thought, "Wow, I'm funny." (laughs). But it was just the roar of the crowd. It was something that I'll never forget.

Tell me a little about this contract you have with some of your Old Dominion teammates. Something about a house on a golf course?

Yes, that's funny. That is really funny. Long after college, I'm still best friends with everybody I played with at Old Dominion. And there's a group of us guys, we talk every week, we get together once a year at school. And we go and just hang out at Old Dominion, talk about old times, and tell the same stories and laugh twice as hard. It's just a really great group of guys. And we're all moving on in life, but still enjoy each other's company. And fortunately, our wives and girlfriends and fianc?s let us get together once a year.

So one year (we're all golfers now), everyone talked about who had the best shot at having a second house where we could all play golf from. And they all looked at me! And so, I think I took out a twelve year contract (on a napkin), which I think looks pretty good. Looks like I'll be able to make everyone happy hopefully in the next 3 or 4 years. And I'm sure they'll hold me to it! You know how soccer guys are! All kidding aside, they're all very supportive of me and we're all very supportive of one another.

Your fianc?e is an Emmy-winning actress with numerous television and feature film credits ("The Ice Storm," "American Beauty," "The Hours"?she was even Peach in "Finding Nemo!") to her name. How long had you been in LA before you first met? And how did you guys first meet?

I was in L.A. for two years and she was still living in New York. And she was out here to do "American Beauty" and was testing for "The West Wing." I met her through mutual friends (we both had significant others at the time) on a night when we all went out and all had a great time dancing. Obviously, she had to move out here for "The West Wing." And we had just gotten to be very close friends. We ran in the same circle of friends and I really enjoyed her company and she really enjoyed mine. At the time, she was in a long-term relationship as was I. And then I broke up with my girlfriend and then she broke up with her boyfriend. And we said, 'we know we're very fond of one another, let's give this a shot.'

But we were both so nervous about ruining the friendships. Because if we would have broken up, it would have ruined the whole circle of friends! You know how that is. All our friends were petrified that we were going out, that we were going to screw up this great group of people that we had to hang out. But it's been absolutely amazing ever since day one of dating. I knew immediately, and I had never been engaged or married before, that I would be an extremely lucky man to have this woman to take the journey of life with. Because she brings so much happiness, so much creativity and talent. And she's so funny. It's a great ride and I feel so fortunate to have a partner.

And now you guys are engaged, about to be married?

Yes. The planning part of a wedding is unbelievable. We got engaged May 17th of last year and immediately went off to do a film. But what we realized about last November was, 'wow I guess we really needed to be organized immediately afterwards! Because we were so excited, we were engaged, she had never been engaged, and we just knew, and we were in bliss. So we started organizing and looking toward the next May. But come Christmastime, we realized "we gotta get these invites out!" And we still didn't know how many people!

So we're still in the organizing plans stage. It could be this summer. It could be Christmastime. But we're getting closer.

What is your relationship like? In other words, how do you deal with the conflicting schedules, the paparazzi, and all the spoils of a relationship that's always in the limelight?

We're both from very grounded families. We're both very passionate people. And we just don't need a lot to be happy. We don't take for granted her success or my success. Because she's been through the grinder with her acting career. And almost any actor that's starting to make a living off their profession has stories, in a grueling way, of how they got there. And that's what helped me three years ago when I was struggling. We just complement each other so well. And we've been fortunate so far that our work schedules have been complementary, i.e. I've been home working on things when she's been off doing "The West Wing."

It's just we live pretty simple lives. We have great friends, we have a dog, and we live on a great street with great neighbors. It's very much like a community here. So, the paparazzi doesn't really bother us too much. We love to go out, love to go dancing. And don't get involved in too many things. We're both a little older, a little more mature, so we know how to handle those things a little better.

I guess people are always shocked when they meet us. Because we're both really normal, down-to-earth people and because that's the only thing we can relate to.

My last question. What kinds of things do you like to do in your down time? Do you have any obsessions?

Allison has never watched more ESPN than she has since she's dated me. She has never really watched sports. I'm an avid golfer, very passionate about golfing. I wish I was better as most golfers do. And we're both extremely passionate about music. We love to make CDs, we love new music. We're both from families that are very artistic. Her family has jazz musicians, her mother was an actress. And my father used to sculpt, my mother used to read Tarot cards. And so we're both from really artistic, creative families. And we both have similar backgrounds. She has two brothers and I have two sisters.

And our dog takes up a lot of our time! Being good parents. He's a 110 pound puppy and he's a part Shepard mix. And he's just a beautiful dog. We rescued him from petconnect.com - a great service that you can literally get online and decide what kind of breed you want. It was such a great way to rescue a dog. We're so fortunate.

Richard Jenik Interview (BACK)