A native of Memphis, Tennessee, he began acting in a Rhodes College production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" while recovering from a varsity football injury. Within a short time, he appeared in several productions as part of Memphis's respected amateur theatre scene. In 1983, he moved to New York City; and, by 1992, he had landed roles in three Broadway plays: The Kid, a young boxer, in Rod Serling's "Requiem For A Heavyweight," The Cowboy, a polite but violent drug dealer, in 1986's Tony Award winning Best Play, Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport," and as a Roman soldier (and Esai Morales's understudy) in a version of Oscar Wilde's "Salome," which starred Al Pacino.