Just four years after graduating from Marquette, Nick D'Agosto has a promising acting career ahead of him.
D'Agosto, a 2002 theater alumnus, spoke on an alumni panel at the College of Communication's Scholarship Competition Saturday. The students on the panel, which included former Tribune copy editor Lisa Petersen, talked to parents of prospective students about their experiences at Marquette.
D'Agosto's experiences in Marquette's theater program have helped him secure roles in such shows as "Boston Public," "Six Feet Under" and "House."
People who knew him as a student still speak fondly of him.
"Some people have kind of a light inside of them and it radiates," said Phylis Ravel, artistic director for performing arts. "That's what he's got."
Ravel taught D'Agosto in an acting fundamentals course and directed the play "Strangers Ground" in which he played the lead. Ravel and her husband, who also taught D'Agosto, still remain in contact with him.
"He's very easy to work with," Ravel said. "He researches thoroughly and he connects with his fellow actors."
D'Agosto said he has been acting since he was 10 years old and got his first big part in a movie as a high school senior in Omaha, Neb.
Alexander Payne, an Omaha native who would go on to direct "About Schmidt" and "Sideways," was holding auditions for his movie "Election." D'Agosto went to the audition with some friends, but none of them thought they would get a part.
D'Agosto, however, got a phone call and was cast in the film as Larry Fouch.
"It's one of those moments: right place, right time," D'Agosto said.
D'Agosto attended Marquette while filming "Election," traveling to Los Angeles during the summers of his freshman and sophomore years. At the movie's 1999 premiere, D'Agosto's acting grabbed a lot of people's attention.
"When I got out of the theater people came up to me and gave me their business cards," D'Agosto said.
D'Agosto's manager at the time encouraged him to leave school and continue his acting career, Ravel said. Instead, D'Agosto decided to finish his degree at Marquette.
Despite his success outside school, D'Agosto did not land any parts in main stage shows his freshman year, but he participated in four Studio 013 Refugee performances instead.
His first main stage appearance was sophomore year in the play "The Miracle Worker," the story of Helen Keller. D'Agosto played James, Helen's brother, a performance that earned him an American College Theatre Festival Irene Ryan Award nomination.
D'Agosto acted in several more plays while at Marquette, including "Chomsky 9/11" during his senior year. He served as dramaturg, or co-author and performer in the stage adaptation of Noam Chomsky's book, which discusses what 9/11 means in a global context.
But when D'Agosto graduated, he found himself without a manager.
"When I moved out I thought I would have this manager again, but she had become an agent," D'Agosto said. "I didn't know what to do, but then out of the blue, I got a call from Faras Rabadi."
According to Ravel, Rabadi had called Marquette looking for D'Agosto's contact information. He had seen D'Agosto in "Election" and wanted to know what D'Agosto was doing. He called right around the time D'Agosto was graduating, Ravel said.
Rabadi works for Emerald Talent Group and remains D'Agosto's manager. He could not be reached for comment.
Since graduating, D'Ag-osto has played parts in many TV dramas, including "Cold Case" and "ER."
D'Agosto also has comic experience in films such as "Cracking Up" and "Psycho Beach Party," a balance he said he hopes to maintain throughout his career.
"Each time I got something it was exciting," D'Agosto said. "It reaffirmed that I can make a career of this."
D'Agosto recently played the lead role in the movie "Inside," a drama slated to come out this year.
Ravel said she is not surprised D'Agosto has succeeded in the early stages of his acting career.
"There are some people who, it's in their destiny," Ravel said. "He's constantly having doors opened for him."
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 22 2005.