JEFF MCCARTHY
Broadway Actor

I was mentored by several generous people as I was looking for direction in my early years, but the first was a high school drama teacher in central California. Kim Wheetley was a force – single-handedly putting up 4 or 5 full productions a year in a drama program that included fifty kids. I can’t imagine that many of the people in our town — a place primarily known, at that time, for its cattle ranching, broccoli and sugar beet fields — had much exposure to theater or any of the arts.

It’s years later, but today, some of us that found our way into Mr. Wheetley’s drama class still get together. I think we do because the theater tends to create a really special bond between people. We reminisce about the past productions and about how those early experiences in the theater, thanks to Mr. Wheetley, really were the highpoint of our youth. Of course they were for me, having spent my life in the theater, but I would venture to say that for many who were involved (people who have gone into all sorts of other lines of work) they too would think of those experiences — the great journey of putting plays together — as the most enriching and rewarding times. It was where some of our closest lifelong friendships were made.

Jeff McCarthy first starred on Broadway in 1984 opposite Anthony Quinn in Zorba. He has since starred in Beauty and the Beast, Side Show, Urinetown (2001 Drama Desk Award nominee), The Pirate Queen, and countless TV shows and feature films.

Return to the Celebrity Yearbook.