L.A.
Law
Alumnus, attorney-turned-actor makes the case for Hollywood
Remember "James," that paranoid schizophrenic
mental patient who scared the living daylights out of viewers in an April
episode of NBC's "ER?" Or maybe you recall the doctor who cheated
on his wife in "The Guardian" on CBS? That was Los Angeles actor
Johnny Sneed, a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild and a
1994 graduate of The University of Mississippi School of Law.
The 33-year-old single Gulfport native makes a living appearing on television,
film, and stage. Assisted by two agents-one for commercials, the other
for television and film-and a manager, he plies his trade several times
daily, auditioning for roles.
This year Sneed also landed spots in two NBC prime-time television shows,
the much-watched "Friends" and
the family-oriented pilot "American Dreams," and he has starred
in several independent films. At press time, he was about to leave L.A.
for Vancouver, Canada, to shoot a new ABC pilot starring actress and comedienne
Janeane Garofalo. However, hours later, the project was shelved.
"Janeane and her producers are hoping to interest another network,"
Sneed says. "There's a perfect example of the uncertainty inherent
in this profession." But he's booked for a small role as a professor
in the upcoming movie "First Daughter," starring Katie Holmes
("Dawson's Creek") and directed by actor Forest Whitaker. "I've
been real fortunate to stay busy as a self-employed, independent contractor,"
quips Sneed, who also holds a degree in communications from the University
of Texas.
Following law school, he worked as an insurance attorney at Bryant, Clark,
Dukes, Blakeslee, Ramsay & Hammond, PLLC, in Gulfport, then as a finance
company branch manager in Dallas. Unable to shake the acting bug he caught
as a teen-ager, he also dabbled on the side in acting, landing roles in
community theater on the Coast and enrolling in acting and improvisation
classes in Dallas.
Finally,
in 2001, he followed his heart to Hollywood with a résumé
that lists special skills in the following order: improvisation, physical
comedy, mental comedy, drums, not un-athletic, and reformed attorney.
In addition to television and film opportunities, his credentials have
won for him appearances in some 20 commercials, hawking products for the
likes of Pepsi, Volkswagen, McDonald's, Yamaha, Lending Tree, and the
Texas Lottery.
As far as his has-been attorney status, "It's always a good story
… that I went to law school; it's always entertaining conversation,"
says Sneed, who spoke for this interview via his cell phone from L.A.
as he drove home from a commercial audition for Pace Picante Sauce.
And his experiences as an actor mix well in Sneed's conversations with
old law school friends, including former classmate Goodloe Lewis, an Oxford
attorney. "It didn't occur to me that he'd become an actor, but it's
not surprising that this is what he wanted to do," Lewis says.
"He was spaz in law school, but he wasn't real funny in the classroom.
The main thing you're trying to do [in law school] is to be as quiet and
invisible as possible, so you won't get called on." However, Lewis
says he and Sneed shared "an extremely social nightlife" as
law students.
UM Law Professor Ron Rychlak, who remembers Sneed among the 70 or so students
in his Criminal Procedure and Criminal Law classes, says he was amazed
to hear of his former student's new career. "He didn't strike me
as the most outgoing person. He didn't seem to draw attention to himself."
Describing his years as a lawyer as a "great experience," Sneed
says, however, it "wasn't his bliss …the bliss was elsewhere."
"I love acting," he says. "I love the collaborative efforts
of everyone working on a project. You can see the results of what you
worked on. Cases often go on so long that sometimes they seem to never
end. I like having different experiences, working for a short time, and
then moving on and working with a different group."
At the same time, he acknowledges the tough challenges that go along with
the frequent spells of uncertainty within the acting profession. "I
never know for sure where I'm going to work again. The director, the ad
agency, the client …they all make the decisions; it's all out of
your control. They ultimately decide your fate. They're all deciding collectively
who gets the part."
And what he calls "passive rejection"-repeatedly going through
the auditioning process without hearing back from casting directors-is
both commonplace and frustrating. "The uncertainty is a downside,"
Sneed says. But he credits his years on the Oxford campus for helping
prepare him for whatever the future brings. "I gained a good perspective
at Ole Miss. I think I learned a certain amount of discipline that requires
me to stay focused," says Sneed, whose father, mother, and sister
are all UM alums.
In addition to UM degrees, he and his father have something else in common:
John B. "Shorty" Sneed, president and CEO of Stewart Sneed Hewes/BancorpSouth
Insurance in Gulfport, is a well-known community theater actor on the
Coast. The senior and junior Sneeds, in fact, starred in a production
together there in the 1970s.
"I always encouraged Johnny to keep acting as a hobby, instead of
a vocation, but he didn't listen to me," says Shorty Sneed. "I
was somewhat surprised, but I wasn't surprised by his desire, ultimately.
He's always loved movies and music his whole life." The elder Sneed,
who has accompanied his son on three auditions, says he gained a new respect
for his determination "watching him compete with some 20 other people
and read a script cold."
"It's much tougher going than I thought it would be," says Shorty
Sneed, who received bachelor's and master's degrees in accountancy from
UM in 1967 and 1968, respectively. "It takes great intuitiveness
to be able to take that rejection and move on. I'm really impressed. Just
to get where he is, he's accomplished a lot." Johnny Sneed's mother,
Patti, graduated from UM with her husband in 1967, earning a bachelor's
degree in early childhood education.
Equally proud of the younger Sneed is his sister, Lori, 30, a public information
assistant at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. She says she wasn't surprised
when her brother went into acting because he'd do "anything he could
to get attention."
"I could totally see him doing that," says Lori Sneed, a 1996
UM graduate with a bachelor's degree in English. "I think he's doing
a great job acting. I have friends over to watch when he's on TV. He's
better than I ever expected."
Lori, who was left partially paralyzed after a 1991 car accident, also
praised the emotional support her brother lends her. Shortly after the
accident, he skipped his spring break to spend time with her in the hospital.
And he often includes her in his acting experiences, including last year's
Emmy Awards. During the televised ceremony, Sneed planted himself on the
red carpet behind comedienne and commentator Joan Rivers, then called
Lori Sneed on his cell phone, so his sister could see him talking to her
on television.
Still longing to add motion pictures to his résumé, Sneed
looks to the future in light of his past. "I have that [law school
experience] under my belt," he says. "It's just three more years
of age and experience…, and it will make me a better actor."