Glass act: Actor returns to Lynchburg high school to talk about acting

Actor Chuck Carrington flashed back to his teenage years Thursday when he stopped by E.C. Glass High School to talk to Jim Ackley’s drama class.

“I walked in the same doors I walked out of when I graduated,” he told the students. “I remember going, ‘Yes! I’m free!’ Then you go down the stairs and say, ‘Now what?’”

That was in 1986, and for Carrington, what came next was four years at the University of Virginia, where he majored in history, and two years at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

While he was at UVa, “I just knew in the back of my mind, as crazy as it sounds being from Lynchburg, Virginia, I wanted to be a professional actor,” said Carrington, who performed in about 12 plays while at Glass.

In New York, he did some stage and commercial work, which earned him a Screen Actors Guild card. A move to Los Angeles came 10 years ago and since then, he’s continued to do film and television work, including co-starring on the CBS series “JAG” for seven years.

Carrington was in town for a special screening of his latest film, “The List,” at the Academy of Fine Arts Thursday night.

Earlier in the day, it was all about the students, whom he cracked up with stories about his memories of Glass and his experiences as a professional actor.

He encouraged them to pursue their passions and not let self-doubt get in the way, while also acknowledging that acting isn’t always an easy gig.

“It’s not something you do every day,” he said. “You’d like to do it every day, but they don’t let you. You have to make it happen.”

When asked about the downside of the profession, he said it was all internal.

“You’ve got to deal with your own frustrations. I had a friend tell me there’s no such thing as a struggling actor,” he said. “People struggle. If you have a passion for it, it’s not a struggle.

“If I go on an audition, I’m not competing against the 10 other people in the room; I’m competing with myself.”

Carrington told students they needed three things to make it in the acting business: passion, confidence and persistence — “That’s in anything, not just acting,” he said. “They’re going to say no more often than not.

“I’ve known a lot of actors who should be doing more than they’re doing … but they let the doubts into their heads,” he added. “There’s no reason for any sort of self-doubt.

“You prepare as well as you can, you get directed, and you go out there and you nail it.”

Ackley said Carrington was as passionate about acting when he was a student.

“He always wanted to be challenged,” Ackley said.

And he always worked hard.

“You have to want to get up every day and do one or two things to help (achieve your goals),” Carrington said, later adding that there’s no such thing as an overnight sensation in the acting business.

“It’s hard work,” he said. “My acting teacher in L.A. says it takes superhuman effort to be a successful actor.”

But he said his time at Glass helped him prepare for it.

“You guys are so well-trained here, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “If I didn’t go to E.C. Glass High School, I don’t know what I’d be doing. But I wouldn’t be acting.”