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*More About Chris*
I was born June 11,1985 in New Port Ritchey, Florida.
My family and I lived there the first six years of my life.
We lived right on the water and owned a seafood restaurant just next door.
It was awesome. I never had to worry about being hungry.
I think what really got me liking the whole music thing wasn't just the music itself,
but the entertaining part of it. I remember we had a band come in every evening
to perform at the restaurant. They wouldalways get alot of applause,
and people would really enjoy watching them so much.
I think that's what made me love it, the enjoyment people got
out of watching a good performance. My first attempt at performing
was to go and steal quarters from the register. I stuck them to the bottom
of my shoes with scotch tape and called them tap shoes.
I went around to every table and tapped for them. But my mom put an end to that
when she thought I would scare off the customers. But believe it or not,
most people enjoyed it. My doing some kind of performing became a regular thing.
Everyday my mom wondered what I would come up with next.
I always wanted to give people a good show. Finally,
I told my mom I wanted to go and take professional classes.
I was only three years old. I was so little I could barely make it up the stairs,
but even though my mom warned me that I was too young,
I was very determined to get accepted. The women who owned the
academy told me to come back when I was four. I did.
I went to school and had my first solo performance at five.
It was at a senior citizens home. Hey, it wasn't Carnegie Hall,
but it was enough to make me realize that this was something I wanted to do.
Till this day, I still keep in touch with the teachers at the academy.
When I was six we moved to Michigan. In the beginning,
I was not too thrilled about the move. Seeing snow for the first time was exciting,
still I wasn't used to the cold weather. But the weather wasn't the
only thing I had to get use to. There was also a new house, new school and new friends.
Michigan is much more in tune with commercials, movies
and Broadway shows than Florida, so living there worked to my advantage.
Finding a dance and singing school was rather easy.
The school I went to was called Dance Korner. It was great because
it taught me singing as well as dancing and both classes were in one building.
The teachers were the best! I learned so much from them. We were like family.
I also wanted to check out acting. So my mom went and looked for an agent.
When she found one, I started taking acting classes. I first a lot of regional theater,
and went on to do local commercials, like Blimpes Submarine and Blockbuster Video.
One day, someone told me that I would make a great model.
I thought that sounded like fun, so I got pictures taken and my agent
sent them out to a lot of people. I guess the person who told me
I would make a good model was right, because I started to get modeling jobs right away.
In 1994 my acting coach told me she thought I was ready for New York.
So I was sent on my first audition, for Les Miserables. I couldn't believe it
and neither could my Mom and Dad. It all happended so fast. Since my Dad was working,
my Mom took me to New York. My audition went great and I got the part of the street bum
named Gavroche. I first did the national tour. I went to 42 different cities.
Being on the road was a totally different experience for me, but most difinitely a cool one.
What most kids were seeing in their geography books, I was seeing everyday.
When I went to Arizona, I took a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. In Minnesota,
I got to see the biggest mall in America, and in Canada, the biggest mall in the world.
When we were in Washington DC the President and Hillary Clinton brought their
daughter Chelsea to see her 16th birthday. After the show they came backstage to meet us,
and to take pictures. They were so nice! Un like regular school,
I shared a tutor with only three other kids. It was great!
We also didn't do seven hours of school a day. Just three -- HAHA!
Another cool thing about the road, was that every few weeks we stayed in a different hotel.
After about two years of touring, I went to Broadway Company.
I remember when a Latin singer from the Menudo group came in to play one of the parts
in Les Miserables. Since he wasn't the "big" Ricky Martin that he is today,
no one really thought of him as a big star. Anyway, we both opened
on the same night together. He was real cool to be around. He used to make me laugh like crazy.
Sometimes we would get in trouble cause we were too loud backstage. In the show I had to die.
It was so much fun to act because you have to be very dramatic.
That was my favorite part of the show. I did the show for three years all together.
I'll never forget Les Miserables since it was my first major Broadway show and
the coolest experience ever. Throughout this time,
I've been preforming as a member of Broadway kids. In addtion to my Broadway experience,
I also appeared in musicals Falsetto Land and Super Hero as well as in
Atlantic City singing and dancing at Ceasar's Palace. In between all this, school was an issue,
getting good grades became harder as did keeping a normal social life.
When I was not doing a show, I would either be going on lots of auditions
or doing jingles and voiceovers. My voice has been heard on such national commercials
as Johnson & Johnson, Rugrats, Hasbro, Buick, and Mattel, just to name a few.
I've modeled for Macy's, Sterns, Tommy Hilfiger, and the Gap.
I was also on Conan O' Brien and Saturday Night Live doing crazy skits.
I appeared on the TV show Soul Man and did an HBO movie called Manifesto.
I sang on Jewel's Christmas album and four Broadway Kids albums.
I recently recorded a song with Ray Charles for the 2000 summer Olympics.
Of course, to keep everything in shape, I've had to work real hard by taking lots of classes,
too many for words. As you can see, I didn't make my way up by knowing people,
but by working real hard. As hard as it is, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Now being part of Dream Street is like a dream come true.
I love the music, Like the guys, and am crazy over the crowds. It's all so cool!