Get your own Free Home PageThis article is from the November 1996 issue of BB.
The 17-year-old actually started his journey on the long road to fame and fortune when he was seven. He co-starred as Tiny Tim at a local community theater and soon appeared in several more plays. Two years later, Vinnie's mom, Janet, accompanied her son to his first movie audition, which was being held in his home state.
"I almost made the film Men Don't Leave," Vinnie remembers. "That's how I got into the industry. I went into a cattle call, and the director flew me to Chicago." Cattle calls, of course, are auditions in which so many acting hopefuls show up that the sight of so many people roaming around can resemble a herd of cattle. So instead of spending that year filming Men Don't Leave ( which marked the debut of then 19-year-old Chris O'Donnell ) and basking in the glory of seeing himself on the screen, Vinnie had to be content to take another gig touring across the country with a Minneapolis theater company. It gave him a lot of acting experience, but it also cost him: He failed ninth grade. "It was kind of hard to juggle both of them," the now -4.0 student says.
After his experience in children's theater, Vinnie began having some success in movies, with emphasis on some. As you'll see in this recent discussion between Vinnie and BB's Cathee, who was running down a list of movies we knew he'd had something to do with:
Cathee: Whatever happened to Heaven Sent? Did that ever come out?
VINNIE: It never came out. It was a low-budget movie. I don't know [what happened to it]. I really don't.
Cathee: Oh. Well, you were in Little Big League, right?
VINNIE: I had six lines in it. It was nothing.
Cathee: Who did you play?
VINNIE: I played a kid in a gray shirt.
Cathee: And who were you in Iron Will?
VINNIE: I was cut out.
Cathee: You were cut out?
VINNIE: I had one line, and that was cut out.
Cathee: So you weren't in it at all?
VINNIE: No.
Cathee: What was your role in Untamed Heart?
VINNIE: I have one line. I was 10 years old.
Cathee: What did you say in the movie?
VINNIE: I yell, "Sister, sister, Adam's not breathing!" It was still while all the credits were [going] up. I poked a kid with a stake. It was no big deal.
His mini-co-starring roles in Untamed Heart ( 1993 ), Little Big League and Iron Will ( both 1994 ) may have not made Vinnie Kartheiser a household name, but at least last year's The Indian in the Cupboard got him noticed. And with the release of Alaska, he could find himself quickly vaulted into superstar status. "I still have a long way to go," Vinnie insists, unconvinced he's anything close to a star. He also points out that ( as of presstime ) he doesn't even have another movie lined up yet. "I still have directors telling me I don't have it. And you have to respect them, because most of these directors have made good films and have chosen good actors. But directors make mistakes."
His confidence may be what kept him going through the Little Big League and Heaven Sent years. "I've been around for 10 years, and I've been auditioning for about eight of those," Vinnie muses of his long walk down the road of success. "I have been shot down by every type of person. I've been told that I can't act, I've been told that I shouldn't act, I've been told that I'm ugly. I've been told everything."
So why continue acting? Why act when your parts might be snipped out of a film, directors criticize you, and your self-respect and dignity is so often on the line? Why, Vinnie? His answer is simple: "Because I love it."
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