Hey, I Went to School With That Guy!

Move over Salisbury, Maryland past residents turned stars: Linda Hamilton (Terminator), Randy Lee Ashcraft (country singer), and Dale Midkiff (Time Trax, Pet Semetary)... Rodney Scott is in Tinseltown now!

Hi! My name is Suzanne and I live in Ocean Pines, Maryland. Believe it or not, I went to school with Rodney Scott, star of the sadly cancelled WB network's Young Americans. I didn't know Rodney really well, but I did know him and he knew me. I first learned of Rodney's good fortune in the November 17, 1999 issue of our local paper, the Ocean Pines Independent. I will scan that article soon. Some people people I talked to on the internet did not believe that I actually went to school with Rodney Scott. My dad humorously pointed out to me, "Well, somebody had to." And hey, when I first read the article about Rodney, I could hardly believe it myself! To think that somebody I went to school with is actually an actor on television!

Rodney Scott and I were in the same 1996 graduating class at Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin, Maryland. Berlin, was also the shooting location for most of the small town scenes in the 1999 movie, Runnaway Bride, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Who ever said small towns were boring? Below is a portion of our senior class photo (click on photo for larger image):

That's Rodney all the way to the left and that's me all the way to the right in the black t-shirt and blue jeans. Click HERE for a closeup of Rodney in that class photo.

Rodney was in our our drama class for one year. He had parts in all the plays. They weren't exactly the lead roles all the time, but he did get himself noticed. Our first play of the year was our children's theatre production called, "Sweet Giongio". Rodney played Pietro Caputo. Below is the cast and crew of "Sweet Giongio" (click on the image below for a larger image).

Can you see Rodney? He's in the back row, fifth from the right. I'm right below him in the red sweatshirt. Click HERE for a closeup of Rodney from that picture.

Here's a pic of Rodney as Pietro from our yearbook (click on it for a larger image):

Rodney also played Jimmy Bean at age 17 in "Pollyanna" our second procuction of the year and he was Lysander in William Shakespear's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", our final production of the year. Despite what Rodney's bio says on WB's site, he never played Romeo in high school drama. We never did "Romeo and Juliet".

One of the activities during homecoming week in our senior year was for each student to come to school wearing a t-shirt with their name on it. The object was to get as many people as you could to sign it. I said to everybody in my drama class, "Would you sign my t-shirt? That way, when you're famous, I can say I have your autograph." Little did I know, that what I said would come true! And there it is, clear as day, Rodney Scott's autograph on my homecoming t-shirt.

Rodney also signed my senior book:

Even before Rodney thought about taking drama in high school, he was quite fond of golf. Here he is in 11th grade with his golf team. Click HERE for a closeup of Rodney from this photo.

Here are a few 12th grade shots of Rodney on the golf course from our yearbook (click on the pics for larger images):

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way using this page to cash in on Rodney's popularity (at least not in real cash or anything:). I've basically made this little page for fans of Rodney Scott to see a little of what he was like before he became a TV star. I don't believe anything I've listed here should be offensive to anybody. Still, if anyone, Rodney knew, knows, or even Rodney himself, finds anything on this page to be inappropriate or too personal, please let me know at wakkanne (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will remove it. All that said, I hope you all have enjoyed a little slice of life from a promising young actor in the days before his brush with fame!