Written By: Jenny Higgins
Date: December 10, 1990
MICHAEL BENDETTIJust because Michael Bendetti looks like 21 Jump Street predecessors Johnny Depp and Richard Grieco, don't expect a moussed mimic. "I feel no pressure trying to live up to any of the stuff they've done," declares the actor who plays Jump Street's new cool cop, Tony McCann. "My character's not as much of a rebel. I've got a style all my own."
Witness Bendetti's circuitous acting route: After being cast in the teen sexploitation film Screwball Hotel in 1985 (which he is loath to discuss), Bendetti followed his parents' advice and enrolled in college. "Bored to death" by school, he jumped ship after a year to sail around the world on an 18 week work/study program before landing at New York's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse. "I had to earn some respect for myself, to fight the whole looks thing," says Bendetti 23, who spent two years studying everything from ballet to speech. "I had to prove I'm not just a fly in the ointment." His tenacity paid off. After seven long months of auditions, Bendetti beat out 1,500 other actors for the coveted Jump Street role. Though it remains to be seen if the show will catapult the L.A. native to feature films the same way it did Depp and Grieco, Bendetti is confident. "Whatever happens here, it's going to benefit my career for sure," surmises the single actor. "I don't have anything mapped out, but I guarantee you that I'll leave my footprints in this business."
(Thanks to: Mary Jane Myers for the image scane and article text!)