Bill Shoemaker

When you act for a living, you are lucky enough to get to say things you really want to say. You get lines that you look forward to, lines that jump out like a jack-in-the-box; you're thinking: 'Wait till you hear this.'

Of course I danced a lot when I was making 'Swingers.' The swing music scene was big in Hollywood, and I went to places like The Derby. And, after I wrote it and was trying to get it made, I would go every week so I'd be good at dancing.

At a tiny station in New Albany, Indiana, which is right across from the river from Louisville, Kentucky, where I grew up. The Louisville stations were loath to hire beginners, so I had to go across the river.