Frederick Weller

5 YEARS AGO ''I was a dog walker for an exclusive agency on [Manhattan's] Upper West Side that only allowed you to walk one dog at a time. Which means that even in the dog-walking world, I was at the bottom of the food chain.''

NOW ''I guess I was hoping that the shower scenes in Take Me Out might be concealed. I was worried that my parents might be freaked out. I warned them in advance. My mother said, 'I didn't look down ever. I focused on the chest up.'''

5 YEARS FROM NOW ''I want to play guitar and sing for the world's first Tom Waits tribute band. I need the gravelly voice, which is a problem. So I'm either going to take up smoking again or spend the next five years doing a lot of shouting.''

RESUME

AGE 36 HOMETOWN New Orleans

EDUCATION University of North Carolina

CURRENT The Shape of Things, Broadway's Take Me Out

EXPERIENCE The Beach Boys: An American Family, The Business of Strangers

INFLUENCE Christopher Walken