This South Jersey actor appeared in 'Law & Order: Organized Crime.' Who is he?
Tony Pellerin grew up in Virginia Beach and had a penchant for entertaining his family members.
“It was just something that I loved to do, even at a young age,” said Pellerin, now a resident of Burlington City. “We used to have the albums that came out and they had all the cartoon characters on them. I would learn the characters’ voices and I would perform them for the family or anyone that came over … ’He knows all the voices. Let him do it.’ That’s what I enjoyed doing. I pursued it myself because I saw that.”
These days, Pellerin entertains crowds on a national level. He’s an actor who has appeared in everything from local theater, to daytime soap operas, movies and commercials.
On Feb. 29, he appeared as a town councilman on "Law & Order: Organized Crime".
“I always say, professionalism isn’t about how much money you make, but your attitude towards your work,” he said. “If you love what you do, if you have passion for what you do, many times, it’s like life, there’ll be ups, there’ll be downs. But if you love what you do, then you will continue to go on and believing that if you continue, that opportunities are created by hard work. Simply, preparation meets opportunity.”
Pellerin worked with Trenton native Ntozake Shange, the late playwright, author and poet, whose most famous work is “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf.” He worked with her in the play “Mississippi Gulag” at Freedom Theater in Philadelphia. The late Gregory Hines was also one of his important mentors in his career.
Question: Did you grow up in the area?:
Answer: I’ve been living in the area for 45 years but I’m originally from Virginia, Beach, VA. I came up pursuing my career in acting. I moved up … I graduated from Old Dominion University. In my training when I started out, I was a triple threat in the business. I was an actor, singer, dancer. I was dancing classically, ballet, and I danced modern and tap … When I arrived standing on 42nd and 8th Avenue (New York), never knowing how I was going to get my first job. It took five years before the phone rang the first time. When it rang, I went into daytime television, soap operas … ’Loving’, ‘All My Children’, ‘Another World’. Then I went into commercials, and theater.”
Q: You mentioned you kind of put your acting career on hold for a while.
A: My son, when he was younger, he got ill. My father wasn’t in my life when I was growing up. Even though my career was taking off, I didn’t want to abandon our son at that point … I stopped my career for a number of years to be home with our son. At that time, I was teaching communications here at Rowan College (at Burlington County). Then, I returned back to the business not long ago. I have a film that’s coming out called “Billie and Franny”. Last year, the screen actors guild, we were on strike, the end of the strike was November going into December and going into Christmas and New Years, the business shuts down any way but that movie will be coming out soon and “Law & Order” and that is what I’m doing now.
Q: Talk about what it was like being part of “Law & Order: Organized Crime”?
A: I can’t even tell you how fantastic Law & Order, the NBC team, the actors, the whole team, it’s incredible. My first role I played on Law & Order, over 25 years ago, I played a juror … Now 20-some years later, I’m co-starring on an episode of Law & Order. The cast, walking on that set, it’s just like I’m at home being on set. And that’s what it’s like being there. They’re incredibly talented and wonderful individuals and you will see that. That’s why you see the consistency of their shows.
Q: What advice would you have for people breaking into the business?
A: The biggest advice and the reason why I’m fortunate to be where I am today … you make your dreams come true. I live it every day. As a young man and as a kid, my greatest joy, even as a 5 or 6 year old, was that I could learn all the voices. I could be in front of my family, anybody that could come over, and I could make them laugh. My biggest advice would be, never give up on your dreams. I would stand on a mountain top and say that. I am an example of that.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: From South Jersey to 'Law & Order: Organized Crime'. Who is this actor?