LO -- Your newest show is The Parkers, the #1 show on UPN... and you play Professor Oglevee. What's it like being the leading man on the series?

DW -- It's a lot of fun. I'm having a great time on the show. The writing is wonderful and the cast is absolutely superb. It doesn't feel like I'm coming in to work -- You know, it's so nice to be able to do what you like doing and also get paid for it! So, I'm having a great time.

LO -- Why do you think the show is such a huge hit?

DW -- I think it's because it's a show that everyone can relate
to. A lot of times, when you have a predominatly black cast, people refer to it as a black sitcom, but this transcends all color and it's something that everyone can relate to. It's about relationships, friendships, a mother & daughter and growing up and the trials and tribulations of trying to be your own person as you're growing up. And, it's looked at from a single parent's point of view, which is something that's kind of different from a lot of the television shows that are out there. That's true, and a lot of people can relate to that. Most definitely. And that's part of the success of the show.

LO -- You played talk show host Eddie Charles in Dream On on HBO, and you won a CableAce Award nomination for that role. I read that even though you had laryngitis when you tested for that role, you still came through as the funniest actor the producers had seen!

DW -- Right, right. That was a series of auditions actually. I think I went in about five or six times for the role. So they kind of were familiar with me as well. They put everything on tape. I could not believe that I had laryngitis! But, I guess in the long run it worked out O.K. I did six years on the show and we did one hundred and forty episodes.

LO -- Slightly off the subject, but one of the girls in my computer science class at AHC wanted me to ask you how you stay in such great shape?

DW -- Well, (chuckle) I go to the gym a lot. I'm
one of those actors that totally blows up on television. I photograph very large, and so I have to be a little lean. I'm a thin guy anyway, but if I don't work out or whatever... And it's really hard to do when you have craft service and you're, twenty-four seven, around all this good food. And we do have good food on the Parker's! So I try to hit the gym at least four times a week. And, in Dream On I had to take off my clothes all the time,and I didn't want to be embarrassed either.

LO -- You're familiar with Allan Hancock College because you attended the advanced training program at the PCPA (Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts) in Santa Maria. Did you find that to be a valuable experience?

DW -- Oh, absolutely! Actually, I taught acting for a while after I left PCPA and I always told a lot of my students, who were younger, that there's no greater training ground than doing theater. You touch the audience immediately, and by doing it every day you really hone your craft. A lot of these actors that are in Hollywood, they may have a great look or a gimmick or whatever, but in order to sustain a great job or to keep the longevity going you have to have some chotz behind you. So I tell all the people who're asking how you break into the business: Get your training first, so when you do get to where you want to be you have
some staying power.

LO -- What other schools did you go to while you lived in Lompoc?

DW -- I actually went to Cabrillo for the first two years of high school. I graduated from Lompoc High, and then, upon graduation, I went to PCPA.

LO -- Do any teachers stand out in your memory?

DW -- I had a lot of mentors along the way, but my greatest inspiration was my parents, Ernie and Margaret Wilson, who still live in Lompoc. They taught me that with hard work and determination, being in the right place at the right time and God's will, there's nothing that I couldn't do. I try to live by that and it's something that I pass down to my kids as well to inspire them.

LO -- What piece of advice would you give to a young person here about attaining his goals the way you have?

DW -- Never say no. Never have a "plan B". If it's what you want to do and you enjoy it, and you know you're good at it, then you go for it. There's nothing that they can't do.

LO --Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

DW -- I want everybody to continue to watch the Parkers on Monday nights at 8:30. We're picked up for a full season, which is twenty-two episodes, and the unofficial buzz is that we're going to be around for at least another year.

Email Dorien (through his agent, Deb Berger)