Post by rage on Oct 12, 2008 20:28:47 GMT -4
Have we seen this article? Dated September of this year. It's from here
Nominated for 2008 Emmy Award, television star Michael Emerson comes home to visit family and friends
A casual lunch at the Depot Restaurant in Grinnell turned into an “old home week” for actor Michael Emerson.
Emerson, a 1972 graduate of South Tama High School, was home visiting his mom and dad in Grinnell and they stopped in for lunch.
But once people started recognizing Emerson, it became a little more than a casual lunch.
If you watch the hit Emmy Award-winning series “Lost,” you’ll recognize the 53-year-old Emerson as " Benjamin Linus" (first introduced to the survivors as “Henry Gale"), the leader of a group called the “Others.”
“The manager of the Depot, Don Schrack, and Michael went to high school together and it was old home week” said his mom, Carol.
“Then people started recognizing him.”
Born in Toledo, he and Schrack were friends in both junior high school and high school.
“He was very talented back then,” Schrack said. “I hadn’t seen Mike in years and he came in when he was in Grinnell a few weeks ago.
“I was able to get out of the kitchen and say hi,” he said. “It was great that he stopped in to say hello.”
Emerson has been around the stage, television and movies for some time.
He won an Emmy Award in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as a serial killer in the television show “The Practice.”
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for “Lost” in 2007 and has received a second nomination for his role in the show this year.
The Emmy Awards are scheduled to air on Sept. 21, 2008 on ABC.
Emerson has been successful on and off Broadway and has found his way to the silver screen where he played Zep Hindle in the 2004 hit “Saw.”
“Michael told me that he had a group of tough kids walk up to him and he is thinking ‘Oh boy, I’m in trouble now,’ ’’ his mom said.
“They walked up to him and asked if he was in “Saw.” He said yes and they said ‘You did a great job’ and walked on by.”
Born Sept. 7, 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Emerson has been acting most of his life.
“God really dumped the talent on that kid,” Carol said.
Carol and her husband Ron moved to Grinnell in 1972.
“Michael lived here for three months before he started at Drake University,” she said. “He spent the whole time in bed with mono.”
Carol and Ron met in Toledo when she was working at the Gazette newspaper in Cedar Rapids.
She said she came to Toledo because a coworker was from there and convinced her to visit.
They have three children, including Michael. His brother, Patrick, lives in Kansas City, Mo., where he works with computers, and his sister, Melissa, lives in Des Moines.
She graduated from Mount Mercy College with honors, Carol said.
What does his family think of his “stardom?”
According to Carol, they love it. “Patrick is one of his brother’s biggest fans,” she said. “He was one of the first to join his fan club, online.”
Carol said he actually got his big start on Broadway.
In 1997, Emerson starred as Oscar Wilde in Moises Kaufman’s critically-acclaimed off-Broadway play, “Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde.”
Carol said the show was so good that it worked its way onto Broadway.
The magazine Variety agreed.
“In his New York debut, Michael Emerson delivers a characterization, nuance and power, commanding attention from his audience with a self-assurance that Wilde himself would envy.”
A 1976 graduate of Drake University, where he studied theater and art, Emerson soon moved to New York City. Unable to find work in the theatre, he relocated to Florida with his first wife where he worked as a teacher and director in local productions.
According to Carol, his acting career actually started much sooner than that. “In third grade, he had a book that had some folklore stories, and some were in dialect,” she said. “Well, the local Lions Club was hard up for a speaker and one of Michael’s teachers said ‘Get Michael.’
“He went into the Lions Club and read in dialect from the folklore book.” That wasn’t his only “gig” while in school.
“Around Halloween he was in a play at school where he wore green makeup,” Carol said. “He came and asked if he could use a black cape my grandmother had.”
She said that Michael and his friends would rise out of the ditch as cars drove by.
“He was one of the school’s favorite leading men,” she said. “He would play anything.”
Known for his darker roles, his mom thinks his eyes help create the image. “He has pretty bad eyesight,” she said.
“His eyes bulge – that’s what makes him so sinister looking. He was so nearsighted.”
His mom says he is really quite different. “He’s a gentle soul,” she said. “He wouldn’t harm a fly.”
An “A” student while in school, Carol said he graduated from Drake University Maxima Cum Laude, a rarely used honor added to a degree for work considered to be among the best.
He has acted with some well known names, including Kevin Spacey in the “Ice Man Cometh,” a play that opened on April 8, 1999.
He has also worked with Kate Burton, the daughter of Richard Burton and producer Sybil Burton, in several productions, including “Hedda Gabler.”
Emerson has been married for 10 years to Carrie Preston, an actress who starred in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” She played Mandy Newhouse in the hit movie with Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz.
Emerson has acknowledged that the long hours and months apart from his wife has put pressure on his marriage— for half the year he lives in Hawaii while Preston lives in their home in New York.
“It’s been uniquely challenging for us. With me being that far away from our home in New York for half the year, it’s a struggle to keep our marriage alive,” he recently said in an interview with National Enquirer magazine. “Because we are so many time zones away, my wife and I have to plan just to do a simple thing like talking on the phone.”
Still, the “Lost” star has fans sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens next. His mom says that he is asked all the time about what will happen next on “Lost.”
“He never knows. He says he doesn’t know until he gets the script,” Carol said. “But I do know this. In the last episode, the last thing he did was to try and get those people from finding the island.
“He turns this wheel which makes the Island disappear,” she said. “He’ll wake up in the desert.”
Now you have to watch the next episode to see what she is talking about.
A casual lunch at the Depot Restaurant in Grinnell turned into an “old home week” for actor Michael Emerson.
Emerson, a 1972 graduate of South Tama High School, was home visiting his mom and dad in Grinnell and they stopped in for lunch.
But once people started recognizing Emerson, it became a little more than a casual lunch.
If you watch the hit Emmy Award-winning series “Lost,” you’ll recognize the 53-year-old Emerson as " Benjamin Linus" (first introduced to the survivors as “Henry Gale"), the leader of a group called the “Others.”
“The manager of the Depot, Don Schrack, and Michael went to high school together and it was old home week” said his mom, Carol.
“Then people started recognizing him.”
Born in Toledo, he and Schrack were friends in both junior high school and high school.
“He was very talented back then,” Schrack said. “I hadn’t seen Mike in years and he came in when he was in Grinnell a few weeks ago.
“I was able to get out of the kitchen and say hi,” he said. “It was great that he stopped in to say hello.”
Emerson has been around the stage, television and movies for some time.
He won an Emmy Award in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as a serial killer in the television show “The Practice.”
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for “Lost” in 2007 and has received a second nomination for his role in the show this year.
The Emmy Awards are scheduled to air on Sept. 21, 2008 on ABC.
Emerson has been successful on and off Broadway and has found his way to the silver screen where he played Zep Hindle in the 2004 hit “Saw.”
“Michael told me that he had a group of tough kids walk up to him and he is thinking ‘Oh boy, I’m in trouble now,’ ’’ his mom said.
“They walked up to him and asked if he was in “Saw.” He said yes and they said ‘You did a great job’ and walked on by.”
Born Sept. 7, 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Emerson has been acting most of his life.
“God really dumped the talent on that kid,” Carol said.
Carol and her husband Ron moved to Grinnell in 1972.
“Michael lived here for three months before he started at Drake University,” she said. “He spent the whole time in bed with mono.”
Carol and Ron met in Toledo when she was working at the Gazette newspaper in Cedar Rapids.
She said she came to Toledo because a coworker was from there and convinced her to visit.
They have three children, including Michael. His brother, Patrick, lives in Kansas City, Mo., where he works with computers, and his sister, Melissa, lives in Des Moines.
She graduated from Mount Mercy College with honors, Carol said.
What does his family think of his “stardom?”
According to Carol, they love it. “Patrick is one of his brother’s biggest fans,” she said. “He was one of the first to join his fan club, online.”
Carol said he actually got his big start on Broadway.
In 1997, Emerson starred as Oscar Wilde in Moises Kaufman’s critically-acclaimed off-Broadway play, “Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde.”
Carol said the show was so good that it worked its way onto Broadway.
The magazine Variety agreed.
“In his New York debut, Michael Emerson delivers a characterization, nuance and power, commanding attention from his audience with a self-assurance that Wilde himself would envy.”
A 1976 graduate of Drake University, where he studied theater and art, Emerson soon moved to New York City. Unable to find work in the theatre, he relocated to Florida with his first wife where he worked as a teacher and director in local productions.
According to Carol, his acting career actually started much sooner than that. “In third grade, he had a book that had some folklore stories, and some were in dialect,” she said. “Well, the local Lions Club was hard up for a speaker and one of Michael’s teachers said ‘Get Michael.’
“He went into the Lions Club and read in dialect from the folklore book.” That wasn’t his only “gig” while in school.
“Around Halloween he was in a play at school where he wore green makeup,” Carol said. “He came and asked if he could use a black cape my grandmother had.”
She said that Michael and his friends would rise out of the ditch as cars drove by.
“He was one of the school’s favorite leading men,” she said. “He would play anything.”
Known for his darker roles, his mom thinks his eyes help create the image. “He has pretty bad eyesight,” she said.
“His eyes bulge – that’s what makes him so sinister looking. He was so nearsighted.”
His mom says he is really quite different. “He’s a gentle soul,” she said. “He wouldn’t harm a fly.”
An “A” student while in school, Carol said he graduated from Drake University Maxima Cum Laude, a rarely used honor added to a degree for work considered to be among the best.
He has acted with some well known names, including Kevin Spacey in the “Ice Man Cometh,” a play that opened on April 8, 1999.
He has also worked with Kate Burton, the daughter of Richard Burton and producer Sybil Burton, in several productions, including “Hedda Gabler.”
Emerson has been married for 10 years to Carrie Preston, an actress who starred in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” She played Mandy Newhouse in the hit movie with Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz.
Emerson has acknowledged that the long hours and months apart from his wife has put pressure on his marriage— for half the year he lives in Hawaii while Preston lives in their home in New York.
“It’s been uniquely challenging for us. With me being that far away from our home in New York for half the year, it’s a struggle to keep our marriage alive,” he recently said in an interview with National Enquirer magazine. “Because we are so many time zones away, my wife and I have to plan just to do a simple thing like talking on the phone.”
Still, the “Lost” star has fans sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens next. His mom says that he is asked all the time about what will happen next on “Lost.”
“He never knows. He says he doesn’t know until he gets the script,” Carol said. “But I do know this. In the last episode, the last thing he did was to try and get those people from finding the island.
“He turns this wheel which makes the Island disappear,” she said. “He’ll wake up in the desert.”
Now you have to watch the next episode to see what she is talking about.
Sometimes, I think, our Michael has usual shortcomings? Or he's saint? ;D ;D 
I bet he looked really cute
lol
) but what I've really hated is that they "fix" their marriage by taking their frustrations out on me, that punishing and blaming me makes them feel better.