Jim Troesh has been working in various corners of Hollywood for years. He's been a long running character on HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, a TV writer, an improv teacher, and all while being quadriplegic. AUSUS Magazine spoke with Jim about the industry, about his disability, and about how he deals with both.

(1) How long have you been acting?

My first play, a community theatre version of "Caine Mutiny Court Martials" opened in October, 1981. I played Lt. Bird. The part doesn't call for the actor to be in a wheelchair, but the director was also my Journalism instructor in college. He knew I'd been taking acting classes for about a year and thought I'd bring a unique perspective to the role. "Caine" ran three months and got good reviews, as well as several feature articles because of the unusual choice of a quadriplegic actor. It was a first.

(2) How did you get started?

I majored in radio production and journalism in college with the goal of becoming a disc jockey/newscaster. With competition so fierce in the Los Angeles market, I took acting classes to improve my on-air persona. That's when I discovered how much more I enjoyed performing on stage in front of people than I did spinning records in a room by myself.

(3) What training have you had as an actor?

At the beginning of my career, I lucked into an organization called PATH, Performing Arts Theatre for the Handicapped, that attracted some of LA's top acting teachers to donate classes. So, for almost four years I was trained by some terrific teachers. Most recently, I studied improv for five years with the late comedian Avery Schreiber, and for three years I studied and performed with Los Angeles Theatresports. In fact, to my knowledge, I'm the only quadriplegic improviser there is.

(4) Can you tell me some of the productions you've worked on?

I just ended a year and a half run with The Moving Targets, LA's Sketch Comedy and Improv Troupe, performing all over Southern California. In addition to performing with them, I was also the Associate Producer and wrote many of the sketches. The Moving Targets were born out of the 9/11 attacks when several of us improvisers decided people needed to laugh again. (I was the only disabled performer.) Prior to that, my work sort of came in spurts. My biggest claim to fame so far has been a three year run as a recurring character on Highway to Heaven starring Michael Landon. I co-wrote an episode with Landon that continued my character. I've also done a lot of guest-star and featured work. After Highway ended, I realized the only way I'll get steady work is to get on the other side of the table. To be in a position to write roles for myself. I've had some success, but the last year or so my goal has been to get a staff writing job. Not with the idea of writing myself in, but with the goal of moving up the pecking order until I get a little control.

(5) Can you describe your disabilities and how they came to be?

Do you want to hear the real story, or the story I tell to get girls? When I was 14, I majored in electronics (read; a geek) and was on a friend’s roof installing an antenna. It was one of those low humidity days in October. In fact, it happened on Halloween. An arc of electricity, about 40,000 volts, jumped off a nearby high-voltage wire and electrocuted me, throwing me off the roof. Somehow, in the fall, my neck was broken at the 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae, so the next thing I knew I was quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down.

(6) How limiting is this to your career?

Very. The career I was studying for, being an electronic technician, was out of the question. I finished high school, spent a couple years getting high and watching cartoons, then took a jr. college course in film study because it sounded easy. When I exhibited a inclination toward the entertainment business, my instructor encouraged me to follow it as a career path. Instead, I studied radio production and journalism a few years before I rediscovered my interest in the business. After I took an acting class and loved it,  I started writing scenes for my fellow students.

 (7) What difficulties do you face when working on a production, whether it
be Film, TV or Theater?

The main obstacle I have to overcome is within the minds of those in a position to hire me. A lot of people look at me and see QUADRIPLEGIC!!! What I want is for them to look at me and see what I am; a dad, a son, a brother, an ex-husband, a boyfriend, a boss, a worker, a nice guy, an asshole, etc. Once I’m on the set, the only obstacle that sometimes comes up is finding me an accessible dressing room. I’m easy. Just give me a place to get dressed because I like to spend my time on the set watching and learning. I always have an assistant with me, (I incur the cost, not the producer), and the concern about an increase in insurance rates is a fallacy. I’ll probably get into trouble with this next statement, but often a major obstacle is the producer’s experience with a previous performer with a disability. Not all of us performers with disabilities have the training, or realize the commitment involved with working on a production. Some disabled people think the only requirement to the role is  being disabled. Others believe the world owes them something because they have to deal with being disabled everyday. I’ve heard from some producers, “I hired a disabled performer a while back. They showed up late, demanded this or that, whined, got underfoot. It was a nightmare. I’ll never do it again!” I’m one of those old fashioned performers that does whatever’s possible to make the project better, even if that means to stay the hell out of the way. Obstacles are out there no matter who you are, so I put a quote on my website jimtroesh.com, that pretty well serves as my mantra, “Disabled, and ready to act and write.”

(8) Do you have any plans to create your own projects?

I'm currently writing a feature about a devoutly religious teenager who becomes quadriplegic in an accident and is offered a deal by Satan to get his body back, forcing him to decide between his body and his soul. On the light-hearted side, I'm in the process of producing a mock-u-mentary short about the first quadriplegic mime. It's funny, out of fear of being pigeon-holed, I make a conscious effort not to always write about disability issues, but at the moment, I'm sitting on two of them.

(9) What type of government funding is available for disabled actors?

There are a few organizations that promote disability awareness in the entertainment business. The best of these is the Media Access Office in North Hollywood, Ca. They have been instrumental in my career as well as the careers of many other disabled performers, with ongoing classes in acting and writing, as well as many showcases for the industry.

(10) How about private funding?

I'm actually looking for private funding to finance my quadriplegic mime story.

(11) Are there any support groups specifically for disabled actors?

As far as I know there are no actual support groups for disabled performers. There are a few agencies and managers that specialize in representing disabled performers, but it has been my experience that I do better with representation that is less specified. In disability showcases, for example, I've tended to get lost in a sea of wheelchairs. I've heard similar stories from friends who are seniors or minorities. They end up in senior showcases, or minority showcases, and lose their individualism. They say it's harder to stand out.

(12) What is an average day like for you?

I generally start getting out of bed at 5:30 AM. I'm done with getting dressed, eating breakfast, and a bunch of disability stuff (exercises and such) and in my home office by nine, where I write, pursue acting leads or work on websites for most of the day. I’m on the Performers Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and write the Performers Newsletter, and attend a lot of their functions. I also meet at a roundtable of support for writers, performers, producers and others in the industry. I teach improv to kids on Saturdays and generally spend the day at the movies on Sundays. I’m very grateful that I’m blessed with a full schedule. Many quadriplegics I know are bedridden or have little or no life outside home.

(13) Is your focus Film, TV or Theater?

As much as I love live Theatre, my focus is on TV and Film, I think those are the toughest nuts to crack for me, and where I will gain the most satisfaction with success. If I had to chose, I think my persona is more suited to TV than Film. I feel I come across best on the small screen.

(14) How did you come to start your web design business?

I started it out of necessity really. I spent a year and a half in an office, nine to five as a disability advocate where I had no real creative outlet. I went nuts. The upside was I learned a lot about national and local disability issues, and discovered I had a flair for graphic design. I left that job and studied graphic and website design a few years so I could earn enough at home to support my acting and writing pursuits. Most of the websites I do are for people in the industry. (producers promoting their latest project, performers touting their credits, photographers displaying their photos.) It’s a juggling act sometimes, but it beats the hell out of working outside the industry.  Those interested can view my website jggraffix.com.

(15) Look back on your career at age 75. How would you like it to have been?