Oregon Movies, A to Z

Kristi Turnquist’s interview with Joel David Moore reveals his first step on road to success as an actor: Benson High School.

Q: How did you get interested in acting?

A: I grew up on Mount Tabor, right off Hawthorne. I went to Benson, because it had a technical program at the time. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I started to get interested in construction. But then I found more of a passion for performance, because they had KPBS there (the AM radio station located on the Benson High School campus). It allowed me to train my voice, and to perform little silly skits on the air.

I don’t know exactly why that appealed to me. Ultimately, it’s a way of showing off for girls. I was a tall, kind of goofy guy, I had to charm ‘em some way. I realized making them laugh was one way to do that. So I went to Mount Hood Community College for two years, and got my B.A. at Southern Oregon University, and did two summers at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I moved to L.A. in 2000.

What an Oregon pedigree!

Hats off to Moore, the second Oregonian who went from Mt. Hood Community College to Hollywood, the first being Chris Eyre.

Moore has his own action figure doll, as Norm Spellman.

Here, he follows in the footsteps of Bruce “The Chin” Campbell.

Further musings on Moore: I guess this means that Dodgeball (2004), is now an Oregon film. Moore appears in that film as a member of Team Vaughn.