So, you want to be in showbiz.

All of your friends are carousing with consulting firms, and you are working on your Academy Award acceptance speech.

It is true that the Office of Career Services (OCS) is flooded with future investment bankers, lawyers and academics--not Oscar-winning hopefuls. Gail Gilmore, associate director of OCS, notes that only about 150 patrons visited the office last year expressly for guidance about careers in the arts.

And although Gilmore provides resume advising to budding artists and performers, she recommends that "if you see yourself doing anything else, do it."

Is there no place for the ambitious star of stage or screen at hardhearted Harvard?

There is, and the professionals in the House offer advice and anecdotes to give you a taste of your future in the footlights.

The Neon Lights Are Bright

While other 15-year-olds were juggling soccer practice and chemistry homework, Jedidiah S. Cohen '99 was starring in a Broadway musical.

Cohen spent four months as Dickon in the New York production of "The Secret Garden," later reprising his role on the national tour during his junior year in high school. Now he's an astronomy and astrophysics concentrator in Adams House.

"[Astronomy] is an interest of mine--but it doesn't have anything to do with my career," Cohen says.

Although the former child star wants to return to the stage after graduation, Cohen says Harvard was a necessary stop on the road back to Broadway.

"I thought about going to a vocal conservatory, and I thought about going to an acting conservatory," Cohen says. "But I decided that I really wanted to be a well-rounded person before I was an actor."

While Harvard does not boast a dramaconcentration, the "Cambridge connection" may nothurt one's chances in the long run. Cohen saysperformers are doubly impressive when they canshowcase their talent in the theater and intutorial.

"I find it much more interesting when you lookat these really famous actors who are Harvardalums," Cohen says. "Look at Mira Sorvino['89-'90]. She graduated summa cum laude in EastAsian Studies and now is this wonderfully talentedactress who shows up and they say 'So, you went toHarvard--that's great. And you graduated summa.Wow. In East Asian Studies. Wow. There's a lotmore to you than being an actor. You're a reallyincredible person who happens to have this talentand is making a fair amount of money."

Scott Weinger '98, best known around Harvardfor his roles as the voice of Disney's "Aladdin"and as D.J. Tanner's boyfriend on "Full House,"says his ties to Harvard have helped his career insome ways.

"Last year I had an interesting meeting withsome TV producers. It started out as a generalmeeting, I told them a little about my [MoralReasoning 22] 'Justice' class, and the meetingended with us arguing about Rawls," Weinger says."Now they want to develop a show for me."