Mercier, Paul

A third generation stage actor, Mercer made his feature-film debut in Wrestling with God. When he was six years old he took his first bow on stage with his father's community theater group, The Kensington-Garrett Players in Maryland. It wasn't until his senior year in high school, though, while playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof that he concluded that acting was his true vocation.

Following professional engagements with a touring company and several other theaters in the Washington D.C. area, he was accepted into the acting program at Adelphi University in 1980. After winning the Alexander-Barnes Acting Competition he was awarded a full scholarship for each of his four years.

Even as a freshman Mercer performed on the Senior Mainstage in plays ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Shakespeare. His repertoire included French mime, dramatic verse, musicals, contemporary comedy, straight plays and cabaret.

Mercer trained for three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Central London under the tutelage of Cicely Berry, Patsy Rodenberg, Sue Lefton and other stellar lights of the British stage. A highlight was being selected to perform in the British premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass under Bernstein's direction.

Before leaving Great Britain, Mercer had performed professionally with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appeared as "Mercutio" at the Arundel Festival and throughout Europe on an Arts Council Tour, led an English cast through the premiere of Yuri Trifonov's The Exchange outside what was then the Iron Curtain, and directed Insignificance for the Edinburgh Festival.

Mercer returned to the United States and began teaching acting, improvisation, stage combat, and verse. Mercer's wife Paula Tiso is credited with bringing him to California where he quickly gained his Screen Actors Guild credentials. In addition to his classical and dramatic endeavors, Mercer is in great demand for voice-overs and is part of a comedy troupe that performs regularly at Los Angeles night spots.

Twitter: @FalderalPaul