BUFFALO, NY - The road to Hollywood has been anything but typical for Lancaster High School grad Alan Pietruszewski. Acting, while an interest, was not the focus when he went to Canisius College ."I wanted to be a lawyer, halfway through I saw the movie An Officer and a Gentleman and heard them saying stuff about 'rich college kids' and I said wait, you don't have to go to the academy to fly?"
And even then, that film did not inspire him to act, it inspired him to become a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. Pietruszewski took off from there, he rose through the ranks, achieving the rank of Lt. Commander. He even became a Top Gun fighter pilot, but all the while, that acting bug was biting in the background.
He was able to arrange his final assignment with the Navy to be in Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and laid out a business plan for his acting career. "It helped ground my expectations to know that I had that pension. I'll say to any actor who is watching this, they'll say well that guy doesn't have to work a day job. That is absolutely true, my day job was 20 years in the Navy."
Once retired, he went after it full-bore. He now has had nearly 60 credits to his name, including stints on Days of Our Lives, All My Children and The Bold and the Beautiful. He has also had bit parts in the film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and the TV series Hot in Cleveland.
Right now he is trying to build his resume as a producer and a writer. All the while knowing full well that he has attained both childhood dreams of flying jets and being an actor. "I made very realistic expectations for success. Either I would, the obvious which I don't have, you're Harrison Ford and you're getting whatever. Or you're making enough money to survive and you can't imagine doing anything else, so that's where i am."
Pietruszewski hopes to write and produce a film in Western New York, using Western New York talent in the next few years.
