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Lamman Rucker joined the cast of ATWT on May 30, 2002, as Marshall
Travers, Barbara's attorney -- her gift from James Stenbeck. But,
just how connected is Travers to Oakdale's greatest criminal mastermind
(sorry, Mr. Big)? And why does actor Lamman Rucker speak fluent
Japanese? Find out by reading our exclusive interview!
Moving Day:
I was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. I left Pittsburgh when I was in fourth
or fifth grade -- I can't remember exactly. My father was in the
military, so we kind of turned into gypsies after that. I lived
in Japan for two years. That was the end of fifth grade and all
of sixth, and part of seventh. It was a very, very interesting experience;
very humbling, I guess you can say. When you start getting uprooted
as a child every two years, it's pretty much one of those sink or
swim, learn it quick, learn it fast, learn how to communicate, make
friends, fit in, but be yourself situations. If I changed myself
every time I moved somewhere, I would have serious issues. I probably
don't remember just how difficult all that moving around was, but
I do remember some moments. I remember my first day trying to go
out and play when I was in Japan. And we lived in Japan -- we didn't
live on the military base like a lot of families did. I remember
having my little English/Japanese dictionary and trying to learn
certain words, like: "Hi, my name is…" and how do
you say "friend" and how do you say "play?"
I remember trying to go out and generically trying to say, "Hey,
I'm the new kid." You know, it's bad enough just being the
new kid, but then I'm a new American kid, and then I'm a new American,
African-American kid, so it was very challenging just learning how
to communicate and make friends.
International Relations:
I learned how to read, write and speak Japanese. After a while,
I was speaking Japanese nearly fluently. I still speak a little
bit. A girl that I just did a show with -- I just did Jason and
Medea, by Euripides -- one of the girls in the chorus was Japanese,
so I freaked her out speaking Japanese. That's always fun.
America, the Beautiful:
From there, we moved to California. And that was the remainder of
seventh grade, all of eighth grade and then the summer. Then my
dad got stationed in Virginia and my family drove cross-country
from San Diego all the way to Washington, D.C. We stopped at a lot
of different places along the way. I got to see the Grand Canyon,
the Hoover Dam, we went through Las Vegas -- we really took the
scenic route. We visited some family down South, dropped my dad
off in Virginia, and came up to D.C.
Fit For Life:
I went to prep school in Massachusetts, so I was no academic slouch.
I've always had good grades, but I played sports, too, and danced
and performed. My mother was a dancer. She was pregnant with me
and still dancing, teaching pre-natal and post-natal dance classes.
She incorporated African dance and modern dance and ballet and yoga
before there was that Lamaze crap. My mother was doing that years
and years before. She has her PhD in that stuff. So being raised
in that type of environment and then having a lot of that dance
foundation, I've never had any major injuries as an athlete ever.
And I play basketball, softball, soccer -- pretty much everything.
I definitely attribute that to learning to take care of my body
as a dancer. Understanding that the entire body and mind are involved
in the same process. That preparation before you go out on the field
and on the court is important. As an actor it is the same thing.
It's just a different environment, like it's a coach instead of
a director. But I was used to that abuse, either way.
Academical Fitness:
My father, he went to Yale, so my parents never stood for poor academic
standards. I considered going to MIT because I was always pretty
interested in technology, but that's not a big acting school. I
ended up going to Carnegie Mellon because I thought I could actually
do both. And to be honest with you, I hate Boston, so that was another
reason I really did not want to go to MIT.
School Board:
After Carnegie Mellon, I got my Master's in Education. Just this
spring, I was teaching at the Choir Academy of Harlem, teaching
there part-time, as math specialist and tutor throughout the year
and also doing some mentoring. My contract was up the first week
of May. At the same time, I was teaching at an after-school program,
teaching theater games and movement to middle school kids. And that
contract ended. And then I got the ATWT audition.
Road to Oakdale:
I actually went out for All My Children, and then As the
World Turns the next day. I got a call-back, but the date got
rescheduled because (executive producer) Chris Goutman went out
of town. No one told me, though! I went all the way out to Brooklyn
on the train, it was storming, raining and everything. I got all
the way out there and nobody was there to receive me. I said, "I
came all the way out here for nothing?" So I ended up going
back the following week, and reading for Chris. Then, ATWT got a
new casting director, and I had to come back again. This time there
were a lot of guys there, totally new faces from the previous time
I had been out there. I was like, "Oh, boy the competition
is getting even greater." So I came in again and then they
called me back again. I think I came in a fourth time after that
and then another time after that, and then, finally, I had a screen
test with Napiera (Groves; Bonnie). Napiera is a wonderful person
to work with, plus she's gorgeous. She was really on top of her
game for the screen-test, and Chris directs like this: "You
go here and on this line, I want you to go here and then this, this
and this." He gave me one or two notes after dress rehearsal
and then he said "Relax, take it easy, have some fun with it,
have some fun with her." And we did it one more time and it
was cool. Even some of the stage managers and the crew were like,
"Nice job."
Holistic Theory:
I've lived in different places in the world and know all kinds of
different people, and the more I've learned about different cultures,
different languages, and different philosophies, the more I see
the universal principals in all things. You start to see the common
skill sets in all these different fields or industries. When I was
an Informational Technology major, I learned how to interview a
client and figure out exactly what their information systems' needs
are. And based upon hearing what those needs are, and being able
to really listen and dissect what they really want, what they really
need, what their limitations are, how much money they have, how
much time, I was able to come up with a plan for helping them reach
their goals. And it's really a similar process when you are working
on any artistic body. It's the same thing when you are breaking
down a script, because you're kind of thinking the same thing: what
do I want, what am I trying to communicate, what is the end goal,
what is the end result, what is the audience suppose to understand
and how easy is it going to be for them to interpret it?
Marshall Law:
Marshall is good at what he does, he does it with integrity and
he's loyal and dependable. And when he's on your side, you are in
great shape, probably in the best shape you can be in. On the other
hand, when you are on the other side of the table, he is not the
person you want to be competing with on the field and on the court.
He's also got somewhat of a shady past. You're not exactly sure
what it may be and I'm not going to give it up either. There is
a link to James Stenbeck, so you are never really sure exactly what
his motives are but again, when he's on your side, you're able to
feel confident that things are going to go your way. He's a go-getter,
he's very assertive, very strong-willed, confident and a kick-a**
kind of guy. I can say that, right?
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