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johnny messner

   After landing a role in the 2002 Cameron Diaz movie The Sweetest Thing, actor Johnny Messner

 made a big impression on  director Roger Kumble and producer Cathy Konrad. By the second day,

they decided to condense all the smaller male roles into one single character. This resulted in Messner's

dim-witted boy-toy Todd to Selma Blair's equally dim-witted Jane, and included certain braces-stuck -on-

 the-zipper-turned-sing-a-long-scenario reminiscent of a Farrelly Brothers film

   Following this break, Messner landed the role of Kelly Lake in Antoine Fuqua's Tears of the Sun.

Again, the 32 year-old  actor impressed those around him, and Tears star Bruce Willis helped

Messner land the role of Zevo in The Whole Ten Yards, a sequel to the 2001 hit The Whole Nine

Yards.  The follow-up, which also stars Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, and Kevin

Pollak, necessitated that Messner develop a "bootleg" Hungarian accent, though certainly not a real

accent by any means," he jokes.

   As a kid, Messner lived on military bases throughout Europe while his father served in the U.S. Air

Force. By 13, he went back to his home state of New York to stay with relatives and got into the break-

dancing scene. He laughs, "{Break-dancing} was the thing back then, along with Lee turquoise jeans

and the comb in the back pocket."

   The self-proclaimed nomad continued to move around, living in Massachusetts, attending college in San

Diego, and later moving back to New York to take part in David Mamet's Atlantic Theatre Company.

Eventually heading west to Los Angeles, Messner spent a summer working as a production assistant to

producer Andrew Stevens (who, oddly enough, later produced The Whole Ten Yards), during which time

he realized he wanted to work in front of the camers. During "six years of harshness", as he describes it,

Messner paid his dues on everything from Guiding Light to guest spots on shows like Friends and CSI.

He also appeared in the indie film Finding Home and what he  calls Delta Force 2017.  Then came his

big break with The Sweetest Thing, and the momentum's been growing ever since.

   Messner's life tends to come full circle. The actor recently wrapped Spartan with Val Kilmer and William

H. Macy, and the director was none other than David Mamet.  Messner describes working with Mamet

as his first true moment of being star-struck on a set, adding that the director, notorious for meticulously

keeping to the script, actually took him aside his first day and gave him plenty of room to improvise.

   Regarding the future, Messner humbly reflects, "You never now when it's going to be over.   Whatever

happens, I just don't want to end up struggling, going to 'B' movies."

written by llaria Loren

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photography by Brie Childers/Contour photos