Industrial grad makes prime time
Submitted by jcht2010 on
By Lisa Shapiro
Staff Writer
Vanderbilt’s Tad Cooley has proven to himself and others that with talent, hard work and perseverance anyone can make their dreams come true.
Cooley’s dream of being an actor has come true. Recently, he landed a role as a murder suspect in the ABC drama “Secrets and Lies.” The drama will be aired during prime time and will star Ryan Phillippe, Juliette Lewis and recurring guest star Melissa Gilbert.
“It’s a story that takes place in Raleigh, N.C.,” Cooley said. “It revolves around this young boy who is found dead outside the neighborhood and it’s a great “whodunit”. It centers around a character played by Phillippe, and throughout the show a lot of people are suspecting him for the murder because he found this boy early in the morning. Throughout the show secrets and lies unravel from him and the neighbors. It’s like the board game Clue.”
The premiere of “Secrets and Lies” is a two-hour special that airs from 8-10 p.m., Central, and beginning on March 8 it will move to its regular one-hour time slot, 8 to 9 p.m., CT. There are 10 episodes in the show and Cooley will appear in three of the shows which will air every Sunday, starting March 1 at 8 p.m. central time. The episodes he will appear in air on March 8, 15 and 29.
Cooley, 21, said he plays a 16-year-old boy whose mother is played by Gilbert. His character has mid-functioning autism, which was a challenging role for him. He said he spent hours doing research on mid-functioning autism and studying the behavioral symptoms and physical characteristics of someone with the condition. He spent three days to prepare for the role.
“They flew me to Wilmington, N.C. and I locked myself in the hotel for those three days and started reading everything I could possibly read, watching YouTube and looking up autism online because I had little or no knowledge of it myself,” Cooley said.
The rest of the story can be read in the Jan. 28 edition of the Jackson County Herald-Tribune.
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