"Where I come from this is not what you do. You go to college, get a job, chase American Valhalla . . . But I believe some people are just born with this impulse to act and from as far back as I can remember I always wanted to do this," says the intense character actor.

Robert Corban has felt passionately about the performing arts since he first performed in school plays and community theater. As a NJ Shore native he took the safe route, graduating from Holy Cross College and later joining the professional labor force. But it didn't take long before Corban realized that his dreams led in a more creative direction.

After relocating to California with an actress friend, Corban applied for work with ICM as an agent. Although the prospect of being an agent didn't really appeal to him, he viewed it as a point of entry into the film industry. During his employment interview, the human resource representative listened to his sales pitch, including a curious tangent about his passion for acting while younger, and insightfully replied, "It sounds to me like what really you want to do is act and that you'll never be happy unless you try." Corban took this as a message from Providence, flew back to NY, enrolled first at HB Studios and later graduated from the William Esper Studio, and has been acting since.

He is excited to play the role of the gangster Joey in The Cutting Den because "the way in which Ron Scott Stevens has crafted the character allows for several interpretations. I am intrigued at the way Joey struggles to embody the persona of a crime boss even though it seems it's not necessarily in him to do it. There is a face we show to the public and then there is who we really are. Figuring out how to show who Joey really is versus the wise-guy persona, the mask, is what interests me."

Robert is also an acoustic guitarist and occasional song-writer. He and his wife Jarka make their home on Staten Island.


THEATRE

Uncle Vanya (Players Theater)

Pulling (The Kirk, Theater Row Studios)

Ice in a Hot World (Bank Street Theater)

Art (New Hope, PA)

The Show Might Go On (Michael Chekhov Theater Co)

The Unseen Hand (Michael Chekhov Theater Co)

Three Sisters, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, Italian American Reconciliation

Pulling (feature film version)