DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709190084

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER

                                            LENGTH:   98 lines

ACTING ON THEIR DREAMS YOUNG ENTERTAINERS FROM HAMPTON ROADS ARE SEEKING FAME AND FORTUNE FAR FROM HOME.

LOUISE FULLER knew life in New York was going to be tough for Bryan, but she never expected to see her son crawling around the back of a trash truck. And she just knew he wasn't going to get into trouble with drugs.

But he did both, and she couldn't be more pleased.

Bryan Fuller of Virginia Beach is making a living in a business that is notorious for breaking humans in half. And he's doing it at the speed of light.

Bryan, who goes by the stage name Stephon (accent on the first part, thank you very much) is a familiar sight on television in Spain, where he plays a garbage collector in three widely played Pepsi commercials. He was one of the guys eating a Whopper in ``The Lost World'' Burger King commercials played in the United States this summer. He's acted in public-service announcements with New York Mayor Ed Koch, and later this year he'll appear on cinema screens for a few brief moments as a drug addict in ``Hells Kitchen,'' a film that stars Roseanna Arquette

``Coming to New York, for me, it's been the best decision in my life,'' Bryan said from a phone booth at the corner of 56th Street and Sixth Avenue, with horns blaring in the background. ``I have to pinch myself, I just can't believe this is happening.''

Bryan, 32, left Virginia Beach for New York in 1996 with $200 in his wallet, 18 months of evening acting school under his belt and totally unrelated experience in sales and in making subs at Philadelphia Cold Cuts, his family's business.

``My back was against the wall when I got here,'' he said. ``It forced me to perform, deliver and do what I had to do to survive.''

Unlike many filmland wannabes, Bryan has not been haunted by dreams of acting all his life. He graduated from Kellam High in 1983 - without ever having joined the drama club - and got a job selling a line of surf wear as an East Coast rep. Later, he worked as a manager in his parents' stores and could have stayed on. ``For a time they expected it, but I never felt that,'' Bryan said. ``It's a great business, but I knew it wasn't my calling.''

Bryan had been ``interested in entertainment'' all his life but had never done any acting when, at age 28, he signed up for acting classes.

``Tenacity,'' said Sylvia Harmon, Bryan's teacher and owner of The Actors' Place in Virginia Beach. ``I can spot it when they walk in the door. This is a tough business. Work is limited. If you don't have tenacity, there's the door. It's 90 percent tenacity and 10 percent talent.''

Tenacity by the ton is Bryan's biggest asset, and that equals a non-stop life. It's why he has to call from a phone booth - he's in between auditions.

When Bryan arrived in New York City, he landed what he considers the worst job of his life - busing tables at the Harley Davidson Cafe. His new bedroom was so tiny that when he showed his parents a video tape of the apartment, they had to keep rewinding it to catch a glimpse of his space. He had to schedule auditions, acting classes and any jobs he got around his work at the cafe.

Now, Bryan's a waiter at the cafe and can schedule his work around his auditions and jobs. He lives in a $2,000-a-month Upper East Side apartment with two roommates he never sees. He's not even sure what they do for a living.

A call to his agent sets Bryan's week in motion. He goes to as many as three auditions a day. In August, he auditioned for a part in ``New York Undercover'' and for commercials for AT&T, Sprint, Western Union, Kodak, Federal Express, Mountain Dew, Burger King, Claritin and Alleve.

Sometimes the auditions take an hour, sometimes they take seconds. He recently tried out for a Pepto Bismol commercial. It went like this:

Casting director: Look like you have indigestion.

Bryan: Makes a distressed face.

Casting director: OK, look relieved.

Bryan: Looks relieved.

Casting director: Thank you. Next.

In between working, auditioning and classes in such things as improvisation and voice-overs, there are thank-you notes to be written for auditions, mailings of resumes and head shots to casting directors, and auditions for live theater, something that rarely pays but can get an agent's attention.

``Creating a buzz,'' is how Bryan puts it.

And, finally, there are the acting jobs, which, thankfully, are becoming more frequent. His five-day gig in Spain for the Pepsi shoot made him eligible for a Screen Actors Guild card, a plum for aspiring actors. A signal of real experience, SAG members are eligible for union wages, which can be double those of non-union workers.

Still, nearly 90 percent of SAG members make less than $5,000 a year acting. About 3 percent make $100,000 a year.

In 1996, Bryan made less than $2,000 in front of the camera. So far this year, he's made more than $20,000.

Right now, Bryan is in New Jersey rehearsing for the play ``The Darker Face of the Earth,'' a period piece about slavery. It opens in October and then moves to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in November.

The play should up the buzz about Bryan and prepare him for the next level: January auditions for next fall's television pilots. ILLUSTRATION: Color AP photos

Torrey Russell...

Dee Collins...

Bryan Fuller... KEYWORDS: LOCAL ACTOR PROFILE

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