Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 7, 1995                   TAG: 9501190049
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: N.F. MENDOZA LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD                                 LENGTH: Medium

ADAM WYLIE OF `PICKET FENCES' HAS MANY TALENTS

He can if he's Adam Wylie, who stars as Zachary, the youngest Brock on ``Picket Fences.'' In addition to acting in CBS' Emmy-winning drama, Adam also ice skates, is a black belt (his dad's a master) in Kung Fu and practices ballet, tap, hip-hop and jazz.

And, by the way, he also sings.

Audiences will get a bigger-than-usual dose of Adam in this week's episode (Friday at 10 p.m. on WDBJ-Channel 7), when Zach's older brother Matthew (Justin Shenkarow) nearly kills Zach in an accident.

The young actor gets kudos from cast mates and crew.

``He's an exceptional young man and exceptional actor as well,'' says co-executive producer and director Michael Pressman, from his office on the Fox lot. ``We love him on the show. He not only has great comic timing, but he's also wonderful with the emotional scenes. We've seen a lot of changes and growth in his acting in the last two seasons.''

His mother, Karen Wylie, says Adam's first time in a theater was when he was a mere 3 days old. The Wylie family has been involved in community theater for years.

Adam followed brothers Eric, 24 (who stars in the syndicated ``Blade Warriors''); Ben, 19 (who dances with the San Jose, Calif. Ballet); Aaron 18 and sister Tai, 15, into the business. ``It runs in the family,'' Adam declares.

``It actually began with sports,'' his mom points out. Athletics evolved into the more theatrical figure skating, which led to stage acting and eventually television.

Adam's first television job - at age 4 - was a long-running Lifesavers commercial where he says, ``I ask Dorothy [his petite companion], `Will you marry me?' That's probably my most popular one.'' Adam went on to do 79 more commercials and appear on billboards and radio; his current commercial is the Sony plug in which the TV walks up the stairs.

But even though he just won lead voice in MGM's ``All Dogs Go to Heaven Part 2,'' his heart is with his role in ``Picket Fences.''

He likes acting quite a bit: ``I get to play a lot of different parts. You get to do a lot of things, play different voices. I love to travel and I love the theater.''

Stage fright is not in his vocabulary. ``I never get butterflies or get scared.''

Unlike many child actors who are educated exclusively by a tutor, Adam attends a regular fourth-grade class, where he occasionally is cautious of false friends. ``Some people always want to know how much money I make, and I know they want to be my friend because of money. I have to be very careful.''

For 1995, Adam has a goal: ``I want to start playing ice hockey and doing that on Saturdays.''

And with enthusiasm and proven physical skills, Adam's ``dream thing'' - as he puts it - doesn't seem so far-fetched: ``My dream thing would be to win a gold medal in the Olympics in gymnastics. And I'd love to be just really famous and keep being an actor. I'd just love to be an actor. And oh yeah, do a big movie.''