THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 22, 1994 TAG: 9411220062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
HERE'S A QUESTION for the folks in the Kempsville High graduating class of 1987: Remember Glen Beaudin, the good-looking dude with dark hair whose parents owned the Winner's Circle, a restaurant in Virginia Beach? The kid who said he was going to move to California and become a star?
He has accomplished just that as a featured player in ``Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.'' A star with a small ``s.''
Think of the series as ``Saved by the Bell'' meets ``Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.'' Fewer heads get knocked about by the Syber-Squaders.
The half hour is syndicated by All-American Television and recently completed a four-week run in ABC's Saturday morning lineup. ``Superperhuman Samurai Syber-Squad'' airs Monday through Friday at 2:30 p.m. on WGNT.
Beaudin plays Malcom Frink with a slight British accent. He's the heavy.
The producers describe his character in this manner: ``Malcom is an anti-social teen misfit on the way to becoming a full-grown oddball. He finds a way to get even with everyone who has done him wrong by making a pact with a villain who lives in the digital universe, the evil warlord Kilokahn.''
How does he like playing the villain?
``Love it.''
His inspiration comes from Richard M. Nixon.
``Malcom is Nixonesque.''
When the school principal bugged Malcom on a recent show, he joined forces with Kilokahn to make the principal act silly - to wear prayer beads and bell-bottoms to school and talk like a zonked-out hippie. ``I'll turn people's pasts against them,'' hisses Malcom.
It's a living.
Almost from the moment he graduated from Kempsville High, Beaudin set about building his career as an actor, first in New York City and later in Hollywood. He worked with Hugh Copeland and The Hurrah Players here. Copeland remembers Beaudin as a charged-up guy who knew what he wanted.
``A high-powered battery,'' Copeland said.
When the acting jobs weren't there, Beaudin waited tables. He worked, studied, acted, practiced patience.
``In my career, I've taken small steps, not giant leaps. My goal is to be a working actor for the long haul,'' he said in Virginia Beach, where he is visiting for the holidays.
Beaudin auditioned and won the role of Malcom on ``Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad'' in 1993. Why not? He looks like he's still in high school.
As they say in the business, Beaudin plays young.
The cast puts in long hours. They made 52 episodes last year, often working on two shows a day.
``I spend a lot of my time sitting in a dark closet looking at my reflection in video monitors before me,'' he said. ``There have been days when I sat in that closet to do scenes for six episodes.'' After Beaudin's scenes are filmed, the special-effects experts take over and create a digital universe inside those monitors where the evil Kilokahn battles the show's hero, Sam Lawrence.
He plays the leader of a garage band called Team Samurai who enters the computer universe thanks to the PowerSurge Mobile Communicator-CD Player-Calculator-Digital Watch attached to his wrist. While in the swim with computer viruses, Lawrence (Sam Collins) evolves into a superhuman samurai named Servo.
Naturally, other members of Team Samurai also kick butt in the syber world.
You won't see Beaudin in any of the action scenes.
``I couldn't karate-chop my way out of a paper bag,'' he said.
It's a steady gig but Beaudin is looking to tomorrow. It's not unusual for him to travel to auditions for other parts on his lunch breaks. Tha man is driven.
``I know what I want to be and I know what price I'll have to pay.''
Is this the Glen Beaudin you remember from Kempsville High? by CNB