NEED TO KNOW

Who: Andrew Huisman

What: Pride and Prejudice

Where: Blackbox Fire at HTI Studio Theatre

When: To Feb. 13

Tickets: At the door. $15 adults $10 students

Andrew Huisman became an actor almost by accident. An admitted extrovert, the 31-year-old Stoney Creek man says he's full of life when he hits a stage.

"I'm not shy in any way," he grins. "No way at all. I love working with people. It's a social thing with me.

"I guess that's why I like community theatre," he continues. "You rehearse and share something onstage. And after you go out and drink together. You become pretty close-knit. In some ways it's like being part of a family."

Huisman grew up in Millgrove where he got involved with theatre when he was about eight or nine.

"Then it became all about school and sports. Theatre got pushed to the background. Then about 10 years back I went to an audition for a part in a Waterdown play."

From then on Huisman just kept reading for roles. "I know it sounds corny, but when I was a kid watching commercials on TV I'd get sweats. I'd be thinking, I could do that."

Huisman played The White Knight in Alice Through The Looking Glass in Burlington. He couldn't believe how good it made him feel.

"After the show a little girl came up to me and told me I was her favourite. I can't tell you how good that made me feel."

Huisman played roles in grown-up theatre too, everything from Death of a Salesman in Waterdown to Moon Over Buffalo in Aldershot.

"I learned to deal with criticism. Actors have to do that. If you can't you don't belong onstage.

"You learn there are little things you can adjust in a performance, but you must always remain true to the director's vision of the play."

A computer geek, Huisman fixes sick machines for a big company in Mississauga.

"I'm a people person so I like working with others and my job allows me to do that."

Right now Huisman is playing Mr. Darcy in a stage version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

"In some ways I'm like him," Huisman blushes. "Of course he's pretty cocky and far too confident so he comes off as arrogant. I don't think I do that.

"My job is to make Darcy likable," he continues. "That means he has to have a certain charm."

Huisman believes actors have to sell themselves and that means using what you have.

"Everybody has a vision of what this guy looks like," Huisman says. "If they've read the novel, seen the TV show or watched the film, they have a notion of what he ought to be like. It's about making Andrew into Mr. Darcy."

Huisman thinks in some ways he uses similarities between himself and the characters he plays to make them real onstage.

"I'm not a method actor. I don't spend preparation time getting inside the character before the curtain goes up."

Huisman says he doesn't know how much Austen's characters speak to people today. What he likes is the message she gives that true love goes beyond all else.

"This story is about not judging a book by its cover. Darcy may seem cold and indifferent, but there's fire there."

So is Andrew Huisman a romantic at heart?

A crimson tinge rushes across his face as he thinks for a moment. "Oh, I don't know about that," he grins. "You'd have to ask someone else."

Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator for more than 25 years