You’re already here, so you might as well get to know me…

IN THE BEGINNING

A native Chicagoan, Adam started acting at age 4 after his father, Richard (a full-time jewelry and sculpture artist and part-time commercial actor and model), brought him to a commercial shoot where he was introduced to his father's agent, Shirley Hamilton. Upon seeing Adam's big blue eyes and Beatles' mop-top, Shirley immediately offered to represent him.

THE stage is set

Adam began taking acting classes at Evanston's Piven Theater Workshop at 9 years old. He remained for 9 years, studying improvisation and story theatre with both Byrne and Joyce Piven; gaining performance experience with The Junior Company, The Young People’s Company, and The Adult Company.

He was in the first graduating class of Chicago’s performing and visual arts high school, The Chicago Academy for the Arts (at that time known as The Academy: Art, Music, Dance, Theater), where he won the school's inaugural "Outstanding Senior" award for the Theatre Department.

In the summer of 1982, 17-year-old Adam stepped onto the set of his first professional film, BAD BOYS. Alongside several of his Academy classmates, he spent two months working as a core background actor in the Cellblock C scenes, which make up roughly 60% of the Sean Penn and Esai Morales feature.

Adam enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting (including one semester with Stella herself) and Practical Aesthetics, with David Mamet and William H. Macy, alongside several classmates who would eventually form The Atlantic Theater Company. During his senior year, Adam spent 6 months in England, doing a directing internship at London's Royal Court Theater. He graduated with his BFA in 1987. 

In 1997, Adam moved to Los Angeles and began booking roles in series such as EARLY EDITION (his first major booking, which ironically brought him back to Chicago for filming), BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (as the diminutive fear demon, ‘Gachnar’), SCRUBS, and PARTY DOWN, among others.  He had recurring roles on the second season of VERONICA MARS, and in the Showtime series LOOK, written and directed by long-time friend Adam Rifkin. Other film credits include the film version of Rifkin's LOOK; David Mamet's HOMICIDE; and the late Curtis Hanson's LUCKY YOU (starring Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, and Robert Duvall). Adam has been heard in radio commercials, in video games including L.A. NOIR and WORLD OF WARCRAFT, on animated series including BLEACH and DIGIMON DATA SQUAD, and as ADR voices in feature films including HOUSE OF WAX (as the monster, ‘Vincent’) and Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award-winning GOOD WILL HUNTING. 

Adam was a founding member of L.A.’s award-winning, critically acclaimed Sacred Fools Theatre Company (est. 1997) where he acted in, directed, and/or produced several hit shows. Now a Company Member Emeritus, Adam is a former member of their Board of Directors.

Following the sudden death of his father in 2012, Adam and his rescue dog, Mugsy, moved back to Chicago, where Adam continues to act on stage and screen, and Mugsy wonders what happened to all the nice weather.

Since his return, he has booked roles on series including CHICAGO P.D. (his first “Top of Show” Guest Star credit), THE EXORCIST, CHICAGO FIRE and EMPIRE (series creator Lee Daniels directed his episode, but his scene with Taraji P. Henson was subsequently cut) among others. He appears on stages all over Chicago, frequently at City Lit, and Redtwist Theater where he is an ensemble member. In 2017, Adam earned a Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for his performance as 'Mick' in Redtwist's production of THE SEEDBED, and won a Chicago Theatre Award for his performance as 'Charley' in Redtwist's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, which also won the award for "Best Production of a Play."

Be sure to check out other pages of this website to find out what he's up to now or next!