Actor Terry O'Quinn is in an elite circle. Not just because millions of people tune in each week to see him on the hit ABC television series LOST, but because he can call himself that rare honor - a working actor.

"Work. Work when you can, any way you can," said O'Quinn, sharing his insights on the acting profession to a room full of theatre students at Illinois Wesleyan University on Tuesday. The actor addressed three classes and an open forum Monday and Tuesday before returning to Hawaii to resume filming of the television show.

O'Quinn is the older brother of Illinois Wesleyan's Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Thomas Quinn, and offered to speak to his brother's theatre classes during a visit. "His wife's family lives on the East Coast, so he's flying back and forth all the time," said Quinn. "The trick was just getting him to land."

Sitting in a circle with nearly two dozen students in the E. Melba Johnson Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre, O'Quinn fielded questions and gave honest answers about everything from entering the acting profession, to working for television verses theatre, and being recognized.

"You know you are getting more famous when people say your name or even your character, 'Are you Terry O'Quinn?' or 'Are you John Locke?'" said O'Quinn, who had to change his name because another actor already has his name, Terrance Quinn, registered with Actors Equity. "I used to get people coming up to me and saying, 'You look familiar. Do you shop at Wal Mart?'" For O'Quinn, the recognition is not the reward of acting. "Really, I think of fame as distracting, it's something you have to get around," he said....

Read the full story at Illinois Wesleyan News. (10:54 PM)