While he isn't a household name or famous by any means, Charlie Weber Jr. is a working actor in Hollywood.
The Jefferson City High School graduate has made his living acting in Hollywood for the past 15 years and recently landed perhaps his most high-profile gig as a cast member in the highly anticipated new ABC drama "How to Get Away with Murder," which premieres locally on KMIZ-TV at 9 p.m. Thursday.
This is the latest television show from writer/producer Shonda Rhimes, creator of the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" the hit drama, "Scandal."
"How to Get Away with Murder" is a legal drama about a high-powered criminal law professor and her students, and stars Academy Award-nominated and Tony winning actor Viola Davis ("The Help").
Although Weber's character, street-smart lawyer Frank Delfino, is only briefly introduced in the pilot episode, he's still part of what Hollywood refers to as "Shondaland" - those working on Rhimes' trifecta of shows.
"My character, Frank, is one of the associates in Annalise's law firm and he operates in this gray area between right and wrong," said Weber, speaking from his trailer on the set of the show at the Sunset/Gower Studio in the heart of Hollywood.
"I read the pilot script and loved it, and poured myself into the character for the audition. I really wanted this role."
After testing for the executive producer and show creator Peter Nowalk, along with ABC executives, he got the part fairly quickly. It's this kind of moment that makes all of his years toiling in the business worth it for the journeyman actor, who took a very different career path than most of his fellow JCHS students.
It is a career he couldn't have foreseen back then. During high school, he wasn't involved in drama, since the program was geared more toward musicals.
"That wasn't my thing, so I focused more on sports," he said. "I'll admit it: I didn't like school, and I wasn't a very good student, either."
He played football like his father, Chuck Weber, the general counsel at Central Bank Company for 25 years. The senior Weber played for the Jays and then for the University of Missouri.
Charlie also attended the University of Missouri for one year and walked on the football team for one year, but he already had caught the "bug" to seek a career as a model.
As a senior at JCHS, he entered a model search contest, and at 19, he moved to New York, where his rugged good looks were noticed by the team at the prestigious Ford modeling agency. Soon, he hit it big and was chosen to model in a print ad for Abercrombie & Fitch.
Shot by Bruce Weber, one of fashion's most celebrated photographers, Weber and another young girl were naked riding on top of an elephant. The provocative two-page spread ended up being published only in Vanity Fair magazine.
"I had a lot of fun doing that shoot, and it definitely was talked about as being very risqué," he said. " I enjoyed my time modeling. I got to travel and meet some very interesting people."
During this time, he used his money from modeling to take acting classes at Stella Adler. When he was 21, he moved to Los Angeles. That was in 2000, and he initially went out to film a small part in a movie, "The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy."
After a television pilot that wasn't picked up, his break on television came on the cult hit, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." He joined the cast as Ben for 14 episodes during the show's fifth season. In 2003, he landed a recurring role on the WB's "Everwood," and kept working.
Along the way, he's also guest-starred on "The Drew Carey Show," "Charmed," "Veronica Mars," "House," "Burn Notice," "Bones," "Warehouse 13" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
Raising his 9-year-old daughter, Lotus, definitely made auditioning more of a challenge and a bit of a juggling act for the single dad.
"Those were interesting years trying to audition with a baby on my shoulder," he said. "My buddies would stay in the car watching her while I ran in to an audition, but it's been a great joy of my life to raise my daughter."
While he was often on set somewhere else and traveling, his mother, Nanette, a former teacher, would fly out to Los Angeles to help out, too.
His parents keep an apartment in Jefferson City, but after his father recently retired, they moved to Dallas where they bought a home near Charlie's sister, Whitney Ann Williams.
While he still has friends here, Los Angeles is Weber's home, specifically Santa Monica, a beautiful community near the beach. When he's not on working, he likes to surf, play golf and enjoys his family time.
In recent years, he's had recurring roles on MTV's "Underemployed" and "90210" and has developed a huge fan base, too, many of whom thought he should play the lead in the movie adaption of the best selling book "50 Shades of Grey." That wasn't to be, but his star is on the rise and right now he feels like he's entered a new phase of his career.
"For so long, I played characters that were a lot younger than me or drifters or other roles where age wasn't a major consideration," he said. "This is really my first role where I'm playing a part that's similar in age to myself."
Certainly he looks like a man in his mid-30s, and his character Frank sports a beard on the show.
Like most shows, he only knows what's happening to his character when the new scripts come in each week. But that's fine with him, since he trusts the showrunner.
"I love working with this talented group of actors," he said. "Viola's talent speaks for herself, but she's also warm, funny and a lovely person. Being on set together so much, I feel like she's become a friend."
The senior Weber is proud of his son.
"He's worked very hard, and after 15 years, he's no overnight success," he said. "We're very proud of the fabulous job (he's doing) raising our granddaughter. He has always put her first."
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