The Journal

"Ladies and gentlemen, the subject today is acting," said Dennis Brown, an adjunct professor of film appreciation at Webster University, to the audience at Winifred-Moore Auditorium on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

"We are going to keeps this very informal," said Brown, resting his notes on his lap. "With us tonight is actor Richard Jenkins."

The crowd of about 60 students, professors and visitors applauded Jenkins, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in the film

"The Visitor."

"As we all know," Brown said to Jenkins, "you were nominated for an Oscar. Before we start, let's take a look at a clip from the film."

The lights dimmed and the large screen hanging above them lit up with a scene from "The Visitor."

Jenkins plays Walter Vale, a widowed economics teacher in Connecticut who travels to New York to give a lecture at New York University. There, he befriends a couple from Syria that he finds living in the apartment where he expects to stay. The couple, Tarek and Zainab, are illegal immigrants.

In the scene, Jenkins' character confronts a security guard at a deportation office. Walter discovers that Tarek has been unexpectedly deported.

After the film clip ended, the applause shredded the quiet intensity created by the scene. Following the scene, Jenkins then touched on his passion for performing.

"I love acting," Jenkins said. "I loved the Awards. I love the Academy, and I know that might make me sound like a schmuck, but it's true."'

After a history of theater, Jenkins told the crowd all he was doing in theater was "being loud."

"If I was playing a man sitting on a rocking chair on a porch, I would have to say something like, 'Boy! It sure is quiet out here today," Jenkins said. "And then I realized, this is it? I'm not touching anybody. I had to rethink everything I was doing."

A student at the event asked, "When did you know acting was the only thing for you?"

"Always," Jenkins answered without hesitation. "There was never a question in my mind. I never had enough skills to do anything else. I used to drive a laundry truck and backed it into my bosses car … while he was in it."

Jenkins said that, although there is a technical side of acting, connecting with people is key.
"Acting is an art form," Jenkins said. "There is the technical side of acting. You have to hit your mark, but it's a way to connect artistically with people. But I could never separate acting as a job and acting as a form of art."

As the event drew to a close, the crowd applauded. But, instead of heading for the door, they met Jenkins at the bottom of the stage, jockeying to ask him questions, get autographs and take photographs.

"I've been a fan of 'Six Feet Under' since I was a kid," said junior film major Austin Childress. "(Jenkins) has always been around, but he's really sprung out in the past decade."

Jenkins has appeared in a wide array of films in the past decade, including "The Man Who Wasn't There," "Me, Myself and Irene" and "I Heart Huckabees."

Before he was getting hacked to death by John Malkovich in "Burn After Reading," playing a Syrian djembe drum on a subway platform in "The Visitor" or raising two simple-minded adults in "Step-Brothers," Richard Jenkins was a small-town kid who grew up in DeKalb, Ill., a farm town 50 miles west of Chicago.

He attended college at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill., which led to a career in theater. For nearly two decades, Jenkins acted, wrote and directed for the stage.

"Richard and I have been friends for 40 years," said Brown, who met Jenkins while they attended Illinois Wesleyan. "Last August, I asked him to fax me some script pages from 'The Visitor' for my class and he said faxing would be too inconvenient. 'Why don't I just come talk to your class instead?' he said."

Jenkins said he enjoyed visiting WU because it reminded him of his own college experience.

"I went to a small school like Webster," Jenkins said. "You get great professors and there is more friendly competition. You get the best of both worlds. It reminds me of my college years."
In his normal, everyday life, Jenkins spends his time with his wife and son in Cumberland, R.I., Wednesday he travels to New Mexico where they are currently filming "Let Me In," an adaptation of the Swedish vampire novel, "Let the Right One In".

"It still seems surreal," Jenkins said about his Oscar nomination. "Not that long ago, I was taking a five-hour train ride just to say 'Spread 'em!' Then I would take a five-hour train ride home… It's all about how you look at your life. And if anyone says that luck has nothing to do with it, they're lying. I've been extremely lucky, and I know that."

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