Longtime film and television actor and UCLA graduate Corbin Bernsen is not a one note player. Thanks in part to his time as a theater student at UCLA, he has been able to move beyond being a thespian into the roles of producer and director as well.
“It’s a very up-and-down business,” Bernsen said. “One day you can have everything, and then one day you can have nothing. I encourage people to find other things to do.”
Currently co-starring on USA’s comedy crime series “Psych” as well as hosting the new Game Show Network game show “How Much is Enough,” Bernsen’s career boasts success in nearly every facet of the TV and movie-making industry.
“What I do now is directly related to what I did at UCLA. I wrote, acted, made sets, designed wardrobe. I did everything there,” Bernsen said.
Growing up in North Hollywood with a producer father and an actress mother, Jeanne Cooper, who starred in “The Young and the Restless,” Bernsen was always very familiar with the various aspects of Hollywood life.
“One of the great things about Corbin is that he has a terrific family. His parents really knew how to raise good kids. He had a stability as a person before he became an actor,” said Gary Gardner, a UCLA professor of playwriting, who taught Bernsen.
Bernsen was initially resistant to pursuing a career in acting. It was not until he landed a small film role during his early years of college that Bernsen decided to seriously consider an acting career and enrolled in UCLA’s theater arts department specializing in playwriting.
“I enjoy creating believable parallel worlds. I love trying to breathe life into fiction,” said Bernsen.
While at UCLA, Bernsen began exploring the many aspects of theater: from acting, to set and wardrobe design ““ even props.
“When he was here, there were a lot of opportunities for students to participate in all aspects of the theater. Corbin was a super-active theater student,” said John Cauble, one of Bernsen’s theater professors. “He was just into and part of everything because he was excited about theater.”
Bernsen looks back on his time multi-tasking within the theater department as being formative.
“It opened my eyes to the excitement of all of the different parts. I never pigeon-holed myself, which has translated to my acting career, as now I do almost everything,” said Bernsen. “It laid the foundation for me that allowed me not to get locked into one thing.”
After graduating from UCLA in 1979 with a master’s in playwriting, Bernsen eventually ended up in New York where, after appearing in many NBC shows, he landed a starring role on “L.A. Law,” a role that would gain him almost immediate success and recognition.
Since “L.A. Law,” Corbin has explored many aspects of acting, appearing in such films as “Disorganized Crime,” “Major League,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” and even starting his own production company called Public Media Works in addition to taking on his role on “Psych.”
And during a time when the writer strike has put many careers in jeopardy, Bernsen’s diverse career is keeping him plenty busy.
“It affects me because I can’t do the show I love and it affects my source of income, but I get on with my life. I’m not stranded in just one lifeboat,” Bernsen said.
However, with “Psych” currently out of production, Bernsen has been able to spend more time on his many other endeavors, especially his most recent role as a host of “How Much is Enough?”
“When the opportunity to do a game show came along, I saw it as another unique adventure, another addition to the mosaic of my career,” said Bernsen.
“It’s probably more challenging. It is very time consuming if you want to get it right. And also not having a script means I have to rely on myself to make it exciting.”
Bernsen’s different skills within the entertainment world aided his current wide-ranging success.
“Some people are very talented as actors but can’t direct,” Cauble said. “His talent emerged no matter what he was doing.”
Though success seems to have come in droves for Bernsen, he is quick to remind everyone that it is not without a lot of hard work.
“It’s great to have creativity, but those whom I admire, those who are true pioneers, have an understanding of the core values of what they do. They won’t last if they don’t have a foundation. It’s not just luck,” said Bernsen.