Actor Steve Carell Joins Cerritos College Students on Stage
For Immediate Release: July 26, 2006
NORWALK, CA – July 26, 2006 – It isn’t every day that the star of NBC’s “The Office,” shows up at your “Improvisation for Theatre” class.
But that’s just what happened for several surprised and delighted Cerritos College students last spring when actor Steve Carell—star of NBC’s “The Office”—stepped onto stage in the midst of a class improvisational performance and proceeded to act along with the other improvisational actors.
“I saw this guy come out of the back and come out from behind the curtain,” explained Barbara Lopez, a Cerritos College student who had to opportunity to meet Carell.
“I thought, ‘who is this guy? Who does he think he is coming on stage like that?’ and…it was Steve.”
Carell, who in addition to portraying Michael Scott, an “unctuous” regional manager on “The Office,” provides the voice of “Hammy” in “Over the Hedge” and appears in “Little Miss Sunshine,” two features that hit movie theaters this summer. Carrel has also starred in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and appeared in “Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Meantime, he’s also wrapping up “Evan Almighty,” the sequel to “Bruce Almighty” (starring Jim Carrey), and will have the title role in the upcoming “Get Smart” movie.
Cerritos College drama instructor Kevin Hoggard was the one behind the Steve Carell visit—Carell is Hoggard’s former student from Denison University in Ohio. 
Hoggard invited Carell to participate in an alumni reunion-type improv performance at Cerritos College last spring in the Burnight Center’s Little Theatre. The collaboration included Hoggard’s former students from his 20-year teaching career at Cerritos College. Hoggard has also taught at institutions including Tulane University, the University of Wisconsin and Denison University—that night, Carell was the only one of Hoggard’s former students who wasn’t an alum of Cerritos College.
At the time of the invitation, however, Carell was in the midst of filming “Evan Almighty,” and didn’t know if he would have time to participate in the performance.
“Kevin kept it all a secret—he didn’t want us to get our hopes up too much on Steve making it,” said Lopez.
But make it he did. And the show went on even later into the night once Carell got on stage.
“The audience went crazy—but we student actors, especially, flipped,” Lopez remembered.
“We all admire him and what’s he’s done. A lot of us aspire to be what he did. He started out like us and is now on a completely different level.”
Hoggard was just as pleased to see Carell as his students were.
“It was really terrific for Steve to do what he did,” Hoggard said, “not only because he’s juggling so many projects right now, but because he rushed to Cerritos College after shooting “Evan Almighty” for almost 14 hours that day, knowing that he had to be back on the set early in the morning.”
Once on stage, Carell blended right in with the candid tone of the evening by taking on the role of a character in a time and place (provided on the spot by the audience), and then improvising a scene with another actor. He and Renee Duron, a Cerritos College alumna, performed an improvised, humorous sketch in which a couple in divorce court waffle between divorcing and staying together because they love each other.
“Renee was so excited, she could barely get on with the scene,” recalled Lopez.
When the show finally ended, the actors went backstage, and many of them took photos with Carell.
“He is a totally normal guy,” said Lopez. “But it was really cool to meet him and get to see some of his personality traits that make him “him.”
Without a doubt, after his visit to Cerritos College, “normal guy” Carell will have a few more fans—and new friends—filling theater seats at his next movie.
Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County. Communities within the college’s district include Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Norwalk, and portions of Bell Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs and South Gate. Cerritos College offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their course of studies, and enrollment currently surpasses 20,000 students. Visit Cerritos College online at
www.cerritos.edu.
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