Like I said, I've been digging up old photos and reading lists of names from the past. I went to a gargantuan high school in north suburban Chicago. We had upwards of 5000 students in attendance at the time I attended in 1981-1985. Hallways between classes were a crush of students. I always knew that we have quite a few notable alumni. I knew about Donald Rumsfeld, but not Rahm Emmanuel for example.
It's funny how you hear names in one context and they mean nothing, but then later when you read a gazillion names from your childhood, suddenly it comes back... Hilarious, talented actor from "The Office", Rainn Wilson went to my high school. Here is proof:
I promise you that is him. Unfortunately all my yearbooks have water damage so I can't really browse through their stuck pages.
He was a year ahead of me and he did many of the plays and musicals. I was backstage on stage crew. Here is Rainn Wilson in the show Pygmalion. Seated is actor Jim True-Frost (The Wire). I painted the language chart in the background and was very proud of it. I recall this was a good show but I was mostly focused on the set changes and the lighting cues.
The yearbook notes about the Pygmalion production: "Each role demanded tremendous individual effort by the actor to master the British accent of his character." I think in that photo you can easily see the actual effort expended by Rainn Wilson to affect the cockney vocalizations and body language of his character.
If the pages weren't all stuck, I could tell you what other parts he played in our shows, but I do have him listed as Jud in Oklahoma, so I he must have had a solo singing part at some point. He also played Wint in "Ah, Wilderness" which had the memorable line, "Life is a joke and everything always turns out all wrong in the end."
These classroom photos are so amusing. Here is Rainn Wilson with his advisory (homeroom) in his junior year. Teenage boys have a hard time summoning up the will to smile for pictures. Rainn Wilson is in the center back row.
And just because I know he is reading this and because he and his wife are still good friends of mine, here is a signature from Rob who was 2 years ahead of me in high school:
He calls me a "good little girl"! and well.. it was true.. I was.