http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/09/2
6/sns0926drewdaniel.html




`Big Brother' winner taking classes, small roles


A year after winning "Big Brother," Drew Daniel hasn't
hit the big
time.

It only feels like it — especially to a single, 23-year-old guy.

The Urbana native has so far raced a brand new Mercedes out of a
parking garage that was set to blow up and he's been forced to,
sigh, put his hand on a woman's thigh.

"You guys are paying me for this?" Daniel exclaimed.

In recent days, the former Graham High wrestler and teenage model
has been working as a background actor — an extra to you and me
— in
upcoming episodes of "Alias" and Denise Richards' new UPN
drama "Sex, Love & Secrets."

OK, OK. You want the lowdown on that thigh incident, eh?

It's part of a bar scene in "Sex, Love & Secrets." And,
get this,
his pay was bumped up to do what he did.

"They call it `special ability,' " he bragged.

For Daniel, having to pay his dues in Hollywood couldn't possibly
be
any more rewarding.

Like many reality show alums, he's hoping to parlay several
months
of exposure into a lifetime of fame.

Last September, Daniel won $500,000 for, well, living in a house for
82 days. He had just graduated from Miami University when he joined
the fifth installment of the CBS reality series.

The network since has named a sixth "Big Brother" winner,
leaving "Big Brother 5" to the memory of a nation with an
already
short attention span.

But a year later, people might not remember much about what happened
in the communal house in 2004, but they do remember that junior
version of Rob and Amber — Drew and Diane.

The two developed a thing during the course of the summer series.

Yeah. It didn't last.

"I did have feelings for her, but I think we both knew it
wouldn't
work out," Daniel confessed. "It's a game. You play the
game to win
the money."

And the money was good, even though he only pocketed little more
than half after taxes.

Still, the screen time proved to be pure gold.

The day after winning, he took "The Bold and the Beautiful"
up on an
offer for a walk-on role.

"I knew before I entered the house I'd be moving to L.A.
because of
the exposure," explained Daniel, who took an acting class his
last
semester in Oxford. "When I first got here, it was, `Hurry
up.' For
most reality stars, it's 15 minutes of fame.

"If you think that way, it won't work out."

He and his twin brother, Ben, set up shop in a Studio City
apartment. Ben similarly has been doing background work on such
shows as "How I Met Your Mother" and "Crossing
Jordan."

"If we're not doing twin auditions, we're our truest
competition,"
Drew said.

But the more famous of the Daniel boys doesn't seem to be in any
rush to become a star.

Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, he signed up for acting classes,
had to do a little temp work — "I'm staying away from
waiting
tables" — and launched a Web site,
http://www.drewdanielonline.com/index.php?pg=home

His patience might be paying off.

"It's amazing how there's a reality TV subculture out
here," Daniel
said. "I'd see people from my show when I'd go out.
I'd see people
from `Real World' and `Amazing Race.'

"But the people who are going to make it are those who put in the
hard work behind it."

Some casting directors, he said, are against reality show
contestants.

"Because I'm taking classes, they respect that," he said.
"They see
I have a lot of respect for the craft."

Through his background work, which also included a stint on
"Bones"
as a lab tech, he earned the all-important Screen Actors Guild card.

He's also been called back for a possible three-year contract
role
on the soap "As the World Turns."

"It's three years, but I suppose I could always be killed or
go into
a coma," he said.

Reach Andrew McGinn at amcginn@...