Sterry, David Henry 1957-

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STERRY, David Henry 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born June 2, 1957 in Dover, NJ; married Michael Amy Cira (divorced); married Arielle Eckstut, July, 5, 2002. Education: Reed College, B.A. (English). Politics: "Everyone should have enough to eat and a warm place to sleep." Religion: "Humanistic Neo-Pagan." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, baseball, team handball, eradicating sexual exploitation of children, stopping world hunger, ending homelessness, acting, soccer, table tennis, golf, movies, laughing, music, Popeye, photography.

ADDRESSES:

Home—112 Auburn St., San Rafael, CA 94901. Agent—Mark Reiter, IMG, New York, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and actor. Has worked for HBO, A.T. & T., Isuzu, Levi's, the television show Fresh Prince of Bel Air; screen writer for Disney Studios and Twentieth Century-Fox. Also worked variously as a cherry picker, soda jerk, limo driver, marriage counselor, cartoon character, voice artist and pitch doctor.

MEMBER:

Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Writers Guild of America.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Four Clio Awards; named Cabaret Performer of the Year.

WRITINGS:

Satchel Sez, Random House (New York, NY), 2001.

Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent, Regan Books/HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Private Dancer, Madison Review, and Long Island Review.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Master of Ceremonies: A True Story of Love, Murder, and Chippendale's, and Working Stiffs: Men in the Sex Business.

SIDELIGHTS:

David Henry Sterry is a writer and actor who has had a varied background. In addition to working in theater and television, and performing a number of odd jobs in his lifetime, Sterry was employed as a sex worker in the 1970s. His memoir Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent chronicles his year as a male prostitute in Hollywood.

When Sterry arrived for his first year of college in California, he realized that there were no dorms to live in and ended up wandering the streets. He was soon enticed by a man offering him a steak dinner, and woke up hours later in a scary and abusive situation. The man had stolen all of his money. Soon thereafter Sterry was hired to work at Hollywood Fried Chicken; a week later his boss helped him become a gigolo: a well-paid, teenaged escort servicing love-hungry women in Beverly Hills. The next year of his life is detailed in Chicken, which, Sterry explained in an online interview with Book Browser, he wrote in order to answer the question "How did a nice boy like me, from a nice family, with a good education, end up in this strange, savage, and abusive world, as a young man for rent?"

The memoir describes Sterry's painful, yet sometimes hilarious encounters with men and women in the prostitution scene of Los Angeles, all juxtaposed against his double-life as a student at a Catholic college, complete with a girlfriend and philosophy classes. Ted Leventhal in Booklist commented that while Sterry's story is, in places, "too concise and literary …the horror and incredulity of his lost years are not lost on the reader." A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that while "Sterry doesn't seem to trust its basic appeal and relies on a gimmicky …prose style …the material here is fascinating."

Sterry made Chicken into a "1-Ho Show," which he performed in San Francisco and planned to take to the Edingburgh Fringe Festival. Chicken has also been optioned for film.

Sterry has also published a book with his wife, Arielle Eckstut, titled Satchel Sez: The Wit, Wisdom, and World of Leroy "Satchel" Paige. The book includes trivia about Paige's life, and lots of quotes from the famous player, along with a collection of snapshots. David Marasco of TDA Book Review called this volume "a wonderful little book."

Sterry told CA: "I've been writing since before I can remember. My wife says I have a writing disorder.

"Woody Allen says there are only two things in life you can control: art and masturbation. I like to combine these activities whenever possible. I write for hours and hours while I watch movies (Bottle Rocket, Trainspotting, Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, etc.) and sports—English premier soccer is the best.

"My influences are Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Irvine Welch, Jerry Stahl, Anthony Burgess, Buster Keaton, Satchel Paige, Kurt Vonnegut, Nick Drake, John Mantyn, Willie Dixon, Earl Fatha Hines, Reverend Gary Davis, Van Morrison, Roberto CLemente, Ernie Banks, Popeye, Casey Stengel, Christopher Guest, etc.

"I wrote Satchel Sez because he was my hero. I wrote Chicken, my memoir, to save my life."