CLEVELAND – Charlie Korsmo has quite the interesting resume. The Case Western Reserve University law professor has degrees from two prestigious universities in addition to a past working with Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Bill Murray and Warren Beatty.
Korsmo grew up on the silver screen in movies like "Hook", "Dick Tracy" and "What About Bob?" before he decided Hollywood wasn’t for him. He gave up acting for a while to attend high school before going on to MIT. After college, Charlie moved to Washington D.C. for a job, before deciding a law degree would help his career, so he went to Yale Law School and eventually settled into a teaching job.
“When I first started, I was nervous about it and it was awkward. I remember my first student evaluations, one person had said he never addressed the elephant in the room. I’m going in there for the first time to teach a class and I’m like, I hope nobody brings up 'Can’t Hardly Wait,'” Korsmo said.
Now eight years into teaching at Case Western, the former actor blends in as a professor.
“For the first time, I’m starting to see a generation of students who didn’t really grow up with those movies. They’re starting to be too young for "Hook" to have been a movie they saw as kids," Korsma said.
“Within 20 minutes of talking about corporate finance in class, nobody is thinking about movies anymore,” Korsmo continued.
Charlie looks back on the roles of Jack Banning, Siggy Marvin, Kid and William Lichter very fondly. He says he had the most fun in his brief return to Hollywood for "Can’t Hardly Wait", but that wasn’t his shining accomplishment.
“In terms of movies that I look back on the performance and I’m pleased with, I’d say 'Dick Tracy,'” Korsmo said.
Although he misses acting from time to time, he says he made the right decision to leave the movie industry behind him.
Korsmo added, “I’m happy with the way things turned out. I quit at the right time. Every few months, someone will send me some article on the internet where I’m always the counter example to all the former child stars who are in rehab at this point. So yeah, I was very fortunate.”