You probably recognize Scott Klace from, well, everywhere. He has had guest appearances on The District, Judging Amy, 24, Weeds, Secret Life of the American Teenager, and more! He was also a voice (or many different voices, to be exact) on King of the Hill for several years. He has recently joined the cast of Jeff Galfer’s short film “Buried Treasure” being funded by Kickstarter, which you can contribute to  here. Check out our interview with Scott Klace below!

What can you tell us about your character in “Buried Treasure”?

“I don’t want to give it away, but I play a gas station attendant who kind of enlightens the main character about a certain thing and that kind of sets him on a new path.”

How did you become involved in this project?

“I had worked for Leslie Hope [the director – read her interview here] before – I loved her on 24 when she played Mrs. Jack Bower. I ran into her almost a year ago at a reading of a play that a mutual friend had written. Unbeknownst to me, I had auditioned for a TV movie on Lifetime that she was producing. She was actually in the room, but she was in the back and so most of my conversation was directed towards the director of the film. It wasn’t until after I was cast that I saw her – and so we got to spend a little time there. She called me and asked me if I’d be willing to do this and I said absolutely!”

Do you remember what your very first job as an actor was?

“Yes I do! My very first acting job was in the 9th grade on a play called Barefoot in the Park. I played “the delivery man”. I was onstage for all of 45 seconds and literally got a standing ovation when I walked off. I was immediately hooked, much to the dismay of my basketball coach – I was a basketball player in high school and college.”

So you follow sports? What’s your favorite team?

“My favorite team professionally would be the Cleveland Browns. I have had nothing to root about for years and years, but I remain a loyal Cleveland Browns fan. And anything Ohio State – I’m from the state of Ohio, so anytime Ohio State’s on.”

Yeah, I guess you’d kind of have to.

“Yes you do. Especially if you’re from Columbus, like I am.”

What do you like most about acting/being an actor?

“I like the free time that I have. I’m a father of two girls – they’re 11 and soon-to-be 9 – so I’m able to spend a lot of time with them that I wouldn’t be able to if I had a nine-to-five job. I also coach a lot. I coach their teams – they’re both athletes – so that’s one of the things I like about it. I guess also I’ve never actually had a job; I’ve never ever worked in an office.”

What was your experience like working as a voice actor on King of the Hill versus being on-screen?

“I’ll tell you about the very first time I did it. I remember it was the season-opener for King of the Hill, but because it’s an animated show, their season-opener table-read was in January, whereas most are in July to get ready for September TV season. But I had worked all night on 24 and I had to go straight to the table-read from the set [of 24] because it was a night-shoot. All the Executives from Fox were in there, and all the actors were sitting around this table.

It was so surreal because my wife and I loved King of the Hill, and I was so tired – and almost feeling semi-hallucinatory from lack of sleep – and then all these voices started coming out of all these faces that I didn’t recognize – but I knew the voice! It was just the most amazing thing! But I absolutely had a ball on that show – I really did. I loved it and I miss it terribly, I have to say.

I think I did over 35 episodes… and never played the same character twice. It was just a lot of fun. You’re just in a sound booth with sometimes five actors at a time, with all these great actors – like Kathy Najimy, Steven Roots, and Pamela Adlon – and I became friends with a lot of them. It was a lot of laughs, let’s put it that way.”

Out of all the projects you’ve worked on, what is your most memorable?

“Well it’s different for me than it is for everybody else. For everybody else it would probably be the final episode of Seinfeld. That was one of my very first jobs out here, and I was actually only one of two actors – I think – on that episode who had never done the show before. I don’t know if you remember that episode, it was like a family reunion of sorts of all the different characters on the show. I played the guard [of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Cosmo] when they were put in jail.”

What was it like being on that set?

“It was fantastic! I mean really, I had only been here for about a year, year and a half, when that happened. It was crazy, just the whole audition process itself was quite a tale. But I had a lot of fun with it; I was there for two weeks. There were helicopters flying overhead and paparazzi at the gate. Every time you walked in or out they’d look and look, then they’d see it was just me and then just be like “Okay.” and they’d relax again. But it was a lot of fun; I had a great time on that!

I think, in terms of memorable, I’m still looking for that one memorable thing – for me personally, I should say. I’ve had some that I really liked. I mean, I just got recognized today by this woman who stopped me and was like: “I know you. I know you somehow. Are you on TV?” I said, “Oh yeah, every once in a while.” And then she said: “Criminal Minds! You did Criminal Minds!” So I’m that kind of actor. I’m the actor you think you went to high school with, you don’t really know who I am, but you just know that you have possibly seen somewhere.”

What is your favorite show (to watch) on TV right now?

“You know, there’s a couple, but I think my new favorite is Girls [on HBO]. I love that show; it is so tragically correct. I really enjoy that. I guess Mad Men is another one I’m a big fan of.”

Do you have any other projects that you are currently working on?

“I don’t right now. I mainly do television, and about 85% of television shows are on hiatus for another few weeks or so.”

I’ve seen you on several episodes of Secret Life. Can we look forward to seeing you on any upcoming episodes?

“I’m not right now, I don’t think anyway. I don’t know what’s going on with that show. It’s funny because I think it was down for quite a while. One of the girls that plays basketball – I don’t coach her but I know her – came up to me a while back and said that she had just saw me on an episode, and I was like “that episode is just coming on?” It wasn’t a repeat. But I don’t know. I’m always the last to know.”

And for the last question: If you could star in the re-make of any classic movie, which movie (and role) would you most want to do?

“I have to think for a second, I really want to get this one right. You know what I’d like a crack at? And it’s nothing against [Gene Hackman] – he did a great job – but I’d like a crack at Hoosiers, the basketball movie [as the coach]. It’s a story about a college coach who ended up – in the heat of a battle – punching one his own players and got fired, obviously. He ended up in a small town Indiana, where basketball is king. It was a very small school, I think they had like 60 kids in the whole school. He ended up taking them to win the state championship. The only time a small school has ever won in the history of Indiana basketball.”

Author: Brittany  (@ItEntertainsMe)