Robert A. Parise

When I was a little kid, my dad sat me down and showed me all three of the original Indiana Jones films back to back. I'm not sure that he knew, at the time, what he'd done, but he'd changed things for me completely. I had seen the Star Wars films already, and I liked characters like Luke and Han, but they were characters so far away from me that it was a disconnected admiration. Indiana Jones wasn't some unreachable hero from a far-off galaxy; he was everything, in my mind, that a good man ought to be. He was something I could live up to, to an extent and in my childhood imagination anyway. Indy was all of the things I admired about my dad and both my grandfathers boiled down and distilled. He was rugged, handsome, daring, kind when he had to be and tough when it counted. I think if I went back in time today and told my kid self that, at 20, I still haven't become a globe-trotting, whip-wielding, fortune-and-glory-seeking procurer of rare antiquities, little 8 year old me would never be able to forgive it. Indiana Jones launched in me a sense of adventure, of exploration. The influence of those films drove me to ask questions, never take things at face value, and always dig deeper. They gave me the will to explore new places, try "exotic" foods (I'm sure my mother loved Indy for this one) and try to live my own little adventures. Much of my time I spent in the local library reading as much about history as I could, soaking up the information I was sure that Indy had stored away under his beat-up hat. My teen years were no different, finding me exploring all of the abandoned houses, bridges, etc. in my home town, often alone as my friends thought I was nuts. Usually, I found nothing of consequence, but sometimes one clue would have me back in the library looking up records, and then I had a story. It was no longer just some beat up house in the woods, now it had history that I could connect to. Everything was exciting and new and nothing was "just a...." Harrison Ford, in his portrayal of Indy, was one of the inspirations for me to act. Not only was Indiana Jones someone I could relate to, Harrison Ford was too! The story of a carpenter who, on a chance encounter, made it to play the greatest adventurer on the silver screen was an enormous influence on my decision to go into acting. My dad was a builder so I spent many a day with him at construction sites, and the idea that, at one time, my childhood idol was just like the men in boots and work-belts around me made that a much more attainable goal. Indiana Jones wasn't just a character in a film I liked. Indiana Jones was everything I ever wanted to become. And being the hero he was, he gave me the push I needed to get there. Am I a world-famous archaeologist who travels all over the world in search of lost treasures? No. But Indiana Jones made me an adventurer in my own way. He gave me a thirst for history and discovery, a willingness to embrace new experiences, and the inspiration to pursue a career as an actor. Without Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford, I would have grown up a very different man than I am today.