ENTERTAINMENT
Josh Hoffman,
with trumpet, and
some of the cast
of "Teech."
R A sH
Detroiter Josh
Hoffman kept
pushing until he
landed on CBS-TV's
Teeth.'
STEVE HARTZ
Special to The Jewish News
I
he idea of doing such
a daring stunt came
to Josh Hoffman two
years ago when
visiting a friend in
Los Angeles. He knew it
could be dangerous, but Mr.
Hoffman, then 19, didn't care.
When his friend went off to
work one day, Mr. Hoffman
decided to do a little sight-
seeing — on the private back
lots of Universal Studios in
Hollywood.
Sneaking onto the sets of
various productions being
filmed, the young man hoped
to get discovered.
But, after five hours of
walking, all he got was a
bunch of blisters on his feet.
Although Mr. Hoffman was
unsuccessful in his quest for
stardom that day, all was not
lost. "I got to see what the
entertainment industry was
all about," Mr. Hoffman said.
"And I knew that being part
of it was something that's not
just a dream, but it was some-
thing that I could make hap-
pen."
Mr. Hoffman grew up in
West Bloomfield and
graduated from North Farm-
ington High School in 1988.
He excelled in school sports
such as tennis and subjects
like English.
Although he was the
number one singles player on
North Farmington's tennis
team and a talented all-
around athlete, Mr. Hoffman
put academics first.
"Josh was a very good stu-
dent, very conscientious
about his grades," said Glenn
Gearhart, Mr. Hoffman's high
school English teacher. "Josh
would come into my office
after school for help in gram-
mar. He'd memorize the rules.
"What was so astonishing
was that he applied those
memorized rules to the
language, and when he took
the test on the material he
scored the highest in the
class. Josh worked hard at be-
ing a student; he had a
tremendous drive in him."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
71