The journey from Worland to Hollywood

WORLAND - "When I was growing up in Worland, I was a little punk with a rat-tail," remembers K. Harrison Sweeney. "If it hadn't been for a few great teachers, and finally discovering acting, I probably would've ended up at the Boys School or in jail."

For Sweeney, a 1996 graduate and valedictorian of Worland High School (then known as Kevin Schneider), the road from Worland to Hollywood has been a long journey of self-determination, hard work, and recognizing opportunity as it appears. "You've got to take as many shortcuts as you can," Sweeney said.

Sweeney's achievements, from a full-ride scholarship in fine arts to the University of Wyoming, where he majored in drama, a string of gigs as a character actor and stand-up comic, to upcoming co-starring roles in a major motion picture featuring Ethan Hawke and a new series on Netflix, he attributes to familiar inspiration and the desire to escape small-town life. "I was a real troublemaker until my sister inspired me to do more. I realized pretty fast that if I wanted to accomplish anything I would have to study my ass off and actually work."

Transitioning from stage work in Laramie to film jobs in Los Angeles has taught Sweeney a lot about his craft, and how to maneuver in a competitive environment of auditions and self-promotion. "You can study acting all you want," Sweeney said, "but you really have to try to master all of the tools that go along with the business. It's pretty much 24/7 promotion. Emails, websites, electronic casting calls and resumes ... it's pretty few and far between when you meet an actual casting director these days. You walk into an audition and it's all digital. You scan your smartphone when you check in and it's all there: headshots, resume, previous clips. I never really took the business end into account, so it's been a lot to learn."

Growing up on a steady stream of television, cartoons in particular, it wasn't long until Sweeney developed a talent for accents and voices, a skill he's parlayed into a successful niche as an actor. "I grew up with TV as a babysitter," remarked Sweeney. His mother, former Worland police dispatcher Janette Johnson, and stepfather, former Worland Chief of Police Allen Tolley, were rarely home due to busy work schedules. "I used to mimic all of the voices and mannerisms I saw on television, until I had them mastered," Sweeney said. The practice paid off, as some of Sweeney's first mainstream roles were as an Australian for Foster's beer commercials, and the character of "Irish" for the popular Rock Star video game "Red Dead Redemption."

Lately, as Sweeney has had more success with on-screen roles in major and independent film, he's concentrating on shedding the "funny fat guy" characters he's been aligned with in the past. "Man, I've fired [talent] reps for being pigeonholed into 'Jack Black' roles." Sweeney is also careful about the roles he accepts, turning down commercial work for companies he doesn't agree with, or finds their products harmful. "I was raised pretty simply and my parents were always supportive. I'm not a 'yes' man for anybody, because then you've blown the responsibility that comes with your profession," Sweeney said. "It's never a good idea to betray the people that encouraged you to the point you are in now. I've turned down work because the end product was just garbage."

One role Sweeney is excited and proud of is that of Billy Baxter, a travelling salesman in horror director Ti West's 2016 western feature "In a Valley of Violence," featuring Ethan Hawke, John Travolta and Taissa Farmiga. "There's a whole choreography to my character in that film," Sweeney said, "but I can't say too much until the movie comes out."

The film, concerning a gunfighter's quest for vengeance in the Old West, was filmed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, during the summer. The night before initial filming, Sweeney nervously practiced his lines and body language by the hotel swimming pool. "I took a few things down there and stood at an empty table and kind of warmed up with my lines and movements until I figured out what I wanted to do the next day in front of the cameras," noted Sweeney. "Being a western, the Victorian language takes some getting used to. There's definitely a certain rhythm that you have to work out for it to sound right." The next morning, during the first take of his first scene, Sweeney flubbed and had to do a retake. "Having all of the sound people and cables and cameramen and all that is super distracting," Sweeney remembered with a laugh. On the second take, he nailed the scene. "Other actors came up to me afterward and really showed their appreciation. After that, the whole nervous thing just went away and the rest of the shoot was a blast."

Sweeney (who legally changed his name after high school as a tribute to Harrison Ford and Worland teacher Charlie Sweeney) is set to co-star in an original Netflix series starting in 2016, entitled "Lady Dynamite." He readily admits that his progress so far is a long stretch from his youth in Worland.

Back in 1996, as the first McDonald's was preparing to open in Worland, Sweeney and some friends camped out the night before so they could be the first in line for the new restaurant. "That big yellow "M" on the Worland skyline felt like the bright lights of the big city to me," recalls Sweeney. "We were just kids with the whole world in front of us." Today, as Sweeney lives among the hectic world of Los Angeles, he still retains ties to his roots in northern Wyoming. "I'm the guy that's always talking about "Wyoming this, and Wyoming that ...' how we do things back in Wyoming. My friends think it's pretty funny," Sweeney said.

With an eye on the future, Sweeney hopes to someday have a body of work that enables him to return to Wyoming comfortably, and start a film production company based out of the Cowboy State. He's also contemplating changing his name back to Kevin Schneider, to honor his father, retired U.S. Navy submariner and Worland resident Darrell Schneider. "I can definitely see myself coming home someday," Sweeney said, "with a big old fence around my property so I can fight off the zombies."