In high school I lived a childhood dream of being an actor, acting in several plays in my junior & senior years. All though it was “only high school”, I took it very seriously and it became my passion.

After graduating high school I went to college to study Theatre Arts. I was going to be a famous actor! Before going to New York to start my career, I decided to get a sales job and save a little money. As it turned out, I discovered that I was pretty good at selling stuff, and decided against waiting on tables and starving the rest of my life. I worked several sales jobs until my father quit his job as national sales manager for a fastener company to start his own business with my mother & brother, Gerhardt Corporation, an automotive and industrial distributor. The company became very successful and grew over the years until the early 1990’s when my father developed dementia which eventually leads to Alzheimer’s. He became very stubborn, made poor decisions and wouldn’t listen to anyone. He was not diagnosed until 1995 when he lost the family business. I started my own business, H. Gerhardt Supply, and used my garage & basement as my warehouse and have been doing so ever since.

Since 1978 I have been married to my fabulous wife, the former Sandra Glod, a 1976 Mt. Lebanon graduate. Sandy owns a hair salon in Scott Towne Center called Little Snips, where they specialize in cutting children’s hair. We have two sons, Phillip & Matthew. Phillip is married, lives in Northern Virginia, and works as an intelligence analyst, keeping us safe from the “bad guys”. He and his wife April have blessed us with two lovely granddaughters, Alysa & Abby. Matthew is working at Lenders Services reviewing loan appraisals and recently became engaged to Cassidy Fox while we were all vacationing in Hawaii this past July.

When I turned 40 I decided revive my long slumbering acting career, and began acting in plays at several local theatres. I reached my goal, to act professionally, at The City Theatre. I got an agent and have been fortunate to have worked as a professional actor in over one hundred commercials, voiceovers, print (Yes, I was a male model. Sometimes they need fat, bald guys) industrials and films, of which I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

This week I will be traveling to Philadelphia where I have the “lead role” in filming a Pennsylvania Lottery commercial, which will be playing this holiday season and hopefully many years to come. Dreams do come true!