Deeply moving, heart wrenching, and inspiring, Raymond J. Barry offers readers insights into what it takes to survive a violent upbringing, to excel in sports, to be swept away by theater, and to barely earn a living while trying to make it as an artist and an actor for 20 years; before finally garnering significant recognition beginning in the 1980s, in such films as Year of the Dragon, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Man Walking, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Made in Chinatown and on television series including X-Files, The 100, Gotham and Justified.