Actor Dan Cortese Takes Quick Route to Stardom

Seems like everyone these days is willing to take a chance on Dan Cortese, a fast-talking 25-year-old with an earring, a bandanna and an infectious, in-your-face attitude.

MTV was willing to do so in early 1992 when the lowly production assistant begged his way into a tryout as host of the start-up series “MTV Sports” and won the job, despite having no professional on-camera experience.

Burger King rolled the dice on Cortese last October with “BK TeeVee,” a $150-million national TV campaign.

Warner Bros. recently invited Cortese to do a cameo role in “Demolition Man,” a big-budget action film starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.

And now, courtesy of NBC, one of the lead roles in a prime-time remake of the classic “Route 66” TV series.

Not bad for a kid who graduated from the University of North Carolina three years ago and immediately drove to Los Angeles in a beat-up Toyota Corolla hatchback with a few bucks in his pocket.

“If you would have told me when the first ‘MTV Sports’ show aired that in a year the show would be that successful, and I’d be leading a $150-million ad campaign and starring in an hourlong weekly television show for NBC, I’d have said . . . no,” Cortese said on the set of “Route 66,” running his fingers through his shock of long, dark hair.

“That was something, to be quite honest, that I’d envisioned for myself and hoped for myself,” he said. “But to get to that point in such a short amount of time--it kind of blows my mind.”

These days, Cortese, engaged to his college girlfriend, rubs shoulders with the famous athletes and celebrities who drop in on “MTV Sports” and studies acting. Other than a few school plays, his previous experience is quite limited.

“I was on a real, real cheesy college soap opera called ‘General College,’ ” he said. The Pennsylvania native played an upstart freshman soccer goalie who fell off the eighth-floor balcony of his dormitory and was paralyzed from the waist down, resulting in the loss of his scholarship. “But in the meantime, I still had enough energy to have sex with my nurse in my wheelchair,” he said, laughing.

Signing on to do “Route 66” was a difficult choice, given that ABC, CBS and Fox had all offered to develop series for him, built around his sarcastic MTV persona. He loved the script but still hesitated.

“I initially read it,” he said, “and I didn’t know if I wanted to do it. ‘Cause it’s tough. I mean, you got so many different people throwin’ so many different things your way, and everybody’s telling you it’s the best thing for you. The reluctance was just, you know, I didn’t want to pick this one and then have another one I turned down go platinum.”

Although “Route 66” may be the highest point in his young career, Cortese does not regard the role as a make-or-break opportunity. He’s under contract to MTV and Burger King for another year, so this is just another chance to show off.

“I really think MTV is a great vehicle for me to showcase the talents that I have because the whole show’s ad-lib,” Cortese said. “I can do anything I want to do. I view this as a great showcase for me but in a different sense, as far as acting. Nobody has ever seen me act before. I want to pull it off and convince some people that, hey, this guy isn’t just some punk off the street who sets out with his MTV camera crew and has fun.”