Unafraid of the dark

Jeremy Sisto gets around. In the last three years he has portrayed Jesus and Julius Caesar on TV, played Jennifer Lopez’s dysfunctional brother (“Angel Eyes”) on film and stunned cable viewers as a creepily charming, bipolar sexual predator who’s obsessed with his own sister (HBO’s “Six Feet Under”).

But for the last two weeks, Sisto has been going nowhere fast at the Blank Theatre Company. Sitting alone, center stage, he plays a nameless corporate peon on the verge of losing his job who passes the time by reviewing his tragicomic string of failures and frustrations.

The one-man show, ironically titled “Sanguine,” was written two years ago by Los Angeles-bred wunderkind Andy Hyman when he was 19, and was first staged by Sisto and director Jon Shear at Blank’s 2001 Young Playwrights Festival.

When a break in his “Six Feet Under” schedule popped up five weeks ago, Sisto phoned Blank’s artistic director, Daniel Henning, and suggested a quickie revival.

“Jeremy is not one of those guys who waits for the phone to ring,” says Henning, who directed Sisto in a 1996 Blank production of “Breaking the Code.” “Whether it’s a big TV movie or a tiny little independent thing, it’s important for him to keep working constantly, and I find that refreshing.”

Following a performance last week, Sisto, wearing wrinkled jeans and T-shirt, materialized in the tiny lobby, where he signed a few autographs, hugged his mom, actress Reedy Gibbs, then walked to a nearby cafe to talk about “Sanguine.”

“The funny thing about this guy in ‘Sanguine’ is, he really does try,” Sisto says over a cup of steaming tea. “He [complains] a lot, but he puts an earnest effort forth in trying to get what he wants in life. He’s in a constant state of wanting. He’s constantly unsatisfied. And I think there’s some of that in all of us. To me that’s a big part of life.”

Sisto’s “Sanguine” man also has a hard time dealing with rejection. Sisto has been a professional actor for two decades. He’s been there.

Growing up in Chicago, Sisto appeared at age 11 opposite Brian Dennehy in Goodman Theatre’s 1986 production of “Galileo.” In 1991, Sisto, then 16, played Kevin Kline and Mary McDonnell’s son in “Grand Canyon.” He moved to Los Angeles two years later, eager for more film work.

That’s when the jobs came to a screeching halt. “I didn’t get work for a year, and then my agent dropped me. I thought, ‘What am I doing out here?’ ” he recounts. “I took this acting class and decided I wanted to play weird characters, people that I didn’t understand. I was a transsexual, I was a serial killer. That’s where I started to play dark characters.

“In my early 20s, I was obsessive,” Sisto continues. “I remember when we did ‘White Squall,’ Ridley Scott basically said to me, ‘You don’t have to care this much.’ Because we were doing a true story, I was like, ‘I have the responsibility of all these dead kids that died on this boat.’ I just had this absurd notion of my own importance.”

The 28-year-old actor has been taking show biz a little less seriously, although he’s still capable of conjuring up life-or-death intensity when the part calls for it. On “Six Feet Under,” Sisto’s Billy can be sullen, seductive, filled with rage or decimated by self-loathing, depending on whether he’s taken his medication.

“With Billy, you know, there are sides of myself that are dark and scared,” Sisto explains. “That’s all it is: fear and panic. Sometimes you’re able to layer more stuff on it; sometimes you just discover the words that they’ve written. Who knows how that happens?”

In the case of his “Sanguine” antihero, Sisto explains, “I’m trying to let out that side of me that is him, because I’ve got a huge side of me that is that guy -- insecure and self-doubting and dorky and unable to socialize and all that stuff.”

The contingent of female admirers at a recent performance might disagree with that “dorky” self-assessment, but there’s no question that Sisto can make even his most misguided characters somewhat sympathetic. “Jeremy shows you stuff that isn’t necessarily something you would admire in a character, and yet he gives you very direct, easy access to it,” director Shear says. “He’s got these deep-set eyes that allow you to see deeper things.

“With Jeremy, if he thinks it, you see it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s on camera or you’re in the back of the house, it comes across.”

Exploiting his intense gaze while playing against his still-boyish good looks, Sisto has managed to keep the roles rolling in, with 27 films to his credit and counting. “U-Boat,” “Wrong Turn,” “Thirteen” and “In Memory of My Father” are due out later this year; in April he begins filming “1.0,” a sci-fi film he’s co-producing in Poland.

But first there are a few more nights of “Sanguine,” and Sisto says he’s psyched for the ride. “There are sides of this play that are truly insightful coming from someone so young. There are certain things that seem like it would be a 19-year-old’s point of view, and that doesn’t make it bad, it makes it great.”

Just to be clear, Sisto says that even during his most dejected career lows, he never became as miserable as his veering-into-madness “Sanguine” character.

“When I was younger, I could be pretty bitter. I still have moments, but I think I’ve gotten pretty good at rejection. I was never like this guy in ‘Sanguine.’ I was never that neurotic.”

*

‘Sanguine’

Where: 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood

When: Thursdays-Fridays,

8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 and 9 p.m.

Ends: Saturday

Price: $15

Contact: (323) 661-9827