Ntare Mwine Is New Kid in the Spotlight in ‘Six Degrees’

You could call Ntare Mwine the new kid on the block.

“I’ve never done any film or TV,� announces the 25-year-old actor, who has the lead role of Paul--a charming con man claiming to be Sidney Poitier’s son--in John Guare’s “Six Degrees of Separation� at the Doolittle Theatre. A recent MFA graduate of New York University, Mwine notes: “This is my first professional gig; I’m used to playing to 100 seats at NYU. Press night was probably the scariest night of my life. I think I had an out-of-body experience.�

The Uganda-born Mwine, son of a Harvard Law School-educated attorney, recalls an early interest in acting. “My mom put me on ‘Romper Room’ and I auditioned for ‘Zoom,’ � he says. “But I never really did anything about it.� It wasn’t until he went away to a Canadian boarding school in the ninth grade that he found himself drawn to theater; yet even in college, he concentrated on rugby and a political science major.

“I think I took five years off my dad’s life when I told him I wanted to be an actor,� chuckles Mwine, who is currently basking in his first-ever autographs requests (“Can you believe it?�).

In spite of his initial performance jitters, the actor is very happy with his role as Paul, a disarming and disturbing presence vaulted into the sheltered lives of his unsuspecting hosts.

“The character has so many angles,� he says. “It was very difficult to work on--not his nature, but the nature of the show itself. In pacing and size, it’s almost operatic. And we had to break it down to the shape the director wanted: no pauses, no breaks. There’s no time to think--just go .�

New to Los Angeles, Mwine (who reports that his New York friends are finding his sudden star status “very amusing�) has yet to form any impressions of the city.

“I haven’t really seen anything of L.A.,� he admits. “I’ve either been in the rehearsal hall or in my room. I’ve got to get out sometime.�