As Back Stage’s roundtable interview with Tim DeKay, Carla Gugino, and Gabriel Macht wound down, the topic turned to their first professional gigs. Egging each other on, the three actors gleefully recounted how they got their starts in film, TV, and theater.

Gabriel Macht: I was 8 years old, and my first film was “Why Would I Lie.” Nobody saw it. I was up for a Youth in Film Award. Gary Coleman gave the award. Ricky Schroder took it. Benji sat at the table, and he ate off his master’s fork. My first television gig…I think it was “90210,” the old years.

Carla Gugino: Uh-huh, uh-huh. I’m gonna have something to one-up you, in terms of humor.

Macht: Oh, I think I did a day on “Another World,” if we want to go into soaps. Theater. My first professional play was “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” Off-Broadway. I loved it.

Tim DeKay: My first play where I got paid was “Othello” with Avery Brooks and Andre Braugher. My first television gig was for “All My Children.” I auditioned for the role of Augustus, so I thought I should do an accent in the audition. Which didn’t bode well, but I finally was able to get the role without the accent. And then the role became Andy, not Augustus. And by the time we got to the set, it was called Guard. And I went to the woman on “All My Children,” I can’t remember her name, and I said, “Is there any way you could call me Andy?” And she said, “No problem, sweetie.” Like she knew. And the first big film I did was called “Big Eden.”

Gugino: The first television gig I did was a guest spot on “Who’s the Boss?”

Macht: Yes!

DeKay: Nice!

Gugino: Followed by “Webster” and “Alf.” Yes! I really did. And then my first movie I did was “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” with Winona Ryder. And the first kind-of-significant movie I did was “This Boy’s Life.” But significant in another way—the only time I ever lied about my age to get a job was “Troop Beverly Hills” with Shelley Long. And I was 16 at the time, but I said I was 14, and I found out later they wouldn’t have hired me if they’d known I was 16. Totally worth lying. And in theater, the first play I did, I played Curley’s wife in “Of Mice and Men” at the Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York. And then the first play I did on Broadway was Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall.” Just such a lucky thing to have done that. I had a pretty good eclectic mix there, right?