Bay Life, The Tampa Tribune, November 10, 2000

"Tampa native proves popular on WB sitcom"

Robert Gant, a former homecoming king at Chamberlain High School, plays the uptight principal on the Friday night teen satire "Popular." The Tampa native loves Ybor City and news of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

TAMPA - Robert Gant doesn't think of himself as being old enough to play a high school principal.

He's only 32.

And as an actor, he has been on a lot of sitcom dates with characters such as Phoebe on "Friends" and Caroline on "Caroline in the City,"

He has even kissed Claudia Schiffer in a foreign car commercial.

How cool is that?

But "Friends" characters are ancient compared with the teens who populate The WB programs.

So Gant is the weird adult, Calvin Krupps, the uptight principal on The WB's over-the-top teen comedy, "Popular."

"Usually, I'm cast as 'the date' or 'the boyfriend,' so I've had to adjust to playing this eccentric Machiavellian character," says the Tampa native.

Gant has been prominently featured in recent episodes of the 9 p.m. Friday series. Principal Krupp is at war with nasty teen seductress Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels) and has banned her from Kennedy High's cheerleading squad.

Nicole will do anything to get even with Krupp, including trying to set him up for blackmail with a faked sexy video.

"Some of the things on this show are so outrageous because it's a satire on high school, " Gant says.

The series is a mix of social commentary, scathing comedy, pop culture references and raging hormones (a requirement on The WB). It's also getting a reputation for luring interesting guest stars such as Peggy Upton, Delta Burke and Michelle Phillips.

The comedy focuses on being popular in high school by following the relationship between Sam (Carly Pope) and Brooke (Leslie Bibb), rivals who are forced by circumstances to become stepsisters.

Tonight's episode is another wild one, centering on the race for homecoming queen.

Gant says it doesn't seem all that long ago he was the homecoming king at Chamberlain High.

"At the time, it was the most important thing in the world, putting on a full headdress as the Chamberlain Chief," he said during a recent telephone interview. "But now I see it from a different perspective as an adult and as an actor on a series that takes a jaundiced view of high school."

In High School, he was known as Bobby Gonzalez. He changed his name after he moved to Hollywood and started seriously pursuing an acting career.

Gant says he actually started acting as a child. By the time he was in fifth grade, he had a national commercial under his belt. He recalls being in a television commercial for Cheerios.

"I remember that we were promoting that every box contained 'Battlestar Galactica' trading cards," he says.

He studied dancing, too, and began entertaining at USO shows at MacDill Air Force Base. He recalls doing a soft-shoe routine at age 11 with entertainer Bob Hope, who came through on a USO tour.

In high school, he played football and was in a barbershop quartet. He was in the high school production of "Grease," too.

After high school, his acting career took a detour.

"I thought a career in law would be more stable," he says, noting that 95 percent of the actors in this country make less than $5,000 a year.

He studied law at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to Georgetown Law School. He kept his foot in acting, however, appearing in college theater productions.

In 1993, with law degree in hand, he landed a job at the Baker & McKenzie firm in the company's Los Angeles office.

After four months on the job, he began to get restless. Spending hours in the law library wasn't nearly as satisfying as acting, he says.

When Baker & McKenzie closed its Los Angeles office in early 1994. Gant decided to stick around California and go for the spotlight.

He began getting minor guest roles on TV series such as "Ellen," "Melrose Place," "Step by Step," "My So-Called Life" and others. He also started getting work in commercials.

In 1996, he became The Good Humor Man in a series of commercials that revived an ice cream company's legendary symbol, an ice cream delivery man in a white suit and black bow tie. Gant was the center of a $7 million campaign to promote the Good Humor brand.

He Continued to make guest appearances on TV shows.

"People were advising me to go into soap operas," he says. "But I didn't want to be boxed in the soaps. I'm basically a character actor in a leading man's body.

"I played a guy who dated Phoebe [Lisa Kudrow] on 'Friends,' and I was a serious contender for Caroline [Lea Thompson] in nine episodes of 'Caroline in the City,'" he says. He also had roles on "Becker" and "Veronica's Closet."

Last season, he landed a recurring role as Vice Principal Krupps on "Popular." He joined the cast full time this season after the actor who played the principal became seriously ill.

'So far, he's having a blast, playing the grown-up the cliques of Kennedy High, where "the only taboo is being unpopular."

"This show has a heightened sense of reality," he says. "It was created by a former journalist [former Rolling Stone reporter Ryan Murphy] whose views on high school mirror my own."

Gant, who is single, says he often thinks of his hometown. "Tampa holds a special place in my heart," he says. "You can get caught up in pursuing a career out here, but I love to go back. I love Ybor, and I always get excited when I hear about Tampa or the Bucs."