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Stories abound about the length to which American character player/writer Jonathan Sadowski ventured to pay his dues as an aspiring Hollywood talent and gain that elusive "in" to the club of the elite. Some of the anecdotes are confirmed, and some are not, but the fact that Sadowski traveled that well-worn road of many an actor by waiting tables is undeniable. The then-hopeful took a job at the Sunset Boulevard diner called The Griddle Café; he and fellow server/screenwriting partner Ben Branstrader subsequently authored a script called "This Man Smith," and pitched it, tableside, to producer J.C. Spink (of The Ring and Monster-in-Law fame) when the mogul came in for a bite in 2005. Spink reportedly signed the young men on the spot.

Sadowski cut his acting chops far more quickly than he received onscreen writing credit, however, and the performer (who had already enjoyed a favorable run on American Dreams prior to his impromptu meeting with Spink) continued to make appearances in Hollywood A-list features over the next several years. These included Paul in She's the Man (2006), director Andy Fickman's teen comic update of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Trey in the Bruce Willis actioner Live Free or Die Hard (2007). Sadowski also signed for a role in the Ryan Shiraki-directed farce Spring Breakdown (2008), about a trio of thirtysomething girls who decide to crash a spring break resort popular with college coeds.