Eric Nenninger has made a career out of playing the heavy. From his first role in a preschool nativity play, as "the innkeeper that told Mary and Joseph to keep it movin'," to roles as sarcastic jock Scotty Braddock in high school horror flick Jeepers Creepers II and Cadet Eric Hansen on TV's Malcolm in the Middle, the classically trained actor has seen his share of tough-guy action.
His latest turn is similarly macho. The 29-year-old Ladue High School grad snared a key role in Generation Kill, a seven-part Band of Brothers–style miniseries premiering this month on HBO. Based on a book by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright, it tells the story of the video game–obsessed boy- Marines who led the U.S. military's push into Iraq in 2003.
Nenninger's character, Captain America (the nickname of real-life Capt. David McGraw), is "a big overzealous, excitable guy. He would basically charge right in," says the actor, describing a scene the series reenacts where the men storm what turns out to be an abandoned airfield in Humvees—and ultimately question their leader's sanity.
After wrapping the six-month shoot in the South African desert, Nenninger returned home to L.A. for some downtime with his wife and son. He's planning to return to his true home this month, though, to take in a Cubs-Cards game and visit longtime friends Rob Fulstone (a.k.a. D.J. Crucial) and Roo Yawitz, part owner of the Gramophone.
What won't be on the agenda? A beer-pong face-off with Yawitz: "When I went away to establish a family, cultivate a career in the arts, he stayed here and honed his beer-pong skills," Nenninger quips. "He would pretty much destroy me."
