Though he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in acting, these days he is reading a somewhat different script. Gilmore has been working full time at a Manhattan advertising agency as a creative assistant - a job he took after his January graduation, where he handles phones, files and paperwork. He says with acceptance, "Everyone starts at the bottom: you have to put in your time," but luckily he is already on his way to a career as a working actor. Gilmore - everyone calls him "Hunter" - was recently cast in an off-Broadway production of Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure."

Gilmore has put time into acting since childhood in Oxford, Mississippi. In a cultured drawl he describes the "very small, conservative little southern town" where he was raised to be formal and polite. He started acting in third grade and by age 14 was taking in-depth actor training. The graduate of Greenville, South Carolina's Fine Arts Center also attended the University of Georgia during recent summers to hasten his graduation from college.

"During the process, it seemed harder than it actually was," he says of his college experience. Now he longs to share good times with friends and play on the campus Great Lawn.

At C.W. Post, Gilmore helped fellow students because he had "this instinctual nurturing side. Acting needs to be a very humble learning experience: you're learning as much from classmates as they're learning from you."

C.W. Post helped him make the transition from "a safety-net college life to a whirling big-city life. It's very altered, going from a state of mutual sharing to being the underdog," he comments. Drawing on his formal upbringing, he practices courtesy in an industry some describe as "a jungle, where it's all about who you know."

He has considered going to law school and practicing entertainment law, but he says he can't just give up acting cold turkey. "I just want to be a working actor and make enough to live. There are so few actors who can say they can do that." So he auditions for television, film and commercial work. Because he looks younger than his 22 years, he sees himself as a youngish Brad Pitt, a TV "WB" type. But he loves theatre: "There's nothing like it, that interaction with the audience."

Gilmore forced himself out of his comfort zone when he came to New York all alone-but his years at C.W. Post introduced him to new experiences and great personal growth. Under the guidance of many dedicated and supportive educators, he sought out and found his own voice - and what a trained actor's voice it can be.

On Sunday, May 12, Gilmore will join 1,500 graduates at C.W. Post's 44th annual commencement exercises. C.W. Post is one of six campuses of Long Island University, the eighth largest private university in the United States.