Leaving LA: Two Actors, JC Quinn and Wayne Powers, leave Los Angeles for Charlotte, NC; interview by Allan Maurer

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Leaving L.A.

Two Actors Desert The City of Angels for The Queen City

Originally published in Charlotte Magazine in slightly different form. This version copyright Allan Maurer, 2004.

By Allan Maurer

(We are sorry to note that The Internet Movie Database reports J.C. Quinn died in a car crash in Mexico in 2004.)

Actor J.C. Quinn recalled riding around Los Angeles with Sean Penn on New Year's Eve, 1984. After leaving a party at Stevie Nicks', they stopped at a private club called On the Rocks. Quinn found himself at the bar with Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty at two minutes after midnight.

Quinn, then a Charlotte resident, said, "I was looking in the mirror behind the bar thinking, well, it's New Year's Eve and I don't have a date, but I don't feel too bad. Neither does Jack or Warren."

Hobnobbing with stars is the glamorous side of Los Angeles.

Wayne Powers, another LA to Charlotte transplant, starred in NBC's highly rated hospital sitcom 13 East several years ago, capping a long career as a character actor in shows ranging from Laverne and Shirley to Murder She Wrote.

Traveling the country doing promos for his NBC hit, Powers relates, "In one interview after another -- I still have some of the clips-- I would say, 'You have a great town here. This would be a great place to bring up kids.'

"My boys were on their way home from private school one day in LA and were almost caught in a gang shoot out. I knew we had to get out of there."

That's the not-so-glamorous side of Los Angeles.

Quinn and Powers both left highly successful Hollywood careers to bring their families to Charlotte, but neither stopped practicing his trade. The substantial amount of acting work available in North Carolina, including feature films, commercials, theater, and voice work, played a role in attracting both men to the Charlotte area.

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Actor JC Quinn