Lamman Rucker
		Getting An Education Learn more about born teacher Lamman Rucker (Marshall)

	Before pursuing acting full-time, AS THE WORLD TURNS' Lamman Rucker (Marshall) was more of an educator than an entertainer. "I got my masters in education," he reveals. "The reason why I chose to do that was because I had always been working in education or involved in the community with young people — tutoring, mentoring or coaching. So I realized that I had already been teaching." On The Road But even as he taught, Rucker still found himself connected to the theater. "I was working through NYU for a couple years, and one of the projects I was involved in was an in-residence theater company that actually toured all around New York City," he explains. "I was one of the managers of the touring company. We also had a rotation where we would come in and out and perform whenever necessary. But primarily, I was the tour manager." The Messenger The show they performed was titled Minus One, and told the story of a female singing group that loses one of their members to relationship abuse. "So it was an anti-abuse, anti-violence campaign here in the city of New York and throughout the state of New York," Rucker says. "We took that directly into middle schools and high schools. And then also had a question and answer session. So it was an interactive, communicative teaching and learning experience." Dual Roles After that, Rucker started working on a program for The School Of Education At NYU called GEAR UP. "Which is Gaining Early Awareness And Readiness For Undergraduate Programs," he explains. "And I was a math tutor for a year after that. And the whole time I was in Pittsburgh, before I relocated here to New York, I was teaching, part time and substituting, and coaching high school basketball. So I've always been doing that. Although I've been performing at the same time." Shifting Priorities So while it wasn't until recently that acting took the forefront in Rucker's life, it was always there. "It just kind of shifted in priority at times," he admits. "I've always found ways to kind of interweave things and put them together to be able to do it all at the same time, in a creative way. And even in a regular classroom, I've used theater techniques or whatever, just to make things fun. Teaching is acting, and acting is teaching, in my opinion." — Chris Eades