Cross & Crescent

One of Lance Krall’s (Georgia State 1993) earliest acting and directing opportunities came when he became the chapter’s ritual chairman.

The important role and responsibility was one of his favorite fraternal memories. To this day, he still gets a laugh when he recalls how hard it was to get his fellow brothers to remember their lines and parts.

“When I went in there as High Phi, I really put them through the gauntlet,” he says. “I even put them through an acting workshop.”

Needless to say, the initiation ceremony went very smoothly that year and Krall found his new passion.

Road to Hollywood

After getting his undergraduate degree in film and theater at Georgia State University, Krall helped found The Whole World Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

From 1993 to 2000, he performed in improv shows and scripted plays at Whole World.

In 1999, Krall was spotted by a Hollywood talent agent, and he moved out west.

In late 2000, he was cast on Steve Martin’s variety show, “The Downer Channel.” After a disappointing four-episode run, Krall tried his luck at shooting his own sketch comedy show. With the help of his old troupe in Atlanta, Krall shot a 30-minute pilot named “The Lance Krall Show” for Spike TV.

In the interim, Krall also was cast in the feature “Made Up,” directed by Tony Shalhoub, and later directed and starred in “Party Animals,” which premiered at the Los Angeles International Film Festival and was an official selection in the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

In 2003, Krall was cast in the parody reality show called “The Joe Schmo Show.” His popularity on Joe Schmo convinced Spike TV to greenlight eight episodes of “The Lance Krall Show.”

All of these experiences helped Krall gain the part as the karate instructor in “The Fight” episode of NBC’s “The Office” starring Steve Carell.

“They were the nicest group of people you’ll ever, ever meet,” Krall says. “People on other shows are so jaded. Everybody, from Steve Carell down, is just so happy to be there. Steve Carell is the nicest guy on the planet, very genuine.”

Krall did not have to do much research for his role as a karate instructor for he also holds a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was ranked 6th in the nation in 1992. As a trainer, Krall coached several Junior Olympic gold medalists and also was an Olympic candidate, but untimely injuries ended his chances.

Chapter “Hall” Memories

When Krall attended Georgia State, it was mostly a commuter college that did not have any dorms for on-campus living.

The fraternities and sororities were located on various floors of a campus hall with signs posted on each door signifying their affiliation. Even though it was different than your traditional chapter house, the members still made the most of it.

“We prided ourselves on being a very selective, small, but very tight group of friends,” Krall says.

Being a very involved and hands-on person, Krall took advantage of the many leadership opportunities Lambda Chi offered him, holding the positions of rush, social, and ritual chairman.

“I took it upon myself to up the ante a little bit as far as recruitment for our chapter,” he says. “When I was rush chairman, I think we had a record. Usually we bring in 10 or 12. But when I was chair, we had 40 associate members.”

The chapter had between 50 to 75 members while Krall was an active member. Unfortunately, after he graduated, the active numbers dropped off and the chapter was eventually closed.

Listening to Friends

Though Krall was originally a marketing major, he really had no idea what he wanted to do in life, and was often unhappy and depressed until he had a chance meeting one day.

“I ran into this guy who was in one of my classes. He said I should come down to this improv workshop,” Krall says. “I found improv to be fun and I started taking film and theater classes.”

A month later, Krall changed his major. Although he had to stay in school a year longer, the change in major was well worth it.

“College is the last time you have in life to sort of figure things out without a lot of pressure around you,” he says. “When you’re in college, it’s your last shot to figure out who you are, what you’re all about, and what you want to do.”

Krall says the support and encouragement he received from his brothers during his struggle with his career direction had a big impact on him.

“I listen to what my friends have to say. I think of myself as someone who picks his friends carefully,” he says. “Once they’re my friends, someone I trust, I definitely listen to their advice. They definitely helped with my decision.”

With his success in Hollywood, all his brothers now email him and say they told him he would make it. Of course, they also want to know if they can have an acting role in one of his projects.

Making It in Hollywood

Many people ask Krall for advice about moving to Hollywood.

“My biggest advice for that is to stay where you’re at, wherever that place is, and just learn your craft in an environment that’s not a high pressure environment like it is in New York or Los Angeles,” he says.

Krall says Hollywood is very product oriented and everything is focused on the end product, not the process.

“It’s really hard to take a class or learn something new without thinking of the end goal,” he says. “Thinking of the end goal will screw you up in this town.”

Krall just finished working on “The Other Mall” for ABC Family, a pilot that he co-created with “Joe Schmo” alums David Hornsby and Danny Salles.

Besides co-creating, Krall also wrote, co-directed, executive produced, and acted in the pilot. The show is about a run-down mall in middle America that is competing against the new, high-end mall.

Since Krall has so many responsibilities in this pilot and they are working with one of the big networks, he decided to only cast himself in a small role. He plays Truc Tran, owner of Vietnam Food Kingdom, the only restaurant left in the mall’s nearly abandoned food court.

Krall’s ultimate goal is to be involved with films. He and a friend are currently working on an idea for a comedy and they plan to carve out three or four months to focus on it.

“I want to jump into that world,” he says. “That’s ultimately where I want to go — is to do films.”

He says that writing for TV really holds him back creatively in terms of content.

“Our sensibilities are just much more in the film world than TV.”