Howard Ashman

James Monroe Iglehart is a theater actor in the body of a professional wrestler.

This is not an exaggeration. The 39-year-old performer stands 6 feet tall, weighs 295 pounds and seems to fill a room with his ebullient personality.

"I almost became a pro wrestler," said Iglehart, recalling that the extreme sport seemed the perfect escape from his suburban high school in Northern California. But then, "I saw someone really get hit with a chair. And then I said, no, I don't want to do that!"

So the actor, who also flirted with becoming a Harlem Globetrotter, turned to something he had always enjoyed but hadn't seriously considered as a possible...