Actor/alumnus Michael J. Kelly chats with students

"This school was amazing to me," said Michael J. Kelly of his four years at Coastal Carolina University. Kelly, a successful film and television actor, graduated in 1992, receiving one of the first bachelor's degrees in theatre awarded at CCU. He was "giving back" by talking to theatre students in an informal gathering on April 29 in the Black Box Theatre. 

And, Sandi Shackelford, his former acting professor, says he'll return next year for an acting workshop.

Kelly currently stars in CBS' spinoff series "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" and in the current feature film "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. He's just signed to appear in a new movie being filmed in South Africa, and shooting starts next month.

"I wanted to make a comfortable living with my acting," said Kelly, 42, who is now doing just that, living in a renovated Manhattan condo with his wife and two-year-old daughter. "It's just that my idea of what is comfort keeps changing!"

Kelly has made about 22 films and appeared on many TV shows such as "The Soprano." His film breakthrough was "Dawn of the Dead," and his biggest name movie was probably "The Changeling" with Angelina Jolie, directed by Clint Eastwood.

"You have to want it more than anything," Kelly told acting students. "A million things have to fall into place, and then it takes luck and talent. You have to be so appreciative just to get an audition." And, he added, acting "is either in you or it's not."