MBHS grad ready for second season on Golden Globe-nominated show

Acting wasn’t Tommy Dewey’s plan. The 1997 MBHS graduate went to Princeton and planned to run track and field. A broken foot led him to join an improv group and begin acting.

Almost 20 years later, Dewey lives in Los Angeles and is one of the main actors in a Golden Globe-nominated comedy.

Dewey has had roles in TV shows including “Guiding Light,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Criminal Minds,” “Mad Men,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “The Mindy Project,” where he played one of the main character’s love interests. He’s also been in a few movies – including “Seventeen Again,” “The Escort,” “Step Up Revolution” and “I’m Reed Fish” – and wrote a show called “Sons of Tucson" that had one season on Fox.

“Once you get that bug, it’s hard to stop,” Dewey said. “I knew how exhilarating it could be.”

All this for a man who describes acting as something he “fell backwards” into. Dewey now plays Alex, whose divorced sister recently moved in with him, in the Hulu series “Casual.”

“The second I got my hands on the script, I knew I wanted to give it a go,” Dewey said. “It’s been really cool. We love doing it. I love Michaela Watkins, who plays my sister.”

Dewey said he enjoys working on the show, which just got the green light for a second season, because it has both humor and emotional depth. “Casual” was one of six nominees for the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, though the show lost to “Mozart in the Jungle.” Dewey has also enjoyed the new experience of working with streaming services.

“A lot of us actors have become interested in what they [Hulu and other streaming services] are doing because there’s a lot of creative freedom in those places,” Dewey said.

Despite his busy schedule, Dewey said he returns home to Mountain Brook about three weeks per year. He visits high school friends as well as family, and he has a 12-year streak of seeing at least one Alabama game per year with his father.

“This is crazy out here. It really helps kind of reset your system,” Dewey said.

Going forward, Dewey said he is excited for the second season of “Casual” and is hoping to find more opportunities in writing and producing. He said he loves the variety of working in television and film, even if it has its highs and lows.

“I get bored easily, so one thing I have taken to in this business is there’s never a dull moment,” he said.

His secret to sticking with his acting aspirations?

“I’m just too stubborn. I just keep pulling myself up off the pavement and plodding on.”