ROGER GILLEN (BalconyTV)

In Rogers own words - I grew up in the Hazelwood, in Co. Sligo.
On a perfect spring morning in 1980, I auditioned for The National Talent Search of Ireland. What happens next becomes my own piece of history as I ended up winning the talent search. On a Saturday night in April 1981, the final was broadcast on Gay Byrne's Late Late Show. After a stint with Maureen Potter at the Gaeity Theater in Dublin and a pantomime at the Cork Opera House, I was bound for America.
I met Mignon, a dancer from New Orleans. It was 1986 when we married and packed up the trunk again for the "Big Apple".
I took any job I could while playing the round of open-mike nights in Greenwich Village. After landing an agent I toured the college circuit in the 90's and managed to get myself reviewed as Rookie of the Year in Rolling Stone Magazine.
Then in January, 1993, our first son Michael arrived. But Michael's time with us was to be short and when he passed away we were broken-hearted. And a year later, as if an angel coming to heal our pain, Daniel was born. But when Daniel was only four weeks old we learned that this little angel was blind.
Thankfully, in this world of contradictions, something called "Grace" took us by the hand and led us along.
So I learned that the most precious thing we can offer each other is our true selves. And once I started I didn't stop until I was performing a show called Love's Pure Light on an Off-Broadway Stage. With musicians and dancers from places as far away as Cameroon, Brazil and Puerto Rico, Loves Pure Light was a breath of joy.
And so, here I am at the end of 2006, with a sense that "anything is possible" again. I have Mignon, Daniel, and now Gabriel too. A family in New York and Ireland, a circle of friends and teachers who continue to believe in me.
Presented by Tom Millett
Loves Pure Light DVD goes on sale in stores throughout Ireland on October 20th.
And Roger appears on The Late Late Show on October 20th.
www.rogergillen.com