Paul Wheeler is musician, actor
By PAULA PARISOT
1/16/2006

When he's not taking mortgage loan applications, one New Jersey originator entertains television, movie and live audiences.

Flexibility in the mortgage business has enabled Screen Actor's Guild member Paul Wheeler to appear in a music video, appear in a print ad for Metropolitan Life and to play rhythm guitar and sing in his classic rock band, Lost in Place.

And there was that time he was running for his life in a scene from War of the Worlds, a recent science fiction thriller starring Tom Cruise.

Wheeler spends time traveling from his Hopatcong, New Jersey, home and job to New York to appear in various TV shows and movies, including an upcoming episode of the Sopranos, Law and Order, Third Watch and Rescue Me, and it's the mortgage business that has helped subsidize his budding artistic career for the past five years.

His band, which also includes his brother, has been together for eight years entertaining at New Jersey area clubs and restaurants, charitable events, and an occasional wedding reception. And, although he began acting only a year and a half ago, his thespian career is steadily taking hold.

How does he manage to wear so many hats?

Wheeler, 47, said he works out of his home quite often as a loan originator for Gateway Funding in Netcong, New Jersey, and conducts a lot of business over the phone. "I make my own schedule, it's flexible," he told MortgageDaily.com.
Wheeler said the common thread running through his parallel careers in finance and entertaining is that both are people-orientated careers of integrity. "There's a lot of networking; you have to build a rapport and make them (applicants) feel comfortable," he explained. "And you always have to be honest and be sure what you say is going to happen, follow through and have good customer service."

Wheeler recently was cast with speaking roles in two independent films, The Mentor and Minority. But until he becomes a superstar, he said he would continue to write loans. "You just have to keep on going, going, going," he said with a laugh.

Article © MortgageDaily.com All Rights Reserved