Derek Luke's ascension is the stuff of Hollywood dreams

NEW YORK -- Taking a job as a store cashier turned out to be a slick career move for Derek Luke.

Luke was just another struggling actor in Los Angeles, selling candy and movie memorabilia at the Sony Pictures gift shop on the studio's lot, when he struck up a conversation with an emerging screenwriter named Antwone Fisher -- who mentioned he was working on a screenplay of his troubled but triumphant life story.

In a turn of events befitting Hollywood, Luke would end up playing the title role in "Antwone Fisher" -- Denzel Washington's directorial debut -- in his first major acting role: He found out he had gotten the part when Washington personally delivered the news at the store.

Luke, 28, brightly smiles when he thinks about that day.

"I grabbed Denzel ... I squeezed him. I was like, 'Yo, man, get outta here!"' he says, laughing. "I was standing right at the step of the store, and just remember hugging him and kissing him, and I fell on my knees and I was praying -- I was thanking God that he shined on me."

"Denzel had to hold him up, he was squeezing his neck," recalls Fisher, who was also on hand.

It was a star-making episode reminiscent of Lana Turner's legendary discovery in an ice cream parlor. It's a comparison that Luke enjoys -- even though he concedes, "I don't even know who she is."

More and more people are learning who Luke is.

He's starring in "Biker Boyz," sort of a "The Fast and the Furious" on motorcycles, starring Laurence Fishburne, due in theaters Jan. 31, and has another film, "Pieces of April," starring Katie Holmes, coming out later this year.

Just a couple of years ago, the Jersey City, N.J., native wasn't having much success in his bid to become an actor -- his biggest gigs had been blink-and-you-miss-it appearances on the sitcoms "Moesha" and "The King of Queens."

He considered heading back to New Jersey many times. But acting was a dream that he had ever since he was a young child.

He intended to study acting at New Jersey State College, but got impatient after one semester. That's when he headed to Los Angeles.

"I was like look, I gotta do this now. I knew I really wanted to act," he says. "I got to L.A., and I said, 'I feel at home here. I feel like this is where I need to be.'

"My dream had to be a part of something that Denzel was putting together or a part of. It could have been a one-liner, I just wanted to be in the film with him," Luke says.

Fisher says it was a relief when he found out Luke got the part because he felt Luke would treat the part with care and dignity.

"For me, I think he did a wonderful job," Fisher says. "His interpretation was beautiful."

Fisher was so impressed, he would like to have Luke portray characters he writes in future films.

"I have to write something else for him," Fisher says. "It would be just an honor to have him be a part of something else that I do."

But once he read a copy of the screenplay Fisher gave him, he felt as if he were destined to play the title role, and started lobbying Fisher -- a former Sony Pictures security guard, whose dreams were also realized on the lot.

Luke remembers Fisher telling him, "Derek, I hope you get it," but he couldn't do anything more than hope.

It was up to Luke to get an audition -- and the part.

And for a while it seemed as if his dream of getting the lead in "Antwone Fisher" had been demolished. He stumbled over his words, read blankly -- he didn't have the "flow," as he puts it -- and both he and the casting agents knew it.

"I was bawling, I was straight bawling," he says.

But he had enough composure to ask for a second chance -- and got one from the casting agent.

"The guy says, 'Here, this is a chance of a lifetime, come back next week and show me your chops. Now you see the direction where I want you to go. You've got to come back, come back with it, because this is what Denzel is looking for."'

At first, Luke was afraid to even go back -- afraid he would mess up again. But after shedding a few more tears, and a pep talk with wife Sophia -- an aspiring actress herself -- he felt more confident.

That confidence paid off, landing him the coveted role. But he didn't abandon his job at the Sony store immediately.

"(Denzel) said, 'Don't quit your day job yet," he says, laughing. "He told me it was time to do some research."

But he ended up leaving eight days later -- too many people were pestering him about his good fortune.

Initially, Luke prepared for his role as Fisher by spending more time with him, but Washington discouraged that approach.

"Denzel told me ... 'Make it your own,"' he says. "Denzel allowed a lot of freedom on the set. He didn't come in my room every day and say, 'Where are you? What's your progress? I think his trust in me developed Antwone."'

Fisher says it was a relief when he found out Luke got the part because he felt Luke would treat the part with care and dignity.

"For me, I think he did a wonderful job," Fisher says. "His interpretation was beautiful."

Fisher was so impressed, he would like to have Luke portray characters he writes in future films.

"I have to write something else for him," Fisher says. "It would be just an honor to have him be a part of something else that I do."