We'll always have Indiana Jones

Greg Matthew Anderson's first career choice came with a long, hard-to-pronounce name and a fictional role model any kid could appreciate.

“For a while I wanted to be Indiana Jones,” he says. “I thought it would be fantastic to be one of those guys who does research and lives in tents — and then comes back to the university to teach for a while before going back out.”

Those guys are called paleoanthropologists. They study fossils and the remains of early man.

But while studying the subject at Duke University, Anderson, who grew up in Palatine and Hoffman Estates, become involved in an improv comedy group and started doing theater in his spare time — as he had back at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights. He added acting classes to his course load, even studying theater in London one summer. And before Anderson knew it, he had accumulated enough credits for a double major.

“At the last minute I made a decision,” Anderson says. “The idea of going to grad school was very attractive. But after accumulating a lot of experience in theater, and living in London, I thought I can go back to Chicago and take a hack at this actor's life. And this is something I can do and if I don't make it I won't have regrets because I tried to do it.”

Tried — and succeeded. Anderson has appeared at Court Theatre, The Goodman Theatre and The Next Theatre, and has become an artistic associate at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, where he has appeared in an impressive 10 productions.

Anderson is currently playing Algernon, one of the leads in Remy Bumppo's revival of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Oscar Wilde's sendup of romance, marriage and social mores.

“It has been a joy every day to play this play — it is just hilarious,” Anderson says. “It is one of best constructed comedies in the English language.”

So how does a paleoanthropologist turned actor prepare for his role?

“There is a musicality to Wilde's language. And such a fluidity to his speech,” Anderson explains. “So I watched a lot of Fred Astaire movies, to get that kind of old-school fluidity and gracefulness, both in the way he moves and speaks.”

You expected a simple answer from a guy who wanted to be Indiana Jones and wound up being more like Harrison Ford?

• “The Importance of Being Earnest” runs through Jan. 9 at the Remy Bumppo Theater Company at the Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Single tickets may be purchased at the Greenhouse Theater box office at (773) 404-7336 or remybumppo.org.