Prison Break

William Fichtner has played his share of lawmen and authority figures in his long and prolific career, so it’s not too surprising to learn he once wanted to be in the FBI. He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the State University of New York at Brockport, and he didn’t consider acting professionally until the summer after his college graduation. It was through the urging of two admissions counselors that Fichtner became interested in the arts. When he was a freshman at another college, one invited him to see the musical I Love My Wife on Broadway. “We walked in and sat down, and this musical played, and I was absolutely stunned,” Fichtner recalls. “I couldn’t believe something that good was live, right in front of me.”