While many of the budding actors in Manhattan tend to bide their time working in bars, restaurants and hotels, it seems that would-be Cary Grants who live in Hoboken prefer to spend their off-screen time in public service. A stunning number of public officials whose visages can be seen smiling up at you from the pages of political advertisements during election season can also be seen running, karate chopping, and generally looking tough in the movies. Among the pack of mile-square thespians is 52-year-old Mayor Anthony Russo, whose bit part in the hit movie Analyze This has been well-publicized. (He even appeared in the background of an ad for the movie that ran in several newspapers). Russo also had a small speaking part in the independent film Restaurant edited out of the film, leaving him still trying to land a speaking part in a major motion picture. But Russo is not the only city official who rubs shoulders with stars like Robert DeNiro on his own time. City Councilman Tony Soares, whose 4-foot-2 inch frame is easy to recognize, played small non-speaking-but-action-packed parts in the Money Pit with Tom Hanks and The Protector with Jackie Chan. Soares said that in the Money Pit, he was a part of a Hanks-led construction crew that works on a house. “I’m on a ladder and they pick it up and move it around while I have to hang on,” he explained. While in The Protector, Soares, whose growth was stunted by a form of dwarfism known as Achondroplasia, appears in the movie’s opening scene as a member of a gang that attacks a truck driver and kills him. The Councilman says that he still gets calls from casting directors who want him to play roles in upcoming movies. “I get calls for stupid things where they want me to play a psycho leprechaun, but I don’t do things that an average sized person can’t do,” he said. “I used to be a spokesperson for the Little People of America and I don’t like to play parts that re-enforce negative stereotypes.” A number of officials, like Soares, seem to have dabbled in the movie business earlier in life before moving on to roles in the public sector. Many of them now say that the acting experience helps them perform their public roles. School Board President David Anthony, who appeared as an extra in Roll Over with Jane Fonda, also used to serve as the host of his own weekly PBS television show about Broadway plays and musicals. “Being in the entertainment field gave me the confidence to be comfortable in public,” he said. “For the show to be good, people had to know where I was coming from. I had to be sincere and perfectly comfortable with myself. It’s the same thing when I run the school board meetings. I try to be very honest and open about who I am and I think that my experiences in front of the camera have helped give me the confidence to do that. ” County Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, who had a small walk-on role in You Better Watch Out – “It’s about a Santa Claus that goes ballistic and starts killing people” – agrees. “Acting helped me get over any feelings of stage fright that I might have had,” he said, noting that he studied “a long time ago” with the Roundabout Theater and Julie Bavasso, the actress who played John Travolta’s mother in Saturday Night Fever. “I’m the only one [in Hoboken] with formal training,” he added. “I’ve probably got more training than all the rest of them combined.” While his political star has risen since then, his acting career is still stuck in the doldrums. “I recently tried out for a part as a landlord in a foreign film, but I didn’t get it,” Fitzgibbons said. “Maybe I was a little rusty.” Other city officials that are involved in the movie business include: Hoboken Police Detective Lt. Anthony Falco, who produces films including the just-filmed feature length LAPD: To Protect and Serve starring Dennis Hopper, and City Councilman Stephen Hudock, who also had his bit part in the movie Restaurant eliminated by editors. Almost every official contacted said they would be interested in playing a part in future movies if the opportunity arises. “Living right next to New York is like living next to Hollywood,” said David Anthony. “I don’t know anybody who would not jump at the opportunity to be in a movie, and because of our location, there seem to be some opportunities.”