Eugene Byrd has been happily acting in film and television for over twenty years. Well, mostly happily. “When I was a child actor I worked less often and thought about just being a regular kid,” Eugene admits, sounding like a true Hollywood veteran. “I started having fun again when I began setting goals,” says Eugene. His first goal was to be on “Cosby.” “It had to be one of the happiest moments of my life and it stretched into four episodes!,” recalls Eugene. Next, he wanted to do “Sesame Street” – and he became a regular for 34 episodes. He wanted his own series – and he starred in Showtime’s “Chris Cross” for two seasons. Then he wanted to be in a major film and soon found himself rubbing elbows with Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton and John Hurt in Jim Jarmusch’s “Dead Man.” Then he nabbed a role in Barry Levinson’s “Sleepers” starring Kevin Bacon. “Now I’m one degree of separation away from him in the Kevin Bacon game,” smiles Eugene. His next goal is to be the third black actor to win a Best Actor Oscar. “The pressure is on,” laughs Eugene, “but I’m having fun.” Fortunately, Eugene admits to craving pressure. He’s was the male lead in “Lift,” an independent film about the fine art of high-end shoplifting that debuted at Sundance and aired on Showtime in 2002. Eugene had a leading role as Wink, the duplicitous promoter friend of Jimmy, played by Eminem, in Universal/Imagine Entertainment’s “8 Mile.” Now Eugene is one of the leads in Screen Gems’ “Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid,” opening August 27th and the lead in the indie films, “Confess” and “Buds for Life” (which he also co-produced) and co-stars in Armada Film’s “One Point Zero” and “The Light and the Sufferer.” And he’s joined a soon-to-be-announced NBC returning series in a recurring role -- Byrd’s already taped the first three episodes.