Fifteen years ago, the Fox network was on the air thanks to two shows: "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Melrose Place." How quickly they forget.
"They were just waiting for 'American Idol,' " jokes Andrew Shue, who played Billy Campbell on "Melrose Place."
Shue is grateful to the late Aaron Spelling, the TV titan who served as the show's executive producer. "He took a chance on me and just gave me a lot of confidence and enabled me to do a lot of the things I've been able to do," says Shue.
Those accomplishments include producing and co-starring in "Gracie." The film was inspired by Shue's family, including his older sister, Elisabeth Shue. Her pioneering venture into the all-male world of soccer in their New Jersey hometown provided the framework for the story about a teen (Carly Schroeder) who tries to earn the approval of her father (Dermot Mulroney) by fighting to get on the boys soccer team in the late '70s.
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Another element from the Shue family history that was worked into the plot was the sudden and tragic death of the oldest brother. In real life, William Shue was in his 20s when he died, but in the film the soccer-star brother dies while in high school.
"Gracie" became a family project, with Elisabeth starring as Gracie's mom, Andrew playing one of her coaches, younger brother John working with Andrew to set up financing and Elisabeth's husband, "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim, directing the film. The Shues' parents also have cameos in the movie, which was filmed in New Jersey.
"Gracie" marks Andrew Shue's first acting job since "Melrose Place" ended in 1998. He made a conscious decision to leave the biz.
Shue and his wife, Jennifer, moved back to the East Coast, settling in Princeton, N.J., and went on to have a third son.
In 1999, he co-founded ClubMom Inc., which started as an online rewards program and has evolved into an Internet meeting place. It gave birth to CafeMom.com, which Shue describes as "the largest social network for moms on the Web." He's also still involved with Do Something, the teen-volunteering program he launched in 1993.
Although his focus has been his entrepreneurial and philanthropic concerns, Shue has been developing "Gracie" for about 10 years. His goals were "to do something with my sister," "to do something that would honor my brother" and "to do something that would involve soccer," he says.
