Tony Braithwaite’s a teacher by day, an actor by night and always a character.

Leading a double life comes easy to Tony Braithwaite. The 30-year-old actor and former stand-up comedian is as comfortable teaching the Old Testament to a classroom of gangly high school boys as he is getting laughs in front of Philadelphia theater audiences. For Braithwaite, minus the chalk and erasers, the concept is basically the same. "Teaching is theater. You are presenting material to a crowd," he says.

By day he teaches theology at St. Joseph’s Prep (yes, God does have a sense of humor). By night he’s an electrifying force on the local theater scene.

Now, while the kids at the Prep are getting back to hitting the books, their teacher is, once again, hitting the boards. On Oct. 11 Braithwaite opens in Arden Theatre Company’s Baby Case, the new musical conceived and written by Philadelphia native Michael Ogborn. The story recounts the tragedy of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s baby and the media circus that surrounded it. With a cast of 25 and a ten-piece orchestra, it’s the Arden’s most ambitious production yet. And it is an ideal venue for Braithwaite. "There’s a great manic appetite in Baby Case. Sometimes it’s funny, and sometimes it’s shocking. Tony is perfect for it," says Terry Nolen, producing artistic director of the Arden.

In Baby Case most of the actors will play multiple roles — which works well with Braithwaite’s chameleon-like acting ability. "His confidence and his flexibility as an actor was the first thing I was taken with," says Ogborn.

Frequenters of the Arden first saw Braithwaite put his stamp on Bernard in Death of a Salesman, followed by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Red Herring and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Braithwaite can play farce, the straight man or musical comedy.

In the classroom he’s magnetic, the consummate showman. For Braithwaite doesn’t instruct by the book alone — his lessons are alive, bringing students to rapt attention, throwing their hands up to get called on. "Through entertaining he has a way to maintain interest in the class. And at the same time deliver some very key messages," says Dr. Michael Coury, principal at the all-boys Catholic high school at 17th and Girard.

His antics include imitations of school administrators and fellow teachers. His class has the flavor of a talk-show host with a high-spirited audience. And yet there’s a serious side, too. As an educator, he knows his stuff. Says Justin Hopkins, a Prep senior who is active in the theater department, "He’s a teacher, but he’s also our friend. The interaction and the environment is good for learning."

Some of the subject matter also contributes to his students’ high interest. Part of Braithwaite’s religion course focuses on sexual education. So with chapter headings like "The Urge to Merge," it’s no wonder teenage boys listen up.

In addition to his teaching duties, Braithwaite heads up the school’s theater department. He also teaches drama as a credited course. So it’s not unusual for him to be simultaneously in rehearsal for an Equity show, directing at the Prep, keeping up a full course load of roughly five classes a day, and spending time marking exams. Braithwaite thrives on the action.

His flair for performing started on the home front. His mother was a leading actress back in her day at Rosemont College. His father, an owner of a successful pharmaceutical consulting company, is widely known for his quick wit. The youngest of five siblings, Braithwaite grew up Bala Cynwyd, in a home where one-line zingers were par for the course at the dinner table. Everyone was a comedian. "As my brother Hugh would say… ‘You have to be loud and fast in this family.’"

That humor catapulted him to the stage of New York’s Improv in the summer of 1985, when the then-13-year-old landed a recurring spot on the lineup. He got paid the going rate, $30 a performance, and loved every minute of it. But come September it was time for school. A stand-up career would have to wait. After all, he was just a kid.

Enrolling as a freshman at St. Joe’s Prep, he flourished in the Jesuit philosophy of "Men for Others," of giving and achieving for the greater glory of God. And by the time he graduated in 1989, he’d performed in nine school productions. Combining his spirituality and his love for the theater appealed to Braithwaite so much that the following fall he enrolled as a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he declared theology as a major with a minor in drama. For a time, he seriously considered joining the order.

"I understood their devotion to a cause — be it the cause of education, or their passionate devotion to whatever it is that they do. I like that. I try to emulate that. I want to be part of that," he says.

Then lightning struck. It seemed as though Braithwaite was destined to be a star, and not a man of the cloth.

In 1991, while performing at a small theater on the university’s campus, he was "discovered" by Disney CEO Michael Eisner. As it turned out, the head honcho was sitting in the front row because his son, also a student, had directed the show. Just like a cornball Hollywood script, Eisner’s son rushed backstage after the performance and gushed, "My father said you’re the most talented kid he ever saw do college theater, and he thinks you should come to Los Angeles. And he’ll give you some help if you come," recalls Braithwaite.

With understandable delusions of grandeur, Braithwaite thought Eisner would put him in a sitcom and call it something simple… like Tony. So after graduation the 21-year-old headed out to Los Angeles. On his first day in L.A., he got signed with an agent and auditioned for a major motion picture. Before a year was out he’d almost booked a part in the movie Angels in the Outfield, was considered for the role of Chandler on Friends and auditioned for everything under the sun. There were other substantial near misses.

But by year’s end, in spite of Eisner’s assistance, Los Angeles was proving to be a cold, lonely and unforgiving town. "I hated pinning all of my hopes to Dial soap commercial," says Braithwaite. "I was miserable."

Luckily, an opportunity was waiting around the corner. While on a trip home to visit his parents, Braithwaite heard about a teaching position opening at the Prep. He quickly lined up an interview, and got hired that day. He went back to L.A. to pack up his belongings and head home. Sure, Eisner lived up to his word, but not the fantasy.

Now, seven years since leaving L.A., Braithwaite rarely looks back at what might have been. Even the offer by Eisner of a corporate job in the theatrical division of Disney, a year after his return home, didn’t turn his head. He opted instead to make a go of it in Philly.

Today he’s a rising star on his own terms. And although you won’t see him anytime soon in a major motion picture or on a slick TV sitcom, you will see him at the Arden, Hedgerow, 1812 Productions or any number of local stages. "He has respect for actors working in an ensemble. He sees where we’re going and he’s part of that dynamic," says Penelope Reed, artistic director at Hedgerow who cast Braithwaite in Rumors, Biloxi Blues and just this past summer in Noises Off.

Braithwaite will host the 2001 Barrymore Awards in October, and, after Baby Case, he will bring his high-charged, theatrical-style comedy to 1812 where, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 30, he will appear in the updated The Big Time: Vaudeville for the Holidays. "He’s one of the greatest wits I know. His mind works incredibly quick. He’s constantly coming up with ideas and shooting things out there," says Jennifer Childs, 1812’s co-artistic director.

Today, Tony Braithwaite has no regrets for what might have been in Tinseltown. His talent, spirituality and love for the kids at the Prep are a perfect mix. Who knows? Perhaps Eisner will step into his life once more, and a serious offer from Hollywood or New York will prove too much of a temptation to pass up.

"I’ve never felt like I had a job…be it the Arden, the theater at the Prep or in the classroom. I would do any of this stuff whether I was getting a paycheck or not."