Fifteen-year-old Perry arrives in Los Angeles. He quickly gives up his dream of becoming a tennis champion, discovering that the standard for tennis players is much higher in California. Instead, he decides to become an actor with his father’s help. When Perry lands the lead role in a play at his new school, his father presents him with the book Acting with Style. The inscription reads, “Another generation shot to hell” (43). Perry’s father drinks several vodka tonics each night but is seemingly unaffected the next day. When his father and stepmother are out, Perry tries his father’s vodka and experiences an existential crisis.

Desperate for fame, Perry attends regular auditions. Consequently, he gets a small role in the TV series Charles in Charge. One day, he is entertaining a group of women in a Hollywood café when a man presents him with a note on a napkin. The message is from film director William Richert, inviting Perry to appear in his next movie. In A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, Perry plays the best friend of lead actor River Phoenix. Phoenix and Perry become friends during filming. Before graduating from high school, Perry also guest appears on several shows.