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Interviews - Daily Trojan
Former star remains on Cloud Nine, by Amy Kaufman (April 2007, Daily Trojan)

"One of my first, most vivid memories," says David Gallagher, as if reliving the story in a vision, "is of being 4 years old and throwing up on set while filming a Tyson Chicken commercial. They gave me a spit bucket."

The image seems comical, pathetic even - but not particularly poignant.
"Why do you remember that day so clearly?" I ask.
He pauses, rubbing his palm against his chin, which is marked with patchy blond stubble.
"I dunno," he says. "I guess I just always felt like people were watching."

Gallagher sits in a worn stick-back chair at his "favorite spot" near campus, the Ragazzi Room. The joint at the corner of Union and Hoover is one of the few establishments near campus that doesn't serve soggy waffle fries or cheap Mexican fare - here is a place with dusty lampshades, shabby couches and too-hot coffee, all of which seem to fit the 22-year-old's mellow vibe.

He's staring down a pretty sizeable meal - a cup of orange juice, a glass bottle of Perrier sparkling water, a bitten-into lemon-poppy muffin and the Room's famous chicken pesto sandwich accompanied with a handful of potato chips.

"Do you want the other half?" he asks, pushing the sandwich plate across the table.
Gallagher has a tiny frame. Even after layering his upper half in a black leather jacket, sweatshirt hoodie and button-down shirt, he's only partially able to disguise his build. During the 10 years in which his identity was defined as Simon Camden on the CW's "7th Heaven" - which, it was announced recently, will end its 11-year run this May - Gallagher never really seemed to age noticeably. He always had that over-eager kid smile, with puppy-dog blue eyes and a mushroom-bowl hair cut. Now he has two earrings, longer hair held back by slick black sunglasses and a more pronounced jawline.

His under-eye circles are a bit more prominent on this Saturday morning as well - last night, the cinema-television critical studies major spent his evening helping a buddy on a CTPR-310 film.

"We're a really good crowd," he says of the film kids. "We're the only ones on campus who consistently smoke."
After acting since learning to speak - his first memorable role was in 1993's "Look Who's Talking Now," as the son of Kirstie Alley and John Travolta - one might imagine Gallagher would be inclined to study theater.

"There's an acting school here?" he responds absent-mindedly.

Despite never having taken an acting class, it seems Gallagher has already received his share of acting training. Growing up on the set of the feel-good Christian family drama "7th Heaven," performing has been a part of Gallagher's daily life since age 11. His first kiss at age 13 was shot on-camera. His television girlfriends were celeb-sisters Haylie Duff and Ashlee Simpson. His best friends were not fellow classmates, but castmates Beverly Mitchell and Jessica Biel.

"The first thing I ever talked about with Jessie (Biel) was pizza," Gallagher laughs. "I mean, she's just like the closest thing I've ever had to an older sister."
Gallagher landed the role of the Camden clan's younger brother, Simon, after his parents picked up and moved him and his four younger siblings from College Point, N.Y., to Los Angeles to allow their son to pursue acting.

"We came here with nothing," he says.
Attending a private Valencia High School proved difficult for Gallagher, whose filming schedule only allowed him to make it to class once or twice a week, forcing the teen to do the rest of his homework on set on days that began at 5:30 a.m.

"At high school it was always like, 'Did you hear he goes here?'" he says, rolling his eyes. "I didn't really enjoy it socially because it was like those kids had nothing better to do than mess with some stranger."

After getting into USC, Gallagher vowed to pass as an average guy at college. He told the "7th Heaven" execs it'd be school before work this time around and began his freshman year in Pardee Tower, Room 101.

But even on campus, Gallagher wasn't completely able to avoid those who recognized him from his years on television.
"Simon! Simon!" he says, mocking the typical cries he receives from across the quads. "It's extremely annoying, and part of you just wants to ignore it. But you just get used to it, I guess."

"Every year there is that influx of freshman who are like, 'Ohhh, you're that kid from '7th Heaven' - but it's never that bad."

Gallagher is no longer a part of the television series, which touts family values and religious morality and has become a staple in the lives of many American viewers.
"We always had a great sense of humor about the scripts," Gallagher says. "But at the end of the day, we always took it seriously because there was a core of fans in the middle of the country who really loved it. Lots of kids are like, 'Oh, that show is lame,' but I'm proud to have been a part of it no matter how uncool it was."

On campus, Gallagher devotes most of his time to his cinema classes. He says he's been able to maintain a good grade point average as well - with the exception of one class.
"I got a bad grade in the TV class, and that was the only time I bugged out a little," he admits. "I was like, 'But I'm on TV!'"

In May, he'll graduate from USC - an event he calls his "mother's occasion" - celebrating with a catered bash back home in Valencia. But after he leaves the confines of the university, will Gallagher always be known to the world as lovable, kid brother Simon - just as Candace Cameron Bure will be remembered as D.J. Tanner, the cheeky eldest sister on "Full House"?

"I do have that worry," he says. "But I really crave to do good films, and I think I can escape from my old identity."

Indeed, Gallagher has already headed off to London for the premiere of "The Picture of Dorian Gray," in which he plays the protagonist of Oscar Wilde's novel.

Before heading out to pack for his trip, Gallagher is asked to pose for some photographs. Without hesitation, he willingly places himself with ease into what appear to me to be incredibly awkward and cheesy positions, all without seeming fazed.

In this moment, Simon radiates from Gallagher - his large, simple smile and nonchalant nature are unmatched. Just then, the "Pink Panther" anthem slides out of the Room's stereo system.
"See," he says, "I can never escape the screen."
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