Oosterhouse, 30, says he'd rather help build a float than wave from atop the back seat of a cherry red convertible. When your hometown calls, though -- he was raised on Old Mission Peninsula and now has a house of his own there -- you sit where they ask you to sit. It's all part of not becoming what he calls "a Hollywood jackass.
" Fortunately, anyone who worries about evolving into one of those almost certainly won't. Besides, he's almost never in Hollywood. Oosterhouse, whose name is pronounced OH-stir-house, has been in Denver since April shooting a new HGTV home improvement series for fall called "Carter Can.
" He'll also host a fall series called "The Inside Job" on DIY. Throw in a show for HGTV called "Red Hot and Green," focusing on environmentally friendly homes, and another program called "Team Green" for a different production company, and he'd be a fairly busy guy -- even without the periodic appearances on "The Today Show" and "Oprah." "It's not all that different from what I was doing before, back home in Michigan," Oosterhouse says.
Two older brothers are carpenters, as was a neighbor, so it only made sense for a hammer and saw to help put him through Central Michigan University. He earned a degree in nutrition, then set out for L.A.
, which seemed like a place with an appreciation for health and fitness. About that time, carpenters started to cut a path through makeover shows, and he thought, "They're on TV, making a ton of money. I can do that.
" While his public debut came four years ago when he replaced Ty Pennington on "Trading Spaces," he broke into show business before that with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's production company. Oosterhouse applied for a low-level job there and didn't get it, but the company was about to move, and someone scribbled on his resume that he looked strong enough to lug boxes. He was, he did, and he wound up a full-fledged, script-reading assistant.
Meantime, he kept going to auditions, and now he's the star of a parade he used to get up early to watch. In general, he says, "doing physical labor like we do, by no means do you feel like a celebrity." But there are reminders: Autograph requests, party invitations from P.
Diddy, his face in ads for Nautica Voyage cologne. Coming home to Traverse City, he says, "helps you realize who you really are" -- the guy sitting around with the people who knew you when, and who now remind you when it's your turn to buy the 12-pack. If you stand up and reach for your keys, you've passed the Jerk Test.
And it feels like home. Reach Neal Rubin at (313) 222-1874 or nrubin@detnews.com.
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Creepy billboards and crazy bikers Oosterhouse, 30, says he'd rather help build a float than wave from atop the back seat of a cherry red convertible.
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