Many times the general public associates an actor with a role they play on a long-running television show, not realizing that often that thespian had an active career on the stage first. Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston on Law and Order, Jason Alexander on Seinfeld, and Patricia Heaton on Everybody Loves Raymond are a few of the many actors who first trained for, cut their teeth on, and professionally performed on the legitimate stage.

The fact is the technique most often ta...