Zach Sale only started building an acting resume about 18 months ago, but his list of credits is growing impressively.

Sale credits his tenacity and his wife of almost two years, Jax, for his relatively quick success.

"Five years ago, I couldn't imagine saying, 'Yeah, I've been on 'Vampire Diaries' and 'Oh, yeah, I've worked with Tyler Perry,' " he said.

"Without Jax, I would not have done this. She is my rock and my soul. You've got to have a strong support system and be able to roll with the punches."

Sale said he has been doing a lot of auditions and acting work in the Atlanta area. He is taking acting lessons from Helen McCready in Los Angeles and has an agent. He is preparing to move to LA in time for the January-to-April "pilot season."

Q: What is your background in acting?

A: I never did any acting, growing up, but it has always been my dream. I did one improv thing in high school and loved it. I used to organized little plays with my friends when I was a kid.

Q: You mean you never did any organized theater?

A: No, I never did that.

I studied to be a lawyer. My wife and I moved here from Daytona [Florida] to work with her family's business, Window Depot USA of Chattanooga. I did that for a year, and my wife asked me, 'What is your dream?' I always wanted to act, and she has pushed me to pursue that. I got online and started checking the audition sites and did some indie films.

Q: Let's don't give people the wrong impression. When you say you did some indie films, you don't just show up and say, "I'd like to be in that." You have to be chosen right?

A: Yeah, yeah. For each one I've booked, I didn't get booked a thousand times. It's a very humbling experience. Auditions are just an opportunity.

I started pursuing this in August of last year. I didn't have an agent, but I've done four national TV shows, and they wrote me into "The Game." I got an agent in February and booked my first "Drop Dead Diva" in June. It's been a whirlwind.

Q: Do you have your Screen Actors Guild card?

A: I will be in SAG in January. I am SAG-eligible. I'm preparing my LA move in January for the pilot season.

Q: I've never heard that phrase "pilot season." Is it like the running of the salmon?

A: That's funny. That's exactly what it's like. Most of the pilots have been signed. These are the extras that people are trying to get made, and they are all over the place. It's wild.

Q: What do you have coming up that people can look for?

A: I've got a "Vampire Diaries" coming out Jan. 5. I play the EMT. I say, "What happened?" "Burn Notice" came out last Thursday. "The Game" comes out in January and so does Tyler Perry's "The Marriage Counselor." I got a lead in that. It opens with me.

You have to be proactive. To make this serious and to be successful, you have to be serious and be proactive. I plan for 2012 to be the year of Zach Sale.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6354.