Dr. Krebs recently focused his acting career on film and television, giving up theater. “Acting in plays is harder—if not impossible—with my new life as a nocturnist,” he says. Theater requires months of rehearsals, held in the daytime during the week. But choosing film was an easy choice. “I like watching myself on film so that I can learn from it,” he says.
Dr. Krebs says his favorite roles have been “any in which I can learn something new or develop a new aspect of myself.” In a film to be released this spring, “Half Past Dead II: Justified,” he plays an inmate at a maximum-security prison. “That was a stretch because I had to tap into my inner serial killer. Sometimes the roles that I play are in conflict with who I am,” he explains. “You learn that everyone has every possibility inside of them, and you have to tap into that.”
He does this by developing the back story, which in this case meant creating a character who had done something bad enough to be in Alcatraz. The film’s director called Dr. Krebs recently to praise his efforts.
In March, Dr. Krebs was in Dallas filming “Missionary Man,” starring Dolph Lundgren. It is a Western-style movie involving “revenge and redemption at the end of a gun barrel.” In the film, Dr. Krebs plays Lundgren’s brother; the character’s name was changed to Jeff. “Imagine having a character named after me,” Dr. Krebs exclaims.
The Perfect Combination
What would happen if Dr. Krebs landed a major film role or a long-term television series? Would he give up medicine to become star of the next “ER” or “Grey’s Anatomy”? Not if it meant giving up his medical career, he says.
“It would be very difficult for me to give up medicine completely because I really love being a physician,” Dr. Krebs admits. “I might take a leave for a month or two if a big film opportunity came along. But right now I’m happy with the roles I’m getting that allow me to continue my medical career.”
Dr. Krebs says he could not have been the kind of actor he is and practice the kind of medicine he wants to practice without being a hospitalist, and he’s grateful for the opportunity.
“I’m so happy the hospitalist movement has taken off in the last several years,” he says. “My life is much, much better since I became a hospitalist. I feel like I have it all.” TH
Barbara Dillard is a medical journalist based in Chicago.