Before Mike Vitar ever took to a sandlot or an ice rink, he played a character named Arturo in the little-seen 1990 film Diplomatic Immunity Here is what it was like during

Mike was about 12 when he won his first role in his first theatrical film in his first ever audition. He only had three scenes in Diplomatic Immunity, but he was charged up about getting to fire away at a slew of of police officers. Yes, that's right -- nice-guy Mike, 15, started out his career on the wrong side of the law.

Mike, on the other hand, wasn't quite so though when it came to the actual filming.

"I was pretty nervous," he says of his first day, which is no wonder -- any first-time actor might find being on the set pretty daunting. It helped that his brother, Pablo, was there to keep him company.

"My brother went with me," Mike tells us. "He helped me a lot."

As Mike got settled, he found out one strange thing about movies: They're usually filmed way out of sequence. For example, the script called for Mike's character to be killed in a violent death scene, but Arturo's death wasn't the last scene that Mike filmed. In fact, "that was my first thing," Mike recalls.

We asked if Mike had to wear fake blood exploding packs that actors routinely wear. Mike told us that wasn't necessary, because he was far away from the camera and it was dark. So when Mike was shot in the movie, he simply groaned and flopped onto the ground. Without the special effects, his scene looks a bit like a kid playing cops and robbers.

But then, Mike notes, "they came up on a close up, and the crew covered fake blood on me," which gave the whole thing a bit more of realism.

Aside from this dramatic moment, the role didn't give Mike a chance to really show off his acting skills, since the character doesn't speak a single word. But Mike's breif moments are well-performed and pretty memorable too. In fact, Mike's first movie scene features Arturo scanning a trashy nude magazine.

Not a lot of actors can say they've done that on screen.

And Mike recognizes the role for what it was -- the begining to a blossoming career. He sums up his time on Diplomatic Immunity as a great learning experience.

"I got a taste of what the business was like," he says. "It was a start."