Actor-director Tom Verica pulls double duty on Shonda Rhimes' hit ABC dramas

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Actor Tom Verica is a key figure on ABC's new hit drama, "How to Get Away with Murder." He's been working in front of the camera for some 30 years, but recently, Verica's been focusing his efforts behind the scenes. And boy has it paid off!

He's a regular director and co-executive producer on "Scandal."

Verica has been part of the Shonda Rhimes family for some time now -- he directed "Private Practice" after getting his start as a last-minute replacement director on her first big hit, "Grey's Anatomy."

"I stepped in and it was a really good episode of 'Grey's Anatomy,' I was given a good script," Verica said. "I think she liked (that) I kind of really shook up the normal template of what that show usually is and I kind of got a bit brave in some of the camera angles. And I think she keyed into right away."

Once Verica committed to being a director in 2000, he dove in full bore; studying, taking classes, and learning from the pros. We wondered if he had a preference in his jobs: acting or directing.

"I like both of them... directing is definitely where my passion is right now," Verica said. "Acting, because I've been doing it for 30 years, it's always been a part of me so I don't think that ever goes away."

Verica currently plays Viola Davis' husband on "How to Get Away with Murder." His character is dead... but part of the fun of this season is finding out why, how and especially who!

"Originally, I was kind of led to believe it would be a couple of episodes and here I am now through nine episodes and I've been in every episode," Verica said. "I figured my life, my shelf life is limited. Yet it keeps, you know, it keeps coming. So life in flashbacks has really become, kind of become, my mantra."

And with this show that is filled with twists and turns, if you think you've seen it all, think again!

"There's quite a few more, a few more turns that shocks even myself as I go from script to script," Verica said. "The events that we've seen throughout each episode that give you a little flashback to the night of, you're kind of taken through that entire blueprint of how this event came together, what happened and the fallout from that so it's a really, really exciting hour of television."

"How to Get Away with Murder" airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. following "Scandal" and "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC7.