I’ve always had a sense of adventure, maybe being abducted from our apartment complex in Canarsie Brooklyn at age 4 has something to do with it. My after-school babysitter was television. My sense of humor and aesthetic was shaped by the likes of Bugs Bunny, The Jetsons, and Rocky and Bullwinkle. Of course, The Marx Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, Neil Simon, and Mel Brooks were also influential favorites.
I learned to ride a bike in the towering complex of Rochdale Village in South Jamaica Queens. As an adult, I’ve traveled by bike across the globe, often by myself.
My mother, Marilyn, was a force, a major force. In 1965 she was among the first female EMT / ambulance drivers in Queens. To her, there were no barriers. Work hard, learn a craft and pursue it with determination was her way of thinking Mom died in 2020; my dad, in 1995. My favorite recent memory of mom was when she visited in 2017. She was a guest on my radio show “Perlman’s World” on Voice of Vashon Radio 101.9 FM and voiceofvashon.org I did two mornings a week, eventually partnering with my friend Peter Serko who sat in once a week. We had a blast, I hope people liked what they heard because we sure enjoyed it!
So, after high school I pursued visual arts enrolling in Nassau Community College for two years but, what I really wanted was to study filmmaking. I was determined to go to NYU Film School, I wanted to study with the same professors that taught the great Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone. How to pay for it was the problem. In typical Perlman fashion, I was able to twist the arm of the NYU powers that be and secure the necessary grants and loans.