Tom Cheshire sits down with Adrian Zmed of TJ Hooker fame at the Mexican Flea Market on Buford Highway in Doraville, GA.

Tom Cheshire:  What in the hell are you doing here?

Adrian Zmed:  Selling fruit, bro. I rent a cart here a few months out of the year and sell apples and plums. I love the ATL and the flea market is a great place to pick up babies. The rest of the year I live in TJ, that’s Mexico, kid.

TC:  Interesting. Can you tell us a little about yourself? We’d love to hear about how you got into show business and how you ended up selling plums.

AZ:  Well, that’s not all I do. I’m now an entrepreneur. I still act too and I do a bit of singing.

TC:  A natural born entertainer huh. I want to hear about TJ Hooker.

AZ:  Alright, we’ll get to him. I was born in Romania. I speak Romanian and English. I came to LA to make it big. I did it all, wore a bunny suit and sang happy birthday to bald executives.

TC:  I want to hear about the hooker. Tell us about Shatner.

AZ:  Hang on, man. Well, I got my big break in Grease 2. That was great because I got to sing, dance and wear tight clothes. And then I did Bachelor Party. Tom Hanks was cool. I sang “Little Demon” on the soundtrack. I thought that was going to take me over the top.

TC:  Then what happened?

AZ:  I got a call to try out for a new cop show coming out. I heard that Captain Kirk was going to be on it. You know I was stoked.

TC:  OK, then what?

AZ:  Well, I got it and the rest is history. It became one of the greatest TV shows of all time. I was Officer Vince Romano for 72 episodes. How do you like that? I also got to sleep with a hot little blond named Heather Locklear.

TC:  It sounds like you were doing it. Then what?

AZ:  Well that’s that, the cookie crumbles. The show got dropped and it was my time to move on.

TC:  How was it working with the great William Shatner?

AZ:  It wasn’t all that great.  Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, he was chubby. We called him TJ Faker behind his back and sometimes to his face. He always had gorgeous ladies around him and none of us knew why.

TC:  He was Captain Kirk, that’s why. It sounds like you were a bit jealous.

AZ:  I wasn’t jealous. I was sleeping with Heather Locklear.

TC:  I bet you he was too.

AZ:  Actually, he was. She left me for him and I never forgave him. I have to give him props for one thing though. The man could skate. We’d go to the roller skating rink and he would skate backwards the whole time. The guy was good.

TC:  You had to have had other acting gigs.

AZ:  Oh yeah. I was on “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” the TV show for a minute in 2000. It was the “Honey, Whodunit” episode.  I did an episode of “Murder She Wrote.” Then I did a nice little movie called “Sex Sells Sin” in 2005. It went straight to video.

TC:  It sounds like you had some great opportunities.

AZ:  I really thought “Murder She Wrote” was going to put me back in the game. I’m down, but I’m not out son. Angela Lansbury sucks though and she is a liar.

TC: Do people ever get you confused with other actors?

AZ: Sometimes I hear people scream the name “Adrian” in the street but it’s usually just “Rocky” fans.

TC:  Weren’t you a dancer too?

AZ:  You’re damn straight, kid. I did a stint on “Dance Fever” for a minute. They couldn’t afford me though. I’ve always been a dancer. I came out of my mother dancing in a Romanian village. I still dance. I probably spend about 20 minutes a day just staring in the mirror working on moves.

TC:  So what else have you been doing?

AZ:  I opened up a night club in Tijuana, Mexico called “Club Zmed.” It’s an old school disco with a new school feel. I also have a clothing line called “A-Z Fashions.”  You get it, A to Z. Our motto is “Fashion for Functions.”

TC:  Nice, I’ll have to check it out, maybe get a sweater.

AZ:  And then I spend a few months here in Atlanta in the summer selling plums. I also get ideas at the flea market for my clothing line. They have great discos on Buford Highway. I sometimes stuff my pants with plums too when I hit the clubs. Keep that piece on the DL though.

TC:  Well, thank you for your time. I’m a huge fan. I think this may be your year kid.

AZ:  You got it, now let me get you a sweater.