Having begun his acting career at age 6, Thomas Nicholas has taken on roles in films like “Rookie of the Year” and even the “American Pie” series—but his passion for acting is equaled by a passion for music.

The Thomas Nicholas Band will perform at 9 p.m. Friday at Friends and Company.

Nicholas has played an estimated 400 shows with a few different bands and musicians over the past 6 to 7 years, but he has been playing guitar since age 14.

As he recalls, that was the year Kurt Cobain died.

He said that date stands out because a student in his junior high school did a week of silence after Cobain’s death, causing the student to get sent to the principal’s office every day for not speaking.

“I remember just thinking to myself that’s really weird because this kid wasn’t really applying himself at school, didn’t have the greatest grades, but he was standing up for something he believed in,” Nicholas said. “That was sort of my first indication that music was a little bit more than some bum playing on the radio.”

Nicholas said he has been acting for about 27 years and playing music for about 19, and as much as people would like him to say he enjoys one over the other, he will never be able to choose.

“It’s sort of like if you had to choose between a hamburger and a pizza,” he said. “They’re both pretty awesome—unless you’re a vegetarian, then a hamburger’s not so awesome.”

Nicholas said acting and playing music present different rewards.

“For me, music is my opportunity to express myself, versus acting is an opportunity to be someone outside of myself, to play a character,” he said. “So for me, music is honesty and acting is technique.”

Although the two mediums offer different means of expression, they do cross over at times.

Nicholas said the first time a character he played inspired his songs was when he played political and social activist Abbie Hoffman in “The Chicago 8.”

As one of the cultural revolutionaries of the ‘60s, Abbie Hoffman stood up for what he believed in, including the ideals of Marxism, with advocacy campaigns, Nicholas said.

“Just by the cultural revolution of the ‘60s, he’s affected our life at large, and getting to the core of that certainly affected some of my music and some of my ideals,” he said.

Nicholas said he has also found inspiration in a movie he just returned from filming in which he portrays a young Walt Disney.

“He really had an inspiring beginning to his life and so many failures, but he never gave up,” Nicholas said. “I can really feel that with my music in the sense that I’ve been playing for six years, I’ve played over 400 shows, I’ve recorded and I’m working on my fifth album and yet I can’t seem to catch a record deal to save my life, but yet I’m still going.”

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or DENverge@gmail.com