Slogging along as a struggling actor for the better part of the last 18 years is not an easy thing, especially when your odyssey takes you from Brunswick to Bangor to Boston … everywhere but the “Big “B” – Broadway.

Ironically, it’s another “B” that may finally give Brunswick native Mark Van Savage his big break and help him go from “Off Broadway” to on.

That “B” would be the stylized, red-and-white one that adorns the baseball caps worn by employees of the Boston Red Sox and citizens of Red Sox Nation worldwide. You see, the Red Sox’s landmark success this past season coincided with the filming of a new baseball movie by the Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby.

The Farrellys, whose film “Fever Pitch” is about a Red Sox fan torn between the team he worships and the woman he loves, had a casting call for extras and actors who could play certain players this past summer.

“I got a call from Angela Perry at Boston Casting and she said I looked like [Sox center fielder Johnny] Damon, so ‘grow your beard and go to the auditions.’ About a week or so later, I went,” Van Savage recalled. “I got a wig and it came down to me and this other guy as finalists.

“They asked us to both come down the first day of shooting at Fenway Park and we were both there with full makeup and uniforms on and everything and one of the Farrellys walked around us and asked us questions – all of which I got wrong – and talked to some guys on the set. Finally he pointed at me and said, ‘You’re Johnny Damon’ and everything was great after that.”

The part is the most substantial Van Savage has had in a major motion picture.

Van Savage, who graduated from Husson College’s New England School of Broadcasting of Bangor in 1985, worked on the set for a full week last September, earning Screen Actors Guild wages that included a set sum for a certain number of initial hours and then SAG overtime, per hour wages afterward. Typical days lasted from 3 or 4 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m.

Comedian-actor Jimmy Fallon and actress Drew Barrymore star in the film, which is due to premiere in October.

“They really didn’t want us interacting with the actors personally, but Drew gave me a high-five, so that was cool. Jimmy was really nice and talked to us a couple times,” said Van Savage, who earned a degree in Shakespearean theater from Emerson College.

The 41-year-old Van Savage didn’t have an opportunity to talk to Damon, but he did get a unique brush with the popular Red Sox leadoff hitter.

“He did see me at one point and gave me a thumbs-up,” Van Savage said with a chuckle. “Hopefully one day I’ll be able to actually talk to him.”

The New England native, who ironically is a casual baseball fan (his favorite sport is boxing), got a unique perspective on baseball’s place in the New England sports hierarchy.

“We filmed this one scene on the field and I came out and the fans all just went nuts when I came out of the dugout,” Van Savage said. “One of the crew finally told me they were yelling for me. I felt like one of the Beatles. It was unbelievable.

“I’ve gotta tell you, I’m a sports fan but nothing like Red Sox diehards and I know I was very lucky to have that opportunity. It was a great experience.”

So it was that the Brunswick High School grad (Class of ’81), who wanted to be a radio DJ, got his silver-screen big break, one that preceded a bigger one.

Shortly after his “Fever Pitch” shooting ended, he received a call to audition for a part on ABC soap opera “All My Children.”

“I sent my materials to a casting agent two years ago and they just got to my pile and picked me,” he said. “I auditioned one day and I got the part that night.”

Van Savage will play a private eye in a speaking role and will appear on episodes airing Jan. 21 and 24.

His big breaks also mean he has to become a dues-paying AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Announcers) member since this is his second speaking TV-radio job (the first was on a national Cellular One radio ad).

In the meantime, Van Savage will continue his involvement in Shakespearean theater productions in Massachusetts and part-time work as an audio-visual technician.

“I hope all this opens up some new doors for me now,” Van Savage said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net