From his antics on the ABC weekly prime-time show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” it seems Wayne Brady was born for the cameras.

And whether singing, dancing or just prancing around on the stage, many fans of the improv comedy show think he outshines co-stars Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles.

Brady will bring his traveling comedy show, “Wayne Brady and Friends,” to Breslin Center at 8 p.m. on Friday.

“I think it’s great that he’s coming,” said computer science sophomore Mark Burkart. “I’d say he’s the best on ‘Who’s Line Is It Anyway?’”

But Brady wasn’t always so sure of himself.

An Orlando, Fla., native, he was considering an opposite career move after high school - joining the military.

“I was in high school and it was my junior year and the (ABC) bio makes it sound like I was ready to ship out, but I was in ROTC and considering the military and then I ended up doing a play called ‘Dark of the Moon,’” he said. “It was just a fluke.”

And to his surprise, that first taste of being the center of attention was something Brady enjoyed.

“I agreed to sit in for one of my friends, I had one line and I really didn’t want to speak because I was petrified about speaking in public,” he said. “But for one line I said, ‘Cool,’ and walked into rehearsal.

“It was weird, I felt that I fit in with all these people. I said, ‘OK, that’s what I’m going to do. So I went out and auditioned for a production of ‘Raising the Sun’ and that was my first job in ’86.”

From that first encounter, Brady became a regular in the Orlando acting scene, appearing in such plays as “A Chorus Line” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

But the improv comedy he would become known for nationwide wasn’t on Brady’s mind at first.

“It wasn’t about being hilarious because when I started I just wanted to act, so I never had any inkling that was in me or if it was what I wanted to do,” he said. “It was like the floodgates opened up and it was really cool.”

After a stint in Las Vegas, Brady moved to Los Angeles in 1996, where he had numerous small roles in television shows such as “Home Court” and “In the Heat of the Night.”

Those roles led to more frequent television appearances, hosting VH1’s comedy series “Vinyl Justice” and finally, the “Whose Line” audition.

Although Brady had years of experience of acting, improv comedy was nothing new to him. Before leaving Orlando, he had become involved with a comedy group that would later become the Los Angeles-based Houseful of Honkeys.

Dave Russell, one of the six performers in the Honkeys, said the group was beside Brady during his first years of improv when he was still a teenager in Orlando.

“We worked with a company called the SAK Theatre and we opened a comedy theatre company there called the SAK Theatre Comedy Lab,” he said. “That’s when Wayne first started to improv with us. He was 16 years old then, so it was just really fun from day one.”

The group continued to grow and gain fans with Brady as a member until he began performing in “Whose Line” in 1997. The Honkeys eventually moved to Los Angeles, where weekly Friday shows are performed at the ACME Comedy Theatre.

Russell said the first years of the improv comedy troupe were a learning experience for everyone involved, but right away, everyone noticed Brady’s natural talent.

“When we first met him we had some classes going on and all of us were working together,” he said. “Wayne’s talents and abilities started to shine right way, especially with musical improv. He’s very in-depth musically as well.”

The SAK Comedy Lab continues in its 25th year now, and members of the Honkeys also have had successful stints with sitcom appearances and screen-writing.

And watching Brady perform the improv comedy on “Whose Line” that gave him an Emmy nomination only seems to justify Russell’s first impression of his work.

“I wouldn’t say it’s strange because I think we knew from the start that Wayne really has the potential for that,” he said. “It’s one of those admiring things like, ‘Wow, we knew him back then when he was getting started just out of high school.’

“I look back mostly in amazement. It really seems like he was able to come into his own, especially with ‘Whose Line’ and he’s grown as an entertainer and performer and it’s really cool.”

Brady said the unique improv style of “Whose Line,” was not difficult to learn, although he credited the popularity of the show and his co-stars with his improvement.

“It was a thing to the audience at the time because before that, there was not improv on TV, but it had been around for a long time and I was student of it, performed in it and did competitive improv and used it as a part of my acting arsenal,” he said. “So the only thing I had to get used to was it was so fast. There’s no time to think.

“It’s even faster than doing it live on stage because in front of the camera you have got to be on it, but Ryan (Stiles) and Colin (Mochrie) are champs and it was good to learn from them. I can even chart my progress and I think I definitely came into my own because of them.”

This fall, Brady said he will take over the time slot of Rosie O’Donnell’s daytime talk show, the “Rosie O’Donnell Show,” and has been working with singer and songwriter Brian McKnight in hopes of releasing an album.

For now, Brady continues to work alongside Mochrie and Stiles on “Whose Line,” but hopes to progress beyond that in the coming months.

“I hope to do films, I’ve had to turn roles down because of work now,” he said. “Hopefully there’s a ton of stuff ahead of me.”

Brady said visitors to Friday’s show should expect a variety entertainment.

“There will be a little bit of music, improv and comedy and all three at once,”he said. “I’ll take suggestions from the audience and they will give me the styles of songs and a couple improv games will be done with a lot of audience interaction. Come ready to be involved.”

Fans looking for cheaper seats for tomorrow’s show can visit the Union or the International Center between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for $10 seats. The Breslin Center box office will also sell the reduced-price tickets from 10 a.m. until showtime. The ticket sale will be held only tomorrow and is good only for select seats. For more information, call the Breslin Center box office at (517)432-5000.

Staff writer Mark Hicks contributed to this report.