He slaves over periodic tables and biology notes. He doesn’t sleep the night before an organic chemistry exam. In the little spare time he does have, he gives guitar lessons.Oh yeah, and he’s wooed actress Amanda Bynes’ character on the CW sitcom “What I like About You”.

J. Mack Slaughter Jr. is a 23-year-old sophomore neuroscience major whose journey to TCU has involved traveling across Texas in a family singing group, singing in a boy band and acting on television and movie sets in Los Angeles.

A Fort Worth native, Slaughter moved to Los Angeles on his own when he was 17 years old after a two-year stint in a local boy band, Sons of Harmony. The five-member group, which included “American Idol” contestant Brandon Rogers, toured across Texas and opened concerts with musicians such as Destiny’s Child, Jessica Simpson and Bon Jovi.

Slaughter intended to stay in Los Angeles for only two months and then return to Fort Worth to finish his senior year of high school at Fort Worth Country Day School. But he ended up staying because a reality television show offer fell through. He spent his senior year in Los Angeles faxing homework back to his teachers in Fort Worth. His two older sisters, both aspiring actresses, went to live with Slaughter after they were offered roles on a pilot television show.

“Most kids have college as a transition after high school,” Slaughter said. “I had five months with my sisters.”

Slaughter decided to stay in Los Angeles and continue pursuing a music career when he was offered another fairy-tale opportunity.

“I was actually playing a showcase for my music I had been writing and performing for a while, and this agent came up to me and told me I was going to be an actor,” Slaughter said. “I told her she could count me in.”

Slaughter appeared as “Keith” on television in the 2003 controversial sitcom “Like Family” about two families, one white and one black, sharing a house. He had cameo appearances on “What I Like About You” in 2002 and “Family Affair” in 2003. He also played the villainous Arthur in the film adaptation of “Fat Albert.”

“Working on a movie set and working on a television set are completely opposite experiences,” Slaughter said. “On a movie set, it’s all ‘hurry up and wait,’ and I didn’t really like that dynamic as much as television’s.”

With such an eclectic career start, Slaughter met famous musicians and actors such as musician Omarion, Tim Curry of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the musical group Hanson and Bill Cosby. But after four years in show business, he said the fairy tale began to fade.

“I moved out to Los Angeles when I was 17 and suddenly found myself physically and financially independent from my parents in Texas,” Slaughter said. “After four years of coming home but twice a year if I was lucky, I missed my family.”

Dreams of becoming a doctor had always lingered in the back of Slaughter’s mind because of his love of people, so he bought himself a house to renovate and decided to attend TCU.

“I had a little bit of a culture shock being back in school,” Slaughter said. “But, I love having to adapt to new places, learn new things and change the course of my life.”

Phil Hartman, biology professor and Slaughter’s adviser, said he was worried about how Slaughter would adjust being back in a classroom.

“I knew immediately that he would be a fun student to have in class, but I didn’t know if he would be a good student,” Hartman said. “In fact, that has turned out not to be the case. J. Mack has done exceptionally well.”

While Slaughter may not be acting on a movie set, he still maintains a busy schedule teaching guitar, playing bass guitar and drums with his band, skateboarding, studying and writing and performing music. But Slaughter just smiles at the thrill of the pressure.

“Many students complain about organic chemistry being the hardest class pre-health majors have to take,” said Jean-Luc Montchamp, his organic chemistry professor. “For him, it seemed to be pretty easy.”

Slaughter said music will always stay a part of his life, but his superstar days are over. His goals now include graduating in 2009 and becoming a modest practitioner and having a family of his own.