If you scroll the internet, you’ll probably find lots of people named Jim Tyminski. But in South Florida, there’s only one with connections in the various fields of theater, music, real estate and computer software. With a measure of humility, articulate artisan Tyminski, a Floridian for 22 years, proclaims he has notched “the art and science of programming, the art of real estate and also theater, which covers all the other arts.”
Since arriving in Palm Beach County, Jim has performed in more than two dozen stage shows – mainly at community theaters such as the Delray Beach Playhouse and Lake Worth Playhouse. Actually, Levittown, N.Y. native Tyminski formed an appreciation for music long before seriously adding stage shows to his resume. “My first instrument was the clarinet – when I was in high school. Then, I learned the drums, and I’ve been playing them forever.” He also strums and plunks guitar — in particular, the bass, which he now considers his main instrument of choice. Acting wasn’t totally out of the question for the young music maven. While in high school, Jim snagged a role in the musical, Anything Goes. “But nothing happened after that. I was involved in singing and sports.”
Jim Tyminski in 9 to 5 at Lake Worth Playhouse
As he honed his talent for crafting melodies, Jim joined with some fellow student musicians and “we played mainly in churches.” The veteran singer/actor said his high school music teachers “were my most influential instructors, particularly Nina Pfeffer. They encouraged my musical efforts. It wasn’t until I was with Diane that I did my first theater show.” Diane, of course, is his wife, Diane Nardolillo Tyminski, who shares his love of the stage and also works in real estate. The couple wed after becoming acquainted – or rather, reacquainted – in Boca Raton soon after Jim completed his “transitional” move to the Sunshine State. As Jim tells it, “Diane and I were really close in high school, but nothing transpired. We went to the movies and places like that, but we never really ‘dated,” he said. He graduated from Levittown Memorial High School – the final senior class before the school closed. “I worked for a company on Long Island, which sent me to South Carolina. Diane and I lost touch.”
Jim Tyminski, left, in 1940s Radio Hour at Delray Beach Playhouse
“Thirteen years later, I was in transition,” he said. “I came to Florida in 2000. Out of the blue, I thought, ‘I wonder what Diane is doing?’ I found her name online and sent her an email. It turned out she was living in the same city I had settled in – Boca Raton. It was amazing how we got together again.” “He contacted me at work during the time I was singing at Coral Ridge Church,” said Diane. “Our paths crossed, and we were married in 2003.” After traveling for about a year, they opened a real estate business in Boca Raton, which they sold in 2014 to a private broker. Interestingly, said Jim, “I came to Florida to pursue a career in golf. I worked for two years to be a tour player, but I could never get to the level I needed. My two-year plan became a five-year plan. That’s when I realized I needed to get a job and make money.” “Computer programming is where I started, then I moved into real estate in 2002,” Jim said. “I worked for a company that created fund-raising software. Today, they are one of the biggest firms in the computer field. But I was the one that wrote that original software program.”
Jim and Diane acted together on stage for the first time in I Do, I Do at Stage Left Theater. “It was one of my most memorable experiences, being my first show with Diane and only the two of us in the cast. The lack of resources there gave me an opportunity to learn so much about theater production – including set building, set music direction and everything else.” “We then went on to do a few other shows and I also got to direct ‘Til Beth Do Us Part, a very funny show. I was able to cast it well and, again, had to do all the tech work.” Through the years, Jim and Diane have entertained many audiences – together and separately – using their capable array of talents. In the musical, Barnum, at Lake Worth Playhouse, Diane played the circus master’s wife while Jim deftly handled the role of Ringmaster as well as Jim Bailey, the man who partnered with P.T. Barnum to create “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
Jim Tyminski in I Do, I Do
Then came a string of dual performances at the Delray Beach Playhouse – They’re Playing Our Song – their first two-hander at DBP; I Do, I Do, 1940s Radio Hour and And the World Goes Round. One of Jim’s early Delray Beach Playhouse tune-filled solo triumphs was in the sci-fi sendup, Little Shop of Horrors, where he portrayed masochistic dentist, Orin Scrivello, DDS, as well as a raft of miscellaneous show folk. Jim’s last stage role was in January 2022 when he and Diane shared the Lake Worth Playhouse hardwood in 9 to 5, Dolly Parton’s melodious contribution to the women’s office equality movement and its early efforts to smash the glass ceiling. Jim took on the dubious role of Franklin Hart Jr., the “boss,” resident cad and workplace sexist. Diane stepped up as Violet Newstead, a leader of the three-woman effort to unchain the office and give Franklin his due. The show provided Jim with one of his toughest challenges. “I only had one song. And when it was supposed to start, something happened with the computer. There was no music. So, I had to sing it without accompaniment. I had to make sure I was on key because my song was immediately followed by a reprise.”
The veteran actor managed the task, but his 9 to 5 role wasn’t his most unique. That honor goes to his grisly showing in the hugely successful TV show, “The Walking Dead.”“I portrayed a zombie,” said Tyminski, literally in a dead-pan voice. “On one of my big and important birthdays, my sister-in-law forgot to get me a gift. So, I said: “Get me a role on ‘The Walking Dead.”’ I told her that because I knew she had a friend in the casting department.” “So, I got a call from one of the show’s staff telling me to come to Atlanta for filming.” When I got to the set, someone said, ‘Get into your makeup.’ I spent two and a half hours in the production chair to get into costume.”“I was in one episode. I was one of three main characters – all zombies – who were in a scene with a regular human. That person was making too much noise, so the main characters, Rick and Daryl, threw him out of the building. Then, we ate him.” Was the effort worth it? “Absolutely,” said Jim, who is looking to return to the stage this coming season “after spending the last year working on my new realty business, ListWithFreedom.com. We founded it in 2005. It’s a start-up that’s 15 years old,” he joked.
Jim Tyminski, far right, in And the World Goes ‘Round
